One Thousand Ways to Make Money

There are multitudes of people who have a single acre of ground which could be made to yield much profit if they knew how to handle it. Others have an half or a quarter of an acre; not enough, perhaps, to give them a support, but which would add very materially to their income if properly cultivated. In this chapter we tell you what to do with the “home acre,” with examples of what others have done with it.

149. Money in Pears.—Do you know that one acre of the best yielding pear trees will bring more profit than a five-hundred acre farm without a twentieth of the care or capital?

150. Greenbacks in Greenings.—It is a fact that forty apple trees of the R.H.Greening variety on a single acre have yielded a crop worth $400.

151. Plums of Gold.—A widow has in her garden twelve plum trees from which she regularly receives $60 a year.

152. The Raspberry Acre.—“There are repeated instances of $400 and even $600 being made clear from a single acre of raspberries.” See Morris’ “Ten Acres Enough.”

153. Profits in Big Peaches.—When ordinary peaches were selling at 25 cents a bushel, a grower received $2 a bushel.This is how he did it.When the fruit was as large as a hickory nut, he employed a large force of laborers and picked off more than one-half the fruit.The rest ripened early, grew large, and were of excellent quality.His net profit that year from eleven acres was between $3,000 and $4,000.

154. Easy Tomatoes.—An easy crop, requiring little care.Says a grower in New Jersey: “My single acre of tomatoes netted a clear profit of $120.I am aware that others have realized more than double this sum, but they were experienced hands, while I was new to the business.”Four hundred dollars per acre has frequently been realized from this crop.One person had four acres from which he received from $1,500 to $2,000 annually.

155. Assorted Strawberries.—Here is the experience of a novice: “I ran a ditch through my wet and almost worthless meadow land, and set it out with strawberry plants.The second year I had an enormous crop.The larger berries were separated from the smaller, and the show thus made by the assorted fruit was magnificent.For 600 quarts I received $300, it being a little early for strawberries in the New York market.”It pays to grow early and large fruit.

156. Livings in Lettuce.—Fifteen thousand heads can be set upon an acre.These at the average price of $1.50 per hundred means $225 per acre. Five acres of this crop should give a fair-sized family a good living. It is an auxiliary crop and may be sowed between heads of cabbage.

157. Sovereigns in Spinach.—There are few more important crops in market.It requires little labor, can be cultivated evenings and mornings by a busy man, and pays about $75 an acre.

158. Thousand-Dollar Celery.—Celery may be grown as a second crop after beets, onions, or peas are cleared up.A little reckoning in the number of heads per acre shows that if the grower could get the consumer’s price of eight or ten cents a head, it would yield a clear profit of $1,000.

159. Fortunes in Water-cress.—“I have no doubt,” says a large grower, “that in situations where irrigation could be used at pleasure, or regular plantations made as for cranberries, judging from the enormous price water-cress sells at, picked as it is in the present haphazard way, an acre would sell for $4,000 or $5,000.”

160. The Dollar Blackberry.—When the Lawton first came out, so great was the praise of it and the rush to obtain it that many roots were sent through the mail at $1 apiece, and the lucky discoverer netted a small fortune.But any grower has the same chances to discover a new variety, or to improve on his present stock.

161. Nickels in Pickles.—Do you know that the enormous number of 150,000 cucumbers may be easily grown on an acre of land, and that at the low price of $1.50 per thousand this means $225 per acre? The crop also is very easily raised.

162. The Beet Lot.—You can grow 80,000 roots per acre even when sown a foot apart, yet at $1 per hundred, deducting one-half for expenses, there still results a net value of $400.

163. The Roasting Ear.—You can plant an acre of sweet corn, realize $100 for it, clear it off in August, sow the cleared ground with turnip seed, and from the second crop reap another $100.

164. Paying Peas.—They are the early kind, marketed before the price falls.If grown under glass so as to be crowded on the market in early June, they will bring $4 a bushel, and at that rate an acre will mean $400.If delayed a month, they will not bring a quarter of that sum.

165. Grated Horseradish.—The root is very easily raised, requires little cultivation, but is quite profitable.Grate finely and put in attractive white bottles with red labels.Give it some fancy name, as “Red Orchard,” or “Spring Valley.”“Little Neck” clams got their reputation largely in this way.Sell for ten cents a bottle.

CHAPTER VII.

MONEY FOR WOMEN.

The field of woman’s work has been vastly augmented during the last half-century. From school teaching and dressmaking, which were about the only occupations open to our grandmothers, the number of ways a woman can make a living have increased to over two hundred. To be exact, there are two hundred and twenty-one occupations open to women, out of a total of two hundred and fifty. It is the design of the author to give only those methods which are unique, unusual, and presumably unknown to most lady readers. In a few cases these money-making methods must be considered as only tributary to a larger source of revenue, as when a salaried position or business enterprise is not sufficient for a support, or when a woman wishes to help the family “eke out a living,” but in most cases it is expected that the suggestions if followed will be an adequate source of income. Several of these ways may often be united where one is insufficient. There is no need for any woman to marry for the sake of a home. The examples given will enable any lady of the least tact, skill, or enterprise, to secure an independent living.

166. The School Store.—If you live near a public school, a small store containing candies, school supplies and knickknacks for the children will be found to bring much profit.The store need not be large or conspicuous.A room in a private house will do.Children, like bees, are all fond of sweets.The store need be open only for an hour in the morning, or noon, and at the close of school, so that other work may be carried on at the same time.A dressmaker, with hours arranged so as not to conflict, could combine very well these two ways of earning a living.

167. The Hand Album.—Have an album made in usual style, except that the places for pictures are omitted.Smear each page with soft wax to the depth of one-sixth of an inch.When a friend calls, slightly heat a page and request him to lay his hands, palms down, upon it.In that way you can preserve the digits of your friends, and you will be surprised to find there is as much difference in hands as in faces.When your album is full, if you choose you can consult a patent lawyer, and arrange to protect your invention.A novelty of this kind would doubtless be immensely popular, and enable the author to reap a financial harvest.

168. The Novelty Bakery.—A woman who knows how to make tempting creations in flour can make a good living.Begin by taking your goods to the Woman’s Exchange, of which almost every large city has at least one.If your baking is novel, from the Exchange will come demands from private customers, and even orders from hotels. A New England woman, beginning in a small way, in a few months had an income of $33 per week.

169. The Front Yard Snap.—With a photographer’s outfit, go through the better class residential sections of a city or town and take the pictures of the children which you will see in every street, and in almost every front yard.Get a child in a most striking position, on a wheel, or in a swing or hammock, or at play.Secure parent’s consent to take the picture.No matter if they declare that they will not purchase, they will yield when they see a pretty picture of their child.Much money can be made at this.

170. The Pet Dog.—Do you know that pet dogs often bring enormous prices?You want the Yorkshire terriers, or the King Charles spaniels, or some of the rare Japanese breeds.A lady in New York counts on $500 yearly as the income from the families raised from one dog, a King Charles spaniel.

171. The Box Lunch.—There is a large field for some one to cultivate in our great office buildings and factories.Thousands would pay for a light lunch which costs five cents, and is sold for ten cents.Rent a small room near a business center.Make known your occupation.Go through the places of business if possible, or if not take a stand near the door, and if your lunch is tastefully arranged, it will find many buyers.After a time you will get regular customers.Profits 100 per cent.

172. The Hair-Dresser.—A refined business for women is the dressing of hair. For $25 you can learn the business. Place samples of all kinds of bangs and switches in the window. They can be sold for a great profit, and if industrious, you can build up in a good neighborhood an excellent paying business, and best of all, it can be done in your own home.

173. Typo and Steno.—In many large cities typewriting and stenography may be learned in the Y.W.C.A.Then with a machine and a rented room cheaply furnished a woman is all ready for business.Many women are making $25 per week.One enterprising young lady takes dictated matter in short hand, and then typewrites it at her leisure, thus saving much time to her busy patrons.

174. The Sewing School.—Here is a vast unworked field.If you understand needlework, and have a little business enterprise, you are certain to succeed.Advertise in the papers and get out circulars, stating that for the small sum of twenty-five cents per week you will teach all pupils plain and fancy sewing.Form your pupils into classes, and if you are gentle and patient, as well as skillful at the needle, you will in a short time have the work which mothers are glad to get rid of.And it can all be done in your own home.

175. Flat Hunting.—Rent a small office and advertise that for a trifling fee you will exactly suit persons looking for homes, and save them all the trouble.Three or four hours a day are spent in house-hunting, and two in the office.You must have a book with your customers’ demands set down in detail, and another book with a careful description of each house to let.A commission might be exacted from both owner and renter. An enterprising woman could in a short time build up a large business in this way.

176. A Tea Room.—Hire a counter in a fashionable store much frequented by ladies.Have a sign that fresh tea is sold here, made to order with good cream.Small accessories may be fresh rolls, toasted crumpets, bread and butter, and other light articles of food.Ladies weary with shopping will surely come to your counter to be refreshed.A lady in one of our large cities made a fortune by this means.The requirements are dazzling cleanliness, a smiling welcome, a cheerful place near the door, and hot, fresh tea.

