Huntly and Palmer's Reading biscuits have been in the mouths of most people. Three thousand pairs of hands are employed daily in their manufacture, yet, strange to say, nearly all the work is clone by machinery. It is estimated that 2000 sacks of flour find their way into Messrs. Huntly and Palmer's factory weekly; and, when we remember how little flour is used in the manufacture of home-made pastry, some proportionate idea can be formed of the tons of butter, sugar, plums, currants, citron, ginger, and other ingredients that are used; but the number of cows and hens that must be employed by the establishment to produce new milk and new laid eggs is beyond our calculation.
Source: The Illustrated London News, July 8, 1882, p.45