A Baker City, Oregon, young man made a nice living and a surplus by buying several peanut-vending machines and placing them on prominent corners of his town, as near the moving-picture shows as possible. The machines were of the penny-in-the-slot order, and yielded a small handful of peanuts when a cent was inserted and a button pressed.
Of course, others in his town also sold peanuts, but he had a novel way of treating his, and soon secured the peanut trade. He bought his peanuts in considerable quantities from wholesale grocers in a large city, and prepared them by placing a small amount of butter in a large dish, then put the peanuts in. The butter would boil up and cover the peanuts, and roast them to perfection. This butter could be used repeatedly. Then he would stir a teaspoonful of glucose in a bushel of peanuts, and throw on the necessary amount of salt, the glucose causing the salt to stick.
A neat card calling attention to the superiority of his special brand of peanuts did the business, and he was kept busy roasting the peanuts and filling the vending machines.
These machines paid him a net profit from $35 to $50 a week.
PLAN No. 428. MAKING HOLIDAY AND BIRTHDAY PRESENTS
An old lady in an Illinois town, who had always been very skilful in the use of the needle, was able to earn a very comfortable living by making sofa pillows, pin cushions, jewel trays, lamp shades, book-marks, waste and work baskets, catch-bags, etc., and selling them to people who wanted to make Christmas or birthday presents of them, yet could not do the work.
After the holiday season was over, she would insert a small ad. in the local paper, saying she was prepared to make appropriate presents for birthdays and other occasions, and her excellent work soon became so well known that she had all she could do. Her prices were rather high, but were justified by the character of the work she did, and people cheerfully paid them, as they realized the worth of her work.
PLAN No. 429. KEEPING A FLOWER BED
For several months in the year, an energetic woman in a northern city paid the family grocery bills from the proceeds of a small flower bed in the back yard of her home.
She took especial care of this flower bed, as she realized that most of her neighbors were negligent in such matters, and would be glad of an opportunity to buy flowers from her later in the season. And she guessed right, for they were soon coming from all directions to buy her flowers. She had all varieties, which showed the effects of careful culture, and she charged good prices for them. For weddings, funerals, etc., she made up special designs, and sold them for several dollars each.