177. Dress Mending.—Here is a good field.There is a vast army of women who would patronize a mending office rather than run around the city to find a sewing woman, or use their own limited time in the use of the needle.Have a tariff of prices for mending gloves, sewing on buttons, renewing the sleeves, putting braid around the bottom of dresses, etc. The right woman could earn a good living at this business.

178. Lace Handling.—The mending and washing of fine laces is a work that is given to experts, and commands high prices, yet is easily learned.In five lessons at a dollar apiece any lady of ordinary intelligence can learn, or, cheaper yet, one can sometimes give services in return for instruction.You are then in a position to earn a great deal of money.Issue a thousand circulars to the wealthier people of the city, letting them know of your enterprise.This plan combines the three advantages of fascinating employment, good pay, and work done at home.

179. Intelligence Office on the subscription plan. —Buy a copy of the “Social Register;” send circulars to all persons named therein; announce that you have opened an intelligence office on a new plan. For $10 a year you will keep them supplied with as many servants as they want, and you will guarantee satisfaction. Make a specialty of securing servants for people going out of town. Thus you will go far toward solving the perplexing question for your patrons, and make an excellent living for yourself.

180. Professional Mending.—Hotels, boarding houses and bachelor apartments have loud and long calls for mending.Mothers with little ones, professional women, and school-teachers, as well as men, have neither time nor taste for this kind of work.Have an outfit in a small satchel, which should contain a light lunch, a white apron, and various assortments of tapes, buttons, etc. In a short time one would have a regular round of customers.One lady who did this never had to go out of one large hotel for work.

181. The College Cram.—There is room for a lady with a knowledge of the classics and a faculty for teaching to take boys and young men and carry them over the hard spots in their education.These hard spots, which are known as examinations, conditions, etc., are the bane and bugbear of many a young man’s education.In one town a lady earns $100 per month by taking pupils through the intricacies of algebra and Latin.

182. Shoe and Wrap Room.—A room in some fashionable quarter where ladies could go after a journey on the cars and have the dust brushed off their wraps and their shoes polished would doubtless prove remunerative.

183. General Convenience Room.—The last idea might be combined with this.Have a room in which, for the charge of a dime, one could get a glass of ice-water, could read the morning paper, have his clothes brushed, and look over a map of the city or a directory, and have all the advantages of a toilet room.

184. Sick-Room Delicacies.—Another unoccupied field is the preparation of delicacies for the sick.Bouillon, chocolate, jellies and many other kinds of delicacies could be prepared and placed in a show window in some fashionable part of the town.The conditions of success are exquisite neatness and daintiness.It would pay well, for people stop at no cost in providing for their sick friends.

185. Shopping Commission.—If you live at a little distance from the city, a good business may be built up by shopping for your friends and neighbors.By dint of experience you know where to buy, and when your practice is built up you can buy cheaper by reason of larger purchases, and you can give both of these advantages to your patrons.Many women might find here both a congenial and profitable field.

186. School Luncheon.—Here is another good field.Tens of thousands of schoolchildren have to eat a cold luncheon.Rent a small room near a schoolhouse, and provide bouillon, clam and chicken soups, sandwiches, baked beans, lamb pies, with white and brown bread, plain cake and fruit.You will help to preserve the digestion of myriads of children, as well as fill your own pocket with cash.

187. Hatching Birds.—Buy half a dozen songsters at $1.50 apiece, the females at half that price.Get proper cages, mate the birds, provide soft nests made chiefly of cotton; and with care you can do an excellent business.Birds in good condition mate two or three times a year.One lady, with eighteen pairs of canary birds netted $500 a year.

188. Butter and Egg Store.—Butter and eggs are two things which every housekeeper wants fresh, but which are difficult to obtain. Get some reliable farmer to supply you at stated dates, and procure a list of customers. Then with a boy to deliver and a push cart for the merchandise, you have little to do but figure your profits. An advantage of this plan is that it gives you the most of your time for other work. The business may be extended almost ad infinitum

189. Saratoga Chips.—These are a sample of what may be done with a single good article by one who knows how.One family has a weekly income of $12.50 from this means.

190. Fancy Lamp Shades.—Made of crêpe papers they are very cheap, and look almost as well as silk.Any woman of ordinary ability can make them, and they sell readily.She can buy for sixty cents material for a shade which she can sell for $1.25, thus more than doubling her money.

191. Bee-Keeping.—This is another means of large profit.It can be carried on even in a city where there is a small plot of ground.Fill all the space not occupied by the hives with white clover and such other flowers as your study of bees will tell you they delight in. Buy a book about bees. The advantage of this industry is that the cost of supporting the bees is practically nothing. There is no risk. After the first small expenditure of capital for boxes and hives all is profit.

192. Cleansing and Bleaching.—There are many things too costly to be intrusted to an ordinary washerwoman, and many other cleansing processes that do not come within that woman’s sphere.Cleaning feathers, velvets, furs, gloves, silks, and many other articles afford a wide opportunity for one who understands the business.Who can take grease spots from carpets, fruit stains from napkins and table covers, paint from windows, thumb-marks from books, and scratches from furniture?Here is a useful field.

193. Fancy Soaps.—Fortunes have been made from fancy soaps.The process of making is easy, and the variety of method is so great, and the possible ingredients so many, that there need be no danger of infringing on anyone’s trademark.Get a recipe-book and practice on the kinds given in the formulas; then branch out into new kinds.The sale will depend upon your ability.Give your product an attractive appearance.

194. Home Architecture.—Write to the secretaries or agents of church building societies.Many of these societies publish pamphlets, in which, in addition to the designs for churches, will be found many cuts for pretty little parsonages.From these you can compile an attractive little book of home architecture, which would sell to every person contemplating building a home; and almost every one living in a rented house hopes some day to rear his own domicile.If you have a friend who is an architect, he would procure for you other books of plans.

195. Home Ornaments.—What is a home without at least a few trifling ornaments?An inventive mind can think of a hundred inexpensive ways of beautifying a room.But most people are not inventive.If, therefore, you have that gift, and can think of a few novelties in lace and embroidered goods which you can make and sell for fractions of a dollar, you will have opened your way to constant and remunerative employment.

196. Doubtful Debts.—It is well known that in efforts that require perseverance and persistence women succeed better than men.Grocers, butchers, real estate agents, and in fact almost every business man, has a large number of accounts, a considerable per cent.of which he considers worthless.To any one who could succeed in collecting them, the dealer would give a very large per cent., in some cases even amounting to half the bill.Many of these are really collectible if attempted with the persuasive arts of womanhood.Here is a large and profitable field for a woman having the right qualifications.

197. Dressing Dolls.—A fair profit can be made by taking orders for making dolls’ dresses, as they can be bought and dressed for about one-half the cost of those already dressed.Persons giving the order should be required to bring the materials for the dress.

198. Fruit Preservers.—Vast numbers of people are in the country during the fruit season, and cannot “do up” fruits; they must depend on the grocer. Let a thrifty, economical woman who knows how equip herself with sugar, fruit, cans and preserve kettles, and she will not long wait for customers if she makes her business known.The second year, her patrons having tested her talents and tasted her fruits, and finding them so much better than “store goods,” will flood her with orders.

199. A Mushroom Cellar.—An enterprising woman hired a cellar at a rent of $10 per month, had it fitted up with shelves, placed on these shelves in order, straw, fertilizers, and soil; then put on mushroom spawn, renewing it at intervals, as also at longer intervals the soil.Average sale of mushrooms per week, $31.50.Average expenses, $8.80.Profit per week, $22.70.

200. Poultry Raising.—Following is the experience of another woman in raising poultry.She bought forty-five Minorcas, because they lay a large white egg, and are nonsitters and prolific layers.Each hen laid on an average one hundred and sixty-four eggs per annum.She purchased also forty Brahmas for sitters and for fattening.Total expenses for fowls and for keeping, $278.70.Total receipts, $1,144.11.Net profit, $865.31.

201. Home Hothouse.—Thousands of people will buy plants already started who would not go to the trouble to buy seeds, slips, and pots.There is also a large demand for cut flowers all the year round.Have a cellar for rooting, and a south room for sunning.A liberal use of cards and circulars, stating what you propose to do, will surely bring custom.The secret of the florists’ business is to provide flowers for every month in the year, and to force or retard the flowers that suit the demands of each month.This is a very pretty employment for a woman, and can be done in her own home. There are three hundred and twelve floral establishments in this country managed by women. The work is easy and tasteful to ladies. The elements of success are the habit of early rising, business ability, close superintendence of laborers, intelligent advertising, knowledge of plants, and promptness in filling orders. The best location is near a large cemetery. One florist thus located takes in from $1,500 to $2,000 per month during the busy season.

