In one bed 7 feet long by 2 feet wide, made from an old trunk lid and two soap boxes, she placed three bricks of spawn early in October, and eight weeks later picked 11⁄2 pounds of mushrooms, which sold for $1.26 per pound. Then every two days thereafter, until May 1st, she picked from four to five pounds. The picking, packing and marketing are easy, and do not interfere with her regular household duties. She made $8 to $10 a week out of this industry, and recommends it to others who need something to help out with household expenses.
PLAN No. 236. LUNCHES FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN
A woman in Minnesota, whose income was very limited, was asked by the parent-teachers’ association to provide noon lunches for the pupils in the basement of a school building, the profit or loss to be her own.
She had two long tables made of rough boards, covered with white oilcloth, and on these she spreads sandwiches made of minced ham, peanut butter, chipped beef and cheese, at 3 cents each; cake at 2 cents a slice, with milk, cocoa, soup, etc., at very low prices, yet which pay her a profit. She buys her material at wholesale prices, and makes a small profit on each article, so there is at least a comfortable living in it.
At one o’clock her work is all done, and she has the afternoons and Saturdays at her own disposal.
Not a very large enterprise, but it affords a living, and that is quite an item for a poor woman.
PLAN No. 237. DESICCATED VEGETABLES
An eastern woman, anxious to help her husband lift the mortgage from their farm, had been told of the possibilities of desiccated vegetables, and decided to try out the plan herself.
By way of experiment, she desiccated some vegetables and dried them in the sun. These she soaked for an hour in cold water, poured off the water, and put the vegetables in with some meat she was stewing. In half an hour she had a fine Irish stew ready for the table.
Calling in some of her neighbors, they formed a local company for manufacturing desiccated vegetables. The vegetables, dried to a small bulk, were easily shipped to grocers at a great saving in freight or express charges, the weight also having been reduced to almost nothing.