815. The Unfrayable Collar Band.—Shirts, perfectly sound elsewhere, go into the rag-bin because the collar band is frayed. The man who will give us a substitute for starch, which does all the mischief, will earn both gratitude and greenbacks.
816. The Ramie Plant.—A few years ago the ramie plant was introduced into this country from China. It was reported to yield three crops a year, a total of 1,500 pounds to the acre, and that the fiber would produce a cloth equal to cotton or even silk. Great things were anticipated, but the hopes of the raisers were defeated by the lack of a process for separating it into fine filaments. The slow hand press of China makes it too expensive. Here is a chance for some brainy man to do for the ramie plant what Eli Whitney did for the cotton, reaping even a larger fortune than he because of the present greater demand for cloth.
817. Cotton Mills in the South.—About 9,000,000 persons in the United States and England depend for their livelihood on the cotton trade. Until recently New England had a monopoly of the cotton manufacture in the United States, but of late it has been ascertained that, owing to the cheaper cost of iron and fuel, the business can be carried on more advantageously in the South. The coal and iron in the mountains and the proximity to the raw product will cause New England soon to be distanced in this important enterprise. For those who seek cotton manufacture for a livelihood or for a competence, and especially for those who are beginning the business, the northern parts of Georgia and Alabama present unrivaled opportunities for the carrying on of that industry; and to such we would say, paraphrasing Horace Greeley’s advice to the young, “Go South, young man.”
818. Artificial Silk.—The man who can invent or discover a substance which has the glossy luster and wear of silk so as to counterfeit the real article can name his own price. Four processes have recently been patented, but the results are a fiber too coarse, too stiff, too weak, or too expensive. The Chardonnet process makes a quality at a cost of $1.23 a pound, and it sells at $2.70 a pound, a very good profit if only it was enough like real silk to command the market. Put on your thinking-caps, cloth manufacturers, and obtain the rich prize which is already almost within your grasp.
819. Mineral Wool.—Here is something new. Experiments have proved that rocks, or at least certain kinds of them, can be made into wool. The wool is made from sandstone, and from the waste slag of furnaces. “Mineral wool” is already being used for packing and fireproofing; but the inexhaustible field for the industry in the millions of tons of serviceable rocks, and the unforeseen possibilities in the use of the “new wool,” make the subject a startling one and well worth the consideration of money-makers.
820. Leather Substitute.—The high price of leather and its fluctuation in price have caused many substitutes to be devised, but thus far they have been inferior in quality, and will not stand the test of rough usage and exposure to heat. Imitation leather has always been made of two pieces of cloth pasted together, which are bound to separate or blister. Here is a secret worth a fortune. A single thickness of either drill or duck, with a heavy surface coating, will stand every test that leather can endure, and is every way as good, and can be produced at one-third the cost.
CHAPTER XX.
MONEY IN FERTILIZERS.
Wanted, a New Fertilizer—How “Golden” Forests Drop Gold—Why the Fields Near Berlin are so Productive—How We Lose $5,000,000 a Year—The Peat Treasures of New Jersey—Fortunes in Phosphates—Millions of Fish on Land as well as in the Sea—$1,000,000 for Him Who will Pick It Up.
We are yet in the infancy of this important product. The desideratum is a fertilizer that will do the best work in the least bulk. The 4,565,000 farmers and vegetable growers of the United States will make independently rich the man who can produce a good fertilizer at small cost of transportation. The field of chemistry is particularly rich in suggestions; experiments in this line are constantly going on, and there is reason to hope that an agricultural Edison will soon arise. Meanwhile, there is money in the following fertilizers:
821. Garbage.—Every truck load of garbage is worth at least a dollar for manuring purposes, and yet thousands of these loads are dumped every day into the water. Instead of the city paying a round sum for the removal of garbage, it ought to receive a bonus from a contractor who knows how to turn it to account.