202. Art Needlework.—Here is the way a woman paid off a $600 mortgage on her home, and at the same time attended to her domestic duties.She bought linens stamped with designs, and gave her spare time to decorative embroidery.She disposed of her work at the Woman’s Exchange, and at the art stores.Six hundred dollars in spare minutes are not a bad showing.Besides, one could form a class and add the income from teaching.Mrs. Clara Louise Kellogg began by giving lessons in embroidery at the age of fourteen.Before her fifteenth birthday she was earning $30 a week with these classes.

203. News Agency.—Keep the daily papers.Almost any lady who will go into the business could count on one hundred patrons; and these by the recommendation of friends could easily be increased to five hundred.One hundred patrons would mean at least $3 per week, and five hundred patrons would mean at least $15 per week.Tact, enterprise, and good service are the qualities needed.If your place is on the main street, and you can make a show-window for periodicals, your income will be much augmented.A woman came to this country and heard of a news stand for sale for $250. She sold her jewels to purchase it. With her two brothers she made it a success, and it now supports three families. “Courtesy and application,” she says, “were my capital.”

204. Women’s Wants.—Take advantage of bargain sales—ribbons, silks, lace, and velvets.They can be had, if you watch the papers, at very trifling cost, but wondrous are the shapes into which they can be made by woman’s deft fingers.You can make boas, ruchings, berthas, lace bibs, draped collars, belts, etc. Every woman wants these things, and will buy them if they can be found in colors and style required.They can be sold at moderate cost, and at a very large profit.

205. Home Printing Press.—Pay $10 for a press, and a like sum for type and other accessories.Print visiting cards, at-home cards, business, reception, and wedding cards, tickets of admission, etc. Give a specimen of your work to every one of your friends, and request their patronage; place circulars with samples and rates in the stores, and solicit the favors of business men.Doing the work in your own home, you have no extra rent to pay as have printing establishments, and you can do the work much cheaper and still make a profit.

206. Short Service Bureau.—Many people want help in an emergency, and for a short time only.The housewife is suddenly taken ill, a servant without warning leaves, company unexpectedly comes, stoves are to be put up, yards are to be cleaned, gardens dug, snow shoveled, clothes washed, and a hundred other things done requiring short service only.Keep a list of men and women who go out at labor. Know accurately their whereabouts every day. Be ready instantly to supply any one’s demand. When it is known that you furnish that kind of service, your office will be in demand, and your patrons well willing to pay.

207. Delicatessen Room.—Here is a paying business that is not overcrowded, but success depends upon the quality of the goods.Make yourself a specialist in cookery.Homemade pies, plum puddings, orange marmalade, salted almonds, fancy cakes, jellies and jams can be made and sold at a good profit.Bakers and grocers will be forced to keep them when once there is a demand for your goods.This is no speculative idea.Many a woman has not only made a living, but accumulated a snug little fortune by this means.

208. Miscellaneous Exchange.—Many people have no use for some of their possessions, but desire something else; others would be glad to get what these possess.Establish a place for the exchange of typewriters, sewing machines, bicycles, baby carriages, jewelry, bric-à-brac, etc. Charge both parties to the exchange a small commission.This plan has the advantage that it requires no capital, and hence has no risk.

209. Cap and Apron Plan.—Here is a plan available near any large hotel.Have a place for the sale of aprons, waiters’ jackets, cooks’ caps, etc. Get out a great quantity of circulars, stating your plan in an attractive form, and have a boy to distribute them—one upon whom you can rely to hand one to every employee of hotel shop and store.Repeat the circulars every week until your business is thoroughly known.Arrange to keep the articles in repair, and engage the agency of some laundry establishment for their washing; then with the work of selling, repairing and laundrying these goods you will have an established business.

210. Kitchen Utensils.—As a rule you can sell five kitchen utensils where you can sell one book.The former shows for itself; the latter must be exhibited and explained.Send to a large wholesaler for the most modern samples of labor-saving tools for the kitchen.Test them for a few days yourself.Then start out among your neighbors.A housewife will purchase anything that lightens labor if it is only cheap.An enthusiastic person can make many dollars a day selling useful articles for the kitchen.A woman for three months averaged $4 a day selling an improved coffee pot.

211. Wedding Manager.—How many brides shrink from the work of a large wedding, while at the same time feeling under obligations to have one!A lady who has an artistic taste and a knowledge of the best social customs may very properly undertake the management of a wedding.She should know what is proper for the bride’s outfit, and how to dress her, how to decorate the rooms, what style of invitations to issue, and in short, all the delightfully perplexing details of a wedding.For this work she has a right to charge a fair sum, and if the wedding proves to be a very pretty one, she is entitled to the credit of it.When once the office of a lady manager is recognized, and the relief afforded to the bride’s family appreciated, the fashion will quickly spread, and others will wish to avail themselves of your taste and skill.

212. Foreign Homes.—Here is an example of the pluck and enterprise of an American girl: Miss Mary Widdicomb went to Paris in company with a lady friend, and established a home for Americans in that capital.Her rooms accommodated thirty-five, and such was the success of her venture that she is about to open another apartment.Think of it!You can go to a French city and hear the American language, associate with American people, and have American surroundings the same as if in the United States.Here is an opportunity for young women with small capital to see a foreign country and make money at the same time.

213. Lady Barber.—There is a school in New York for the instruction of barbers.Three months’ apprenticeship will give you a knowledge of the trade.One lady who graduated a year ago from the school now has two assistants, and is earning from $6 to $10 a day.

214. Mineral Collections for Schools.—Dana’s Mineralogy gives fourteen hundred places in the United States where rare minerals are found.There are 240,968 public schools, and each one needs a mineral collection.Why has no one thought of gathering these rare stones and selling them to our public schools?At $1 a school, the sale should be $240,698, but many rare collections would bring $5, and even $10 each.

215. Turkish Bath.—One lady opened a place for Turkish and Russian baths.She went around among her lady friends and acquaintances and secured the promise of a paying patronage.Five promised their patronage every week, eight every two weeks, and twenty-four at least once a month.Thus the sum of $60 per month was assured at the start, and this paid for rent and assistants, with a good margin of profit.

216. Trained Nurses.—Trained nurses in our large cities command $25 a week.The duties are exacting, but not difficult.Assistant nurses receive $15.The latter have less responsibilities, and are not required to spend so long a time in training.This is an inviting field for ladies who have gifts and tastes for this work.

217. Traveling Companion.—If you have a good education and can make yourself agreeable, your services ought not to go long begging for an engagement in this delightful occupation.Watch the advertisements in the daily papers; better yet, insert an advertisement of your own, modestly stating your qualifications.The remuneration depends upon the wealth and liberality of your employer.

218. Paper Flowers.—This has become a distinct trade.You can learn in a few months.There is a paper flower store in Broadway, New York, which does an immense business.There are great possibilities in this line in every city.

219. French Perfumer and Complexion Expert.—How does this sound?—Madame Racier, French Perfumer.Equip yourself with perfumes, essences, tinctures, extracts, spirit waters, cosmetics, infusions, pastiles, tooth powders, washes, cachous, hair dyes, sachets, essential oils, etc. All ladies like perfumes.Once let it be known that you are an authority on the subject, and you will lack neither patronage nor profits.

220. A Woman’s Hotel.—A hotel exclusively for women would no doubt be a paying investment.More than fifty thousand ladies without male escorts stop every year in the hotels of New York City. A very large proportion of this number would patronize a cheap, clean, well-kept place, fitted up and conducted solely for the comfort of ladies.

221. Guide for Shoppers.—A department store in New York recently made a census of its customers, and from the count kept for a single week it was estimated that 3,125,000 persons passed through its doors every year.This for a single store.But there are thousands of stores.Vast numbers of these people are from the country, and do not know where they can trade to the best advantage.What a field is here for a shoppers’ guide!Ascertain what stores make a specialty of certain goods, what ones sell the cheapest in certain lines, and what days they make bargains in certain wares.Show by what routes the places are best reached, where to dine, etc. Fill a little book with just the information a shopper wants to know; call it “The Ladies’ Shopping Guide,” put it on the market at ten cents, and you can sell millions of them.

222. Bicycle Instruction.—Why, may not a woman teach “the wheel” as well as a man?Many women are restrained from learning through the dislike of falling from the wheel into the arms of a strange man, commonly a negro.A woman’s bicycle academy would pay in any large city.

223. Cooking School.—Madam Parloa and Madam Rorer have set the example, and they will be sure to have many imitators.A course of instruction in cooking, costing $10, is a vastly better investment to any young woman than a course on a piano costing $100, or many times that sum. First, learn the art thoroughly yourself and then teach it to others. There is money in this, but it needs taste, tact and work.

224. The Boarding House.—One who has a taste for cooking and a little marketing skill can do well in this somewhat overworked and not always paying business.The gains increase from zero with one boarder, in geometrical progression, until $1 a head is realized with twenty boarders.Profits, $20 a week.With great skill and management this may be doubled.

225. Pen Engraving.—If you have a circle of one hundred friends, and can secure their patronage, you can make a fair living for one person at engraving cards.A lady with a large calling list should engrave $500 worth of cards a year.Expenses, $25.Remuneration for work, $475.

