Sometimes she arranged with a bright boy or girl to sell these in school, paying a small commission for such services, either in cash or goods selected from her store.
That she made a success of her venture may be judged when it is stated that her profits are larger each year than those of some of the regular merchants of her city.
PLAN No. 145. ARTIFICIAL MAPLE SYRUP
The following plan was adopted by a farmers’ grocer who had located in a southern state for his wife’s health and it proved more profitable than had his former big store in a northern city. His plan was the making of artificial maple syrup, a healthful staple product that cost but little and brought excellent returns. He made the syrup as follows:
Take one bushel of clean, fresh corn-cobs, place them in a large kettle, pour in five gallons of clear water and boil for two hours, or until it boils down to about two gallons. Then remove the cobs and strain the water. Then add five pounds of New Orleans sugar and boil for thirty minutes, and strain and seal in glass or tin cans, with proper labels. The corn-cobs give it the maple flavor, which makes it very palatable, though it can be sold at very much less than the genuine article.
By increasing the quantities of the ingredients, he was soon able to make forty to fifty gallons a day, at a cost of about 12 cents per gallon. The cans cost him 20 to 30 cents per dozen, and the labels about $2 per 1,000, the entire cost of one dozen gallon cans being about $1.75, while he retailed it at $1.00 per gallon. At first he sold it through agents, paying a commission of 25 per cent, and his net profit on one dozen gallon cans was therefore $7.25. Later, however, he wholesaled it to grocers at 50 cents per gallon, and this netted him $4.25 per dozen cans.
It was so good an imitation that it could not be detected from genuine maple syrup, and those who bought it once insisted upon having it again, and the maker soon had a long list of regular customers which insured him a good living.
PLAN No. 146. CARBOLIC FACE CREAM
A young woman in Vancouver, B. C., who had noticed that most ladies gladly pay from 25 cents to $1.50 for a two-ounce jar or bottle of widely-heralded “face cream,” decided that she could make some just as good as the best of these, and realize a profit of 700 per cent. She took ten pounds of oatmeal and boiled it thoroughly in clear water, afterward straining it through a cheese cloth, squeezing the meal through the cloth with a motion like that of milking a cow. When well strained, she diluted three ounces of carbolic acid with a quart of water, then mixed it well with the meal, adding enough water, where it was too thick, to make the consistency of cream. She put this in two-ounce jars, attractively, and sold it readily at 25 cents per jar.
This made enough to fill 500 jars of the cream, which sold for $125, while the total cost of the same, including materials, jars and labels, was not over $15, so that from this one “batch” of cream her profits were $110.