226. A Ladies’ Restaurant.—A restaurant where delicacies pleasing to ladies are made a specialty would surely pay.A lady who recently established one adjoining a large department store has been obliged to enlarge her premises to accommodate her crowd of patrons.

227. A Woman’s Newspaper.—One has just been started in a Western city.The editors, reporters, printers, and press-feeders, are all women.Of course it advocates woman’s reform.An enterprise of this kind requires considerable capital, and is not without risk, but a woman of ability and experience can make it pay as well as a man, besides the advantage of an appeal directly to her sex in support of a paper conducted in this manner.

228. Advertising Agent.—A lady by her courtesy, tact, and gentle address, is especially fitted for this work.All our great newspapers and magazines pay large salaries to successful agents, for, as a rule, the advertising department is the one that pays the dividends of the business.The shopkeepers and others who, by reason of repeated solicitations give the cold shoulder to the male agent, would listen at least respectfully to a lady.On the whole, this field presents to ladies who have the right qualities better opportunities than to men.

229. The Civil Service.—This is now open to women.There are more then ten thousand of these places to be filled every year.Clerkships range from $600 to $3,000.Very few fall below $1,000.These places, according to the Civil Service Law, are filled by competitive examinations.There are thousands of bright young women who secured these places, not through any governmental pull, but by sheer merit in examinations.Get a book entitled “Civil Service,” by John M.Comstock, Chairman of the United States Board of Examiners, for the Customs Service in New York City, and published by Henry Holt & Co.This book will give you a complete table of the positions open, the salaries attached to each, and a list of questions required to be answered.

230. Post-Prandial Classes.—Few, even among educated women, are masters of themselves to the extent of being able to rise before an audience, and without previous preparation express themselves clearly and creditably on whatever subject may be under discussion.A woman in New York, a member of Sorosis, made a reputation for bright, witty, after-dinner speeches. As she earned her living by newspaper work, a friend said to her, “Why don’t you add to your income by teaching other women how to say a few graceful words in public?” She caught at the idea, and organized classes in the hitherto untaught art of post-prandial speech-making, and had capital success, earning $500 by it in one season.

231. Women Druggists.—The neatness of women, their delicacy and attention to details, qualify them admirably for the drug business.At the Woman’s Infirmary, New York, the apothecary department is entirely in the hands of ladies.Drug clerks receive on the average of $9 per week.There are few lady proprietors, but there is no reason why there should not be more, as the business is very profitable.

232. Almanac Makers.—Of late years many of the great dailies issue yearly almanacs.The mass of matter which goes to make up these publications can be collected as well by women, who have gifts for details, as by those of the other sex.In one publication house a woman is paid $30 a week to manage one of these almanacs, and in another $20 for the compiling of an index for the daily paper.

233. Women Lecturers.—Women of talent have earned a competence and almost a fortune on the platform.Lucy Stone was sometimes paid as high as $260 for a lecture, and Anna Dickinson also received large sums. The lady who hopes to succeed in this field must have fluency, the gift of oratory, self-poise, and a certain dramatic or magnetic power.

234. Magazine Contributors.—In this work women are paid as much as men, and their facile pens are often able to turn out equal and even superior work. The Harpers pay $10 a page; the Atlantic Monthly, $6 to $10; the North American Review, $1.50.

235. Women Physicians.—Says a recent publication: “There is a real necessity for women physicians; there are many ladies who prefer them, and in some cases will consult no other.There are now over one thousand lady physicians in the United States, but the number will soon be doubled, and even trebled.Several of these lady physicians are making over $2,000 a year.”One of them says: “I have several well-to-do families whom I charge by the year.I charge $200, if they are people who are considered well off; less, if they are poor.”

236. Paper Box Making.—Hundreds of women are making paper boxes, but as employees, not as proprietors.A woman made the first orange box in California.Seeing that it was a good thing, and that there would soon be a demand for others, she built a factory, and is now turning out fifty thousand boxes a year.

237. Horticulture.—Here is an example of what a California woman can do.A widow having four boys purchased thirty-six acres of land in San Jose, and under her personal care, aided by her boys, planted the tract with apricot, cherry and prune trees.For four years she did all the pruning, a difficult task for a refined and delicate woman, accustomed as she had been to luxuriant ease.Her prune trees alone netted $2,700 in one year.

238. Vocalists.—A lady with a good voice is certain of making a living, some have made fortunes with it. The demand is wide and various. If your taste does not incline to the stage, there is still a large field in the church. All large churches, and many small ones now, have paid choirs. The leading vocalists are commonly well paid. There are a great number of altos and sopranos in New York and Brooklyn, and in the fashionable suburbs, who receive $1,000 a year, or an excess of that sum. And this is an excellent compensation when it is remembered that the singer has nearly all her time in which to pursue some other vocation.

239. Packing Trunks.—This is a Paris occupation carried on exclusively by women.You leave your order at the office of the transportation company, and say when you want a professional packer.She comes, and is paid fifty cents, and sometimes $1 an hour for her services.She has genius for folding dresses so that they can be carried all over the world without a wrinkle.She wraps bonnets in tissue paper.She tucks away bric-à-brac in a way that makes breakage impossible.This industry might be introduced profitably into this country.

240. Women Costumers.—Costumes for the stage are now gotten up mostly by men.A woman of taste and ability could make a success of this business.Many rich ladies would consult them in matters of personal wardrobe.

241. Express Office.—A woman can sit in an office as well as a man.One woman in Boston tried it four years ago, beginning in a modest way.Now she has three offices and five teams in constant use.

242. A Fancy Bakery.—An elegant and educated young woman in San Francisco took a dingy, dying little bakeshop, with sickening sights and smells.She put it in order.In two months she had cleared $700, and in four months $1,800.Another woman in Brooklyn has just opened a bakery under very flattering prospects.She works on the plan of exquisite neatness, trimming her windows like those of a fancy goods’ dealer, and wrapping her bread in tissue paper.

243. Women Grocers.—There are not many women in the grocer business, but there is no reason why there should not be.A woman grocer in a Western State who has been established since 1860, has a business worth $80,000 a year.

244. Food and Medicine Samples.—Proprietors of patent medicines and foods will give you a large commission to introduce their inventions into homes, and if successful, you will soon be employed at a good salary.These proprietors often pay ladies to introduce samples at country stores.The storekeeper will give you room rent free for a few days, with the understanding that he alone has the sale of the article in the place.

245. Samples in Stores.—Ladies of tact and good address are receiving fair salaries in the introduction of new articles.Every inventor is anxious to introduce his goods, and every storekeeper is equally desirous to sell.Call upon the proprietor of some new article of household use, secure territory, and then solicit space in a country store.After three or four days in one store you should go to another, or perhaps to the next town.You may have to begin on a commission, but if successful you can soon command a salary.

246. Samples from House to House.—Others find ample remuneration in introducing new articles from house to house.We know a little lady in Brooklyn who is paid well for giving away samples of a new baby food.This is much more pleasant work than that of importuning people to purchase.

247. The Woman Beautifier.—Whatever is of the nature of beauty appeals to the heart of woman.A lady who has the secret of making other women beautiful cannot fail of success.After making a study of your business, advertise that you understand the art of removing moles, wrinkles, warts, wens, birthmarks, tan, freckles, and superfluous hair.If successful in pleasing one or two leaders of fashion, you will have plenty of custom.

248. The Manicure Parlor.—The manicure business is yearly increasing.For $15 you can learn the business.Implements will cost you $10 more.With the capital of $25 you can begin business, and, if ladylike in appearance and gentle in touch, you can build up a big business in the right neighborhood.Any lady would prefer in this art to patronize one of her own sex.Get out cards and circulars and scatter them freely.There is room for many women to excel in this field.One lady who entered upon this work two years ago says she is on the road to a fortune.

249. The Massage Treatment.—Another lady is having great success with the massage treatment.She has now more than seventy regular patrons.This method of cure is easily learned and readily applied. Hardly a lady among your acquaintances is in good health. It is a proverb that no woman is well. A vast proportion of these cases are nervous and will yield to the massage treatment. If you have strong muscles you could readily achieve a large practice by this system, especially in summer resorts and places where invalids flock.

250. Ice Cream Parlor.—This is not new, but possesses possibilities of a good living where the field is not overworked.There are five things necessary to success, and in the following order of importance: An attractive place in a clean, fashionable locality; good and generous plates of cream; unexcelled neatness; polite service; and popular prices.We have known a lady commencing business on these principles to oust quickly an older establishment run on slacker methods.

251. Flower Packets.—Buy quantities of flower seeds of all varieties.Put them up in very small envelopes, a few seeds in each one, advertise that you will send samples for a penny a kind, ten for six cents, twenty-five for fifteen cents, fifty for twenty-five cents, etc. A large mail envelope will hold fifty or more of the smaller ones containing seeds.

252. Lady Caterer.—A woman has a fine chance to succeed as a caterer.Her taste in arranging tables should at least make her hold her own with business rivals of the opposite sex.Mrs. A.B.Marshall, a woman caterer of London, often manages a supper for one hundred guests.

253. Delicacies for Invalids.—This is a new field which is being worked with much promise. “Mrs. Kate Teachman,” as she is known in the New York Sun, is working in this line with great success.She says: “Of course, if you want this sort of thing you must pay for it—sixty-five cents for a pint of broth, seventy-five cents for a pint of puree, sixty-five cents for a half-pint of jelly, twenty-five cents for chopped chicken sandwiches.”

254. Insect Powder.—A California woman who now owns four hundred acres of land has a history that ought to inspire other women with a belief in their ability to get on in the world.In 1861 her husband died, leaving her with a debt of $1,400, three children, and a small farm mortgaged.Within five years she had paid the mortgage by taking boarders, raising chickens, and doing whatever offered.In 1877 she began to raise pyrethrum, the plant from which insect powder is made, some years having one hundred acres planted with it.Now she has from fifty to eighty employees of both sexes, and is said to be worth half a million dollars.

255. Rice Cultivator.—A few years ago a young Iowa girl-squatter, with her sixteen-year-old brother, took up a government claim in Louisiana, and went to planting rice, the first crop of which paid her $1,000.She lives in a three-room cottage, and has a few fruit trees, plenty of good fences, and a sea of waving rice-blades.Her nearest neighbor is another girl-farmer who also settled a government claim, and is bossing an orchard that is giving her a comfortable living.

256. Yeast Cakes.—Here is what one woman did: Being thrown on her own resources, instead of following the beaten path of custom, she engaged in something novel. She made yeast cakes. Gradually her trade increased until she was obliged to hire help, and in time had to build an addition to the house to provide room for her thriving business. She now makes a good living, finding her work congenial as well as profitable. Here is her recipe: Take one dozen hops and boil two or three hours, remove from the fire and strain through a sieve, adding boiling water until there are three or four quarts of the liquid. Then thicken with canaille until quite stiff; and one-half tablespoonful of ginger and one-quarter cup of molasses; let it stand until cool, add one-half cup of salt yeast, or one cake of lard, and in the morning stir down with a little fine cornmeal. Let it rise again, then mix with cornmeal, roll, and cut with a cutter. This rule makes one hundred cakes. They sell for seventy-five cents per hundred, and retail for one cent apiece.

257. Physical Culture.—There are twelve million young women in the United States.The great majority of them have an ailment of some kind; in fact, it is almost impossible to find a perfectly healthy woman.Physical culture will add years to one’s life.An eminent physician has estimated that twenty-four million years, or an average of two years each, can be added to the lives of our young women by simple bodily exercise of one hour each day.Get a book, study a chart, employ a teacher; then, after a thorough course go about among your friends and form a class.Induce your pupils to bring other pupils.Advertise, lecture, give class exhibitions.Charge $5 a quarter for a class of twelve; $4 for one of fifteen; $3 for one of twenty.Mr. John D.Hoover, of Los Angeles, Cal., says: “When I entered a college of oratory, I was almost penniless. I took a special course in physical culture, with a view to teaching that art. It is now eighteen months since I left the college, and during that time I have earned in clear cash from teaching physical culture the sum of $20,960. I have 1,507 pupils. My sister also has been very successful in teaching since she graduated, and has made quite a large sum of money.”

258. House Cleaning.—Enterprising men have taken up the work of house cleaning with considerable success, but the business can be managed better by a woman than by a man.If your patrons are not too many, you can personally superintend the work in each house yourself to the great satisfaction of the lady, who would commonly prefer to have it managed by one of her own sex.If your business increases so as to require your presence in the office, you can send a lady assistant to superintend the work.Have a fixed price per room where there is no extra work, such as painting, kalsomining, and paper hanging.In the latter case it is better to take the work by the job.

259. Selling Oysters.—Here is the way a woman with five little children gets a living: She hires a boy to open the oysters, which she then puts up in little pint pails and takes from house to house.She has many customers whom she serves regularly on certain days.Sales per week, fifty pints, or twenty-five quarts.Boy’s wages, $1.Net, $3.

260. Pie Cart.—Hear what another woman says: “I have a little pie cart.It is nothing but a pie-crate mounted on wheels.I bake every morning ten pies and in the afternoon I sell them hot from door to door. I make about seven cents on a large pie, and four cents on small one.” Average earnings per day, fifty cents.

261. Men’s Neck Ties.—As every man, at least every well-dressed man, wears a tie, which must be renewed several times a year—white lawns every day—the number in demand is enormous.First learn the business, and then if you can sell them a little under the manufacturers’ price you are sure to dispose of all you can make.One girl earned $12 a week in this way.

262. Dancing Teacher.—The natural grace of women fits them better than men to be teachers of this art, especially to be instructors of young girls.Dancing teachers charge on the average $15 a quarter.There are several very successful lady teachers.

263. Haberdasher.—The selling of small articles of the dress and toilet is profitable if the location is good and the competition not too severe.Where one cannot purchase the articles outright, she can sell on commission.Dealers in small wares of this kind often take in from $12 to $20 a day, of which on the average, one-sixth is profit.

264. Lady Architect.—There is no reason why women should not succeed in this occupation, since it is one in which taste is a chief requisite.Several young lady graduates of college have entered it recently, and with flattering success.Architects charge about three per cent.on contracts.

265. Lost and Found Agency.—In every large city numbers of articles are lost by the owners and found by others every day.A single New York paper contains daily from ten to twenty advertisements of lost articles. Open a small office, advertise in the “Lost and Found” column of the paper that you will receive any articles that may be found, and charge the owner a small commission. The agency could be carried on in connection with some other light business.

CHAPTER VIII.

MONEY FOR BOYS.

Boys, you can do it!What!get rich?attain to fame?Yes, both.“But I have no chance.”Neither had Humphry Davy, nor Jay Gould, nor Henry Wilson.But the first became one of the greatest of scientists; the second, the richest man in the country; and the third, vice-president of the United States.

“The best school is the school of adversity,” said Rousseau, who, from a waiter in a restaurant, became the most noted man of his age. The boy, Horace Greeley, wandered up and down the streets of New York, asking of printers if they “wanted a hand,” and was everywhere laughed at and turned away; and the boy, George W. Childs, worked for $2 a week as a clerk in a book store, saved money, bought the Philadelphia Ledger, and became a millionaire.

“I have no capital,” you say.But you have ten servants (fingers) to work for you.Daniel Manning, ex-President Cleveland’s Secretary of Treasury, started as a newsboy. John Wanamaker, the great merchant, commenced in a book store at $1.25 a week. Fred Douglass, the colored orator, began life as a slave without a cent. And P. T. Barnum, the world-famed showman, rode a horse for ten cents a day. No chances! You have five on each hand. No capital! It is the blood that fights and wins. If you have no opportunity, make it. Do not wait for something to turn up; turn something up. Be a match for events. The world’s great and rich men have forced their way to success at the bayonet points of their fingers, and with the iron pry of an unconquerable will. Boys, here are a few hints for you:

Section 1.How a Boy can Get a Place.

SEVEN WAYS TO GET A POSITION.

266. Free Service.—Make friends with a clerk.Offer to go with him on the delivery wagon.He will be only too glad of your assistance.The next step will be to help in odd jobs about the store.After a little familiarity with the business, you will find an opening.Your friendly clerk will have a sick day, or a leave of absence, or a vacation.The employer knows you have assisted the clerk, and will gladly give you his place for a day or a week, and from temporary employment it is but a step to a permanent place.

267. Special Department.—Make yourself familiar with a particular department of the work of shop or store.Suppose you take a pound of tea.It will surprise you to find out how many things you can learn about so insignificant a thing as a pound of tea.Ascertain the different brands; what markets they come from; where they are raised; how they are manufactured; in what quantities they are shipped; what are the fluctuations in price; who are the largest dealers; in what section of the country the trade is chiefly carried on. A study of these things will suggest other branches. A year given to a study of this kind, and you will know more about tea than the most trusted employee, whose knowledge is commonly of a superficial kind. Then, if you have an opportunity, you can surprise the merchant with a knowledge of his business, and he will be sure to give you a place as soon as he has an opening. One merchant says: “I always have a place for a person who can tell me anything about my business I don’t know myself.”

268. Show Superiority of Goods.—A man occupied his spare moments in measuring the linear feet of advertisements contained in the different Sunday papers, and sent the result to the one which had printed the most.Go around among customers and find what brand of goods they like the best.Then report to the makers of these brands, and you may be sure they will take an interest in you if they see that you take an interest in them.

269. Advertising.—Here is an advertisement for the right kind of boy: “A brisk-footed, up-to-date boy, not afraid to work, will take a place at low wages for the sake of learning the business.”Here you have four qualities in two lines—quickness, intelligence, industry, and low wages—the four things men are looking for, and such an advertisement will not wait long for a reply.

270. Influence.—Great names are mighty.Introduce yourself to the greatest man in your town, and tell him your qualifications and ambitions.Do not be afraid of him. A truly great man is more willing to do a real kindness to a meritorious boy than you think. Robert Lennox, an old-time New York merchant, one Sunday at church saw a timid young person looking anxiously around as if for a seat. “Come with me,” said Mr. L. , “and I will give you a seat.” The next day the young man took a letter of recommendation to the store of a merchant. “Can I get a small bill of goods to begin business with?” he inquired. “I will trust anybody that Robert Lennox invites into his pew,” was the reply. “I owe all my success in life,” said Jonathan Sturges, “to the invitation of Robert Lennox to sit in his pew.” With the great-and-good-man’s indorsement you will find places waiting for you.

271. A Trial Week.—All many boys want is a chance.When you apply in vain for a place, tell the proprietor you are sure that he needs you, and that you will come a week for nothing (better a month if you can afford it).If you really have the merit you think you have, it will be strange if you cannot displace some indolent or indifferent employee.

272. Commission.—Offer to sell the dealer’s goods on commission.You must leave a deposit to cover the worth of the goods.Take the articles to your friends and tell them you are trying to get a place.In most cases, if the goods are cheap, they will try to help you, and you will be able to make an excellent report to your employer.When he sees that your service means money in his pocket, he will be eager to employ you at a salary.

Section 2.What Boys Can Do.

TWENTY HINTS FOR BOYS.

273. The Boy Magician.—For fifty cents you can buy a book entitled “The Parlor Magician,” containing one hundred tricks for the drawing room. A few weeks’ practice should make you master of these arts, and then with your outfit you are ready for a money-making tour. It is best to take along a friend, as in some of the most clever tricks you will need an assistant.

274. The Glass-blower.—For twenty-five cents you can get a book with full instructions in the curious art of glass-blowing.The wondrous forms you will be able to produce, the pleasure of the work, and above all the money derived from the sale of your products, will delight the heart of any boy.There is money in glass-blowing after you have mastered the art, but if you would make a business of it you must apprentice yourself for a time to a master of the trade.

275. The Dime Lunch.—There are thousands of business men and clerks in our large stores and offices who would prefer to pay ten or fifteen cents rather than go out to a restaurant.Especially is this the case in rainy weather.Pretty boxes with tasteful lunches could be prepared at a small cost, and taken through the places of business.The important item is attractiveness.

276. Cancelled Stamps.—In every large city there are dealers who will pay you for canceled stamps.Ordinary stamps bring about ten cents per thousand, but rare ones bring very high prices.Ask all your friends for their canceled stamps.In a store in New York there are several barrels full of postage stamps collected by boys.Each barrel contains a million.

277. The Boys’ Press.—Do you know you can get a printing press with complete outfit, a full font of type, and one hundred cards for $3?You can make money easily by printing cards and doing other small press jobs.Charge fifty cents, seventy-five cents or $1 for cards, according to the quality of paper and amount of printing.

278. Saw and Scroll.—Most interesting articles, both of use and ornament, can be made by the scroll-saw.Some have earned boys’ fortunes in making these curious articles, and there is as much pleasure in making them as in getting the money for them.

279. The Magic Lantern.—The very best lantern and slides can be obtained for $6.From that figure the price runs downward to fifty cents.Purchase a good one and give parlor exhibitions at a charge of five cents admission.As you become more expert, you can increase your price.If you are a success at the business, your services will be in demand for more pretentious entertainments, where you can make $5 or more in a single evening.

280. Candy Making.—What can please a boy better than candy making.Offer your services free for a short time to a confectioner.When you have learned the trade, which you can do in a little while, commence the business on your own account in a small way.Beginning with those sweets which are easily made, you can extend your art as your business increases until you have a good trade.

281. Odd Jobs.—“I push baby carriages through the park at five cents apiece,” says a Chicago boy.“I clean and oil bicycles,” says a New York lad. “I stand on the Boulevard and pump up tires,” declares a third. “I buy a dozen lemons and a pound of sugar and sell lemonade on all holidays and at times of parade,” says an enterprising schoolboy. “I carry bundles and valises from the train, and make often fifty cents a day,” says a Boston youth. “I hang up a slate on the front gate and take store orders for neighbors,” says a bright village lad.

282. General Employment Agency.—Inform a hundred or more families in a particular district that at a certain hour of the day you will be there to carry messages, roll out barrels of ashes, go on errands, mail letters, black boots, and do whatever work they may require.If the work is sufficient to warrant it, a business partnership of boys may be formed, so that while one is engaged another can go on his usual rounds, and thus insure punctuality.

283. Collect Magazines.—Almost every one takes a literary magazine, and some take two or three.After a time they become refuse on their hands.Many persons would gladly give you a truck-load.But these are worth money, and second-hand dealers who sell them at five cents apiece will give you three cents for them.

284. Vacant Lot.—If you live in the city, get the owner of a vacant lot to give you the privilege of raising vegetables.With a little experience you can easily raise from $50 to $100 worth of vegetables on a lot 20 × 100 feet.This will go far to eke out the support of a large family.

285. Bicycle Teaching.—Here is a field for a stout lad of fifteen years.There are thousands of modest young ladies and men, especially elderly gentlemen, who would like to learn to ride a wheel, but do not like the publicity of a riding academy.Issue some neat cards and circulate them from house to house with the information that for the sum of $1 you will teach any one to ride.Most people have a back yard where such instruction could be given.Having no rent to pay, you could easily afford to take them for that price, as you have the advantage over the professional instructor, both of cheapness and privacy.There is a lot of money in this for the right kind of a boy.

286. First-Cost Sales.—When public attention is aroused upon any subject, consider how you can turn it to account.Here is what a boy thirteen years old says: “When ‘Coin’s Financial School’ came out and the people were talking about it, I wrote to Mr. Harvey, the author, and got a lot of the books and sold them all before they got into the book stores here.I have made in this and like enterprises $500.”Like opportunities were presented in our late war, with the Dewey buttons, battleship pictures, etc. Keep your eyes open.Opportunities to make money are all about you.The alert boy makes the successful man.

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Boys, there is gold in all the mountains, pearls in all the seas, and money in every street.Elijah Morse at fifteen years of age bought a recipe for stove polish, paying $5 for the materials.He peddled it in a carpetbag, and from this small beginning grew the celebrated “Rising Sun Stove Polish,” whose huge factory covers four acres at West Canton, Mass., and whose proprietor is immensely rich.Cornelius Vanderbilt was a poor boy without a cent. When he died his estate was valued at $40,000,000.

Boys, there is a fortune for you.It is not to be found, but made by hard work.Write on your banner, “Luck is a fool.Pluck is a hero.”

CHAPTER IX.

MONEY IN AGENCIES.

Few occupations offer such inducements for persons with little or no capital as that of the agent. There are two classes of agencies. In one, as a book or patent agency, the agent works for one or two persons at a fixed commission and needs no capital. In the other, as that of servants and of supply companies, the agent is also in a certain sense a principal; he obeys no one’s orders, fixes his own commissions, and makes his profits directly from the public. Here are a few points for agents:

287. Book Agency.—The book agency depends partly upon the kind of book, but chiefly upon the kind of man.The right man selling the right book can make enormous wages.An agent selling a commentary on the Bible made sometimes $25 in half a day.An agent for the “People’s Encyclopædia” earned $3,000 in one year, and spent only about half the time in the work.Many agents for “Memoirs of General Grant” earned from $10 to $20 a day.Ordinarily, an agent should be satisfied if he can make from $3 to $5 a day. From this sum must come his expenses. Book agents receive from 25 to 45 per cent. , according to the nature of the work. Forty per cent. is considered excellent compensation.

288. The Patent Agency.—Considerable business is now done in the selling of patent rights.The agent studies the lists that come out weekly in the “United States Patent Gazette,” and sends his circulars to those who have secured patents.The agent will charge from five to ten per cent., if he can arrange with a patentee for the sale of the patents.In other cases, he charges a fixed sum, which is paid in advance, and is considered an equivalent for his services whether or not he is successful in effecting a sale, on the same principle that doctors and lawyers are paid whether they gain or lose a case.In extent and profit, the business varies from the itinerant vender with half a dozen patents in his valise to the established business house with sub-agencies in all parts of the world.What the profits are in the latter situation may be judged from a single case in the former, where a traveling man received as commission on a single patent sold the sum of $5,000.

289. Commission Merchants.—A vast business is done in the sale of general merchandise on commission.Foreign houses have their agencies in this city.Also much of the produce of the farm and of the products of manufactures are disposed of in the same way.Take a case of the former kind.A man hires an office in New York and storage in a warehouse.Then he sends circulars to Westerndealers, stating that he is prepared to take their stock or grain on commission.When he can make quick sales he saves the expense of storage, but rental in a warehouse is necessary in holding for futures. He receives in one day 100,000 bushels of wheat at seventy-five cents per bushel, which, after paying freightage, he sells at one half of one per cent. profit. Gain of one day, $500. He will not receive so much every day, and some days he will have to sell at a loss; but, taken altogether, there are good chances of wealth in the commission business.

290. Insurance Agency.—Insurance, both fire and life, is a mine of wealth, and has opened wondrously during the last few years.The present magnitude of the business is shown by the statement that there are $2,500,000,000 invested in life insurance in the United States, while the fire insurance agents last year wrote more than $16,000,000,000.There are seven men who have an aggregate of $7,000,000 on their lives.But the business is yet in its infancy.The field of life insurance is not nearly covered, and if it were, ten million persons will come to maturity during the next ten years, all of whom may be considered as candidates for insurance, and all the policies will have to be renewed in a short time.Insurance agents receive as commission from ten to twenty-five per cent.Some companies secure to their agents a regular percentage on the premium so long as the policies continue in force.If, therefore, an agent gets fifteen per cent.commission, and the company receives $10,000 per year as premiums from the policies he has written, his share will be $1,500; and thus he enjoys an annuity without any further work for a long period of time.The larger old-time companies, also, have general agents whose positions are still more lucrative.Many of them are in circumstances of affluence, and have very little to do.In fact, it is in the insurance business as in many other occupations, that as one rises the salaries are larger, and the actual work, aside from the responsibility, is smaller.

291. Traveling Salesman.—In some houses a traveling salesman is allowed a standing commission on all goods bought by firms whose custom was secured through his influence.As the commission continues as long as the customer continues the trade at that house, some agents, after a few years of active work are enabled to retire on incomes of $2,000, $3,000, and in some cases of $5,000 a year.The business done by drummers is immense.Three hundred million tons of goods are shipped by them yearly, and the business amounts to nearly $2,000,000 a day.

292. Supply Companies.—A supply company differs from an ordinary merchants’ firm in that it does not keep goods in stock.It is a mammoth general agency for procuring whatsoever you desire.Specimens only are kept in the store, and from these the customers make selections.The advantage of supply companies is the saving of large rentals, of expensive clerk-hire, and of loss or damage in the long keeping of goods, and, most of all, of risk in unsalable articles, and in the fall of prices.Thus, a supply company can undersell an ordinary dealer, and if alert and prompt can make vast profits.Another great advantage is the smallness of the capital required.Here are great opportunities for bright young business men of limited means.

293. Agencies for Teachers.—The number of teachers in the public schools in the United States is 400,325.The matter of engaging school teachers varies in different States, and often in different parts of the same State. Sometimes it is done by county superintendents, often by the Board of Education, but most frequently by the school trustees, commissioners, or committees. One going into the business of a Teachers’ Agency must ascertain the particular method in every part of the country, and learn the name of the persons authorized to act in that capacity. Then he should issue circulars by the hundred thousand. For the eyes of applicants, he should use the advertising pages of the newspapers. Teachers should be charged a commission upon their salaries in something like the following order: Five per cent. on first year’s salary, three per cent. the second year, and one per cent. the third year. After that it may be allowed to lapse. The contract should be rigorously drawn, and, where possible, payments should be collected in advance. There are great profits in the business when systematically and vigorously conducted. One agency in the eastern part of the United States is receiving commissions from ten thousand school teachers. Owing to frequent changes, the majority of these are paying five per cent. ; but if we suppose the average to be only the amount payable the second year—$3 commission—the income would be $30,000.

294. Clerical Agency.—Here is an opportunity for an unoccupied clergyman of wide clerical acquaintance.There are thousands of vacant pulpits and other thousands of ministers anxious for calls.Establish an agency through whose medium the supply shall meet the demand.Your list should comprise the names of all churchless pastors, together with those desirous of change; and their experience, qualifications, education, family, age, personal appearance, together with other interesting information, should be properly tabulated for the inspection of church committees. Candidates should be graded according to the catalogue, and sent out in order as pulpit candidates. As clerical engagements are commonly much longer than those of teachers, it is right that you should receive a larger per cent. for your services. If a church pays its pastor a salary of $10,000, and you are successful in the search for an available man for its pulpit, it would hardly be a presumption for you to charge $500 for your services.

295. Matrimonial Agencies.—These should be conducted with the greatest care, and only by the most conscientious persons, on account of the great responsibilities involved.They are, however, capable of vast development, and of immense good.In Massachusetts alone there are seventy thousand females in excess of the males, while in Illinois the men preponderate to the number of fifty thousand.Your task of bringing together the unmated is a most delicate one, and you should accordingly be well compensated.Where there is much wealth on either side, your commission may be expressed in three figures, and even in four.One thousand dollars is a small sum for a man to pay who secures an accomplished wife and a happy home.We have known several marriages made in this way to turn out exceedingly well.

296. Agency for Servants.—This is not new, but you might revolutionize it by a new plan.Written recommendations are worthless, because almost every one will compensate the disappointment of the discharged servant by a certificate of good behavior, in the writing of which the elasticity of the conscience is more or less drawn upon.Instead of accepting a valueless paper, let an employee of the office personally visit two or three of the places where the servant has been employed. The lady of the house will tell you many things she would not write in the letter. This will consume time, but the compensation is in the better class of service you will be enabled to offer. When it is known that you make personal investigation, sifting out the useless and offering only first-class help, your patronage will be vastly increased, and you can charge much higher commissions. Tell your patron that at the end of a month she may pay you $10 if satisfied; and most people would prefer to do that than to pay a half or quarter of that sum in advance with small guarantee of fitness.

297. Agency for Farm Hands.—There are thousands of idle people in the great cities who would gladly go on farms for a portion of the year.If they make personal application, they are commonly regarded by the farmer as tramps.Besides these, there are thousands of emigrants arriving in search of work.Many of them are valuable as farm help, having tilled the soil at home.An agent who has a keen knowledge of human nature, and knows how to ask questions, sifting out the useless and the vicious from the valuable and the virtuous, can through proper advertising in agricultural papers, send at least a thousand of these men into the country every summer.Through an arrangement with the farmer by which $5 of the first month’s wages shall be withheld and forwarded to the agent, the sum of $5,000 as commission for these one thousand laborers is secured.But the energetic agent ought to do far better than this.

CHAPTER X.

MONEY IN PROPRIETARY COMPOUNDS.

Owners of proprietary compounds have built up great fortunes in the sale of their concoctions. Our drug stores are filled with patent medicines, and millions of “cures” are sold annually. The names of some of these, such as Hostetter, Brandreth, and Mother Winslow, have become household words, proving how largely and universally their medicines have sold. The story is told of one credulous hypochondriac, who, on the theory that of many shot some one is likely to hit, actually took every kind of patent medicine in the world, or at least of every sort he had heard about. As there are more than three hundred and sixty diverse concoctions, this genius must have taken a different kind for every day of the year, or else have extended his experiments through a long period, which seems impossible under the circumstances. It is said that Perry Davis obtained his famous “Discovery” in the form of a recipe in an old newspaper which he found in an outhouse. This was the foundation of one of the largest fortunes in patent medicines, and it was the parent of all the “Killers.” The men who have made their piles in “pills” may be counted by the hundred. Perhaps the “Soothing Syrup” success is the most signal example of “multum in parvo.”It is sold by the million bottles, and yet it is nothing but a little paregoric dropped in some sweet mixture.“Lubec” is a mighty name, but anybody can be a Lubec so far as the question of perfumery goes.Among the anecdotes of medicine venders we have only space for one or two.A man was crying up the virtues of an electric belt, and it was found that he had adroitly attached a strip of mustard plaster to the magic band, and this when heated by contact with the warm skin produced redness and an itching, which were supposed by the too trusting patient to be the effects of the healing electricity.Another man has made a fortune with an “Indian Plant.”He travels about the country with what he advertises to be a “troop of Indians,” giving performances and hawking his “cures.”The “Indians” are New York toughs, and the “medicine plant” is a common pasture weed.We give no sort of countenance to these frauds, but, dismissing them all, there are still both profit to the patient and profit to the maker in the taking of proprietary medicines.To succeed in this line one should first have an article of genuine merit, and then advertise lavishly.Below are given some recipes quite as good as those that have made fortunes for their possessors, and in some cases the exact formulas of these widely renowned medicines are given.

298. Healing Ointment.—One of the most celebrated of ointments is composed of these simple ingredients: Butter, lard, Venice turpentine, white wax and yellow wax. Here is a rule for another ointment: Fresh butter, three-quarters pound; beeswax, four ounces; yellow resin, three ounces; melt together; add vinegar of cantharides, one fluid ounce; and simmer the whole with constant agitation for ten or twelve minutes, or until the moisture is nearly evaporated; then add of Canada balsam one ounce; express oil of mace, one drachm; balsam of Peru, ten or twelve drops; again stir well, allow mixture to settle; and when about half cold pour into pots previously slightly warmed, and allow it to cool very slightly. There is nothing else but to put on your label and expose for sale.

299. Spasm Killer.—Acetate of morphia, one grain; spirit of sal volatile and sulphuric ether, one fluid ounce each; camphor julep, four ounces.Keep closely corked in a cool place and shake well before use.Dose, one teaspoonful in a glass of cold water as required.

Here is another: Spirits of camphor, two ounces; tincture of capsicum, one ounce; tincture of guaiac, one-half ounce; tincture of myrrh, one-half ounce; alcohol, four ounces.This is Perry Davis’ famous medicine.

300. Anti-Malaria.—One ounce each of Peruvian bark and cream of tartar, cloves one-half drachm reduced to fine powder.Dose, one and one-half drachm every three hours.

301. Hostetter’s Bitters.—Here is the recipe for the famous bitters: Calamus root, two pounds; orange peel, two pounds; Peruvian bark, two pounds; gentian root, two pounds; colombo root, two pounds; rhubarb, eight ounces; cloves, two ounces; cinnamon, four ounces; diluted alcohol, four gallons; water, two gallons; sugar, two pounds.

302. Toothache Ease.—Liquor of ammonia, two parts; laudanum, one part; apply on lint.

303. Candy Digest.—Lump sugar, one pound; water, three ounces; dissolve by heat; add cardamom seeds, ginger, and rhubarb, of each one ounce; when the mixture is complete pour it out on an oiled slab or into moulds.

304. Cough Lozenges.—Lactucarium, two drachms; ipecacuanha, one drachm; squills, three-fourth drachm; extract of licorice, two ounces; sugar, six ounces; make into a mash with mucilage of tragacinth, and divide into twenty grain lozenges.

305. Lovers’ Hair Oil (Makes the hair glossy). —Castor oil, one pound; white wax, four ounces; melt together; add when nearly cold, of essence of bergamot, three drachms; oil of lavender, one-half drachm; essence of ambergris, ten drops.

306. Purgative Powder.—Equal parts of julep and cream of tartar, colored with a little red bole; dose, a teaspoonful in broth or warm water two or three times daily.

307. Consumption Wafers.—Two parts each lump sugar and starch in powdered form; powdered gum, one part; made into a lozenge mass with vinegar of squills, oxymel of squills, and ipecacuanha wine, equal parts, gently evaporated to one-sixth their weight with the addition of lactucarium in proportion of twenty to thirty grains to every ounce of the powders, the mass being divided into half-inch squares weighing about seven and one-half grains.

308. Beef, Iron and Wine.—Here is a recipe for Liebig’s famous extract: Beef juice, one-half ounce; ammonia citrate of iron, 256 grains; spirit of orange, one-half fluid ounce; distilled water, one-half ounce; sherry wine sufficient to make sixteen fluid ounces.Dissolve the ammonia citrate of iron in the water; dissolve the extract of beef in the sherry wine; add the spirit of orange and mix the solution.

309. Spring Tonic.—Calamus root, two pounds; orange peel, two pounds; Peruvian bark, two pounds; gentian root, two pounds; colombo root, two pounds; rhubarb, eight ounces; cinnamon, four ounces; cloves, two ounces; diluted alcohol, four gallons; water, two gallons; sugar, two pounds.

310. Dr. Pierce’s Golden Medical Discovery.—Here is all there is of Dr. Pierce’s Golden Medical Discovery.It is no doubt a good thing, but you can make it yourself.A one-dollar bottle holds 220 grains of a brownish-colored, clear liquid, consisting of fifteen grains of pure honey, one grain of extract of acrid lettuce, two grains of laudanum, 100 grains of diluted alcohol, with 105 grains of water.

311. Bed-Bug Exterminator.—Corrosive sublimate, one ounce; muriatic acid, two ounces; water, four ounces; dissolve, then add turpentine, one pint; decoction of tobacco, one pint.Mix.For the decoction of tobacco, boil two ounces of tobacco in one pint of water.The mixture must be applied with a paint-brush.If well applied, this is a sure destroyer of bed-bugs.It is a deadly poison.

312. Catarrh Cure.—One-half gram of carbolic acid; one-half gram of camphor; and ten grams of common salt; which are to be dissolved in four-sevenths of a liter of water and injected into the nostrils. You can call it the “Excelsior,” for it is excelled by none.

313. Lip Pomatum.—For chapped lips, lard, sixteen parts; cacao oil, twenty-four parts; spermaceti, eight parts; yellow wax, three parts; alcana root, one part.The substances are fused for a quarter of an hour at a gentle heat, then strain through a cloth, and mix with oil of lemon and oil of bergamot, each one-sixth part, oil of bitter almonds, one-fifteenth part; then the mass is poured into suitable vessels to cool.

314. Ointment for Chapped Hands.—Camphor, sixty grs.; boric acid, thirty grs.; lanolin and white vaseline of each one-half ounce.

315. Cod-Liver Oil Emulsion.—Yolks of two eggs; powdered sugar, four ounces; essence of oil of almonds, two drops; orange flower water, two ounces.Mix carefully with an equal bulk of cod-liver oil.This is a delicious emulsion.Of course, the dose is double that of the clear cod-liver oil.

316. Beauty Water.—(To remove freckles).Sulpho-carbonate of zinc, two parts; glycerine, twenty-five parts; rose water, twenty-five parts; spirits, five parts.Dissolve and mix.Anoint twice daily, keeping the ointment on the skin from one-half to one hour, then wash off with cold water.Wear a dark veil when exposed to the sun.

317. Cough Mixture.—Syrup of poppies, syrup of squills, and paregoric, each one-half ounce.Mix. Dose, a teaspoonful in a little warm water night and morning, or when the cough is troublesome.

318. Dr. Sage’s Catarrh Remedy.—Here is the famous secret: One-half grm.of carbolic acid; one-half grm.of camphor and ten grms. of common salt; which are to be dissolved in four-sevenths of a liter of water and injected into the nostrils.Its reputation is believed to be well deserved.

319. Diarrhea Mixture.—Wine of opium, one fluid ounce; tincture of valerian, one and one-half fluid ounces; ether, one-half fluid ounce; oil of peppermint, sixty minims; fluid extract of ipecac, fifteen minims; alcohol enough to make four fluid ounces.This is the formula for a most celebrated patent medicine.The dose is a teaspoonful in a little water every two or three hours until relieved.

320. Blood Purifier.—Equal to the best selling compounds.For a bottle holding 220 grms., take fifteen grms. of pure honey; one grm.extract of poisonous or acrid lettuce; two grms. laudanum; 100 grms. of diluted alcohol; with 105 grms. of water.Make large quantities in like proportion.

CHAPTER XI.

MONEY IN REAL ESTATE.

No class of men have made greater or securer fortunes than dealers in real estate. W. C. Ralston, James Lick, and J. J. Astor, are examples of persons who have accumulated vast sums through investments in land. The points of real estate are: First, a sound title; second, a keen foresight of the wants and the roads of civilization; third, a careful inspection of the neighborhood where a contemplated purchase is located; fourth, a thorough knowledge of market values of this kind of property; fifth, non-professional advice, in the disinterested judgment of men thoroughly familiar with property and prices. Other considerations are the rate of taxes of various kinds, imposed or likely to be imposed upon the property. Tax methods in large cities are often ways that are dark. For this reason, George Gould, the multi-millionaire, and Mr. Rockefeller, the Standard Oil magnate, have disposed of their urban properties.

321. City Property.—A mile and a half of millionaires! Midway between the East River and the Hudson there lay a few years ago a neglected tract of land which could have been bought for a few hundred thousand dollars. To-day it is the wealthiest mile and a half on the Western continent. One hundred million dollars would not purchase the ground alone. Forty years ago a piece of land which is now almost “down-town” was called “Eno’s Folly,” because he paid for it what was supposed to be an extravagant sum. It is now the site of the Fifth Avenue Hotel. The tide is still running up, but you must now go to the Bronx, or even further for cheap city property. It is, however, the most secure of all investments. Nothing is more certain than that the property in the annexed district of New York is bound to advance. So also with real estate in all city suburbs.

322. Pleasure Resorts.—Less than forty years ago a man, simulating country simplicity, sauntered along Coney Island and astonished the owners by inquiring the price of what was supposed to be worthless land.They, thinking him crazy or a fool, named a thousand dollars, or five times what it was supposed to be worth.He accepted the offer on the spot.A million dollars would not buy the land to-day.The supposed countryman’s “folly” has been repeated many times since.The owner of Bergen Beach has made a fortune in this way during the last two or three years.As cities grow, pleasure resorts must be found.Buy a bit of seashore and make it into a Bergen Beach or a Bowery Bay.Or, purchase a grove within easy distance of the city, and make it into a pleasure park.In either case, railroads or trolley connection is indispensable, but with these and plenty of enterprise and money you cannot fail to reap a large harvest.

323. New Town Sites.—Large fortunes have been made by men who had the sagacity to see a potential factor in the meeting of two rivers, or the projection of a railroad.The question for investors in real estate is, “Where is the population going?”Keen observers note the drift, get ahead of the tide, and are ready to sell lots when the people arrive.Whitestone and Morris Park on Long Island were built in this way.It is a good investment, not quite so safe as city property, but paying more handsomely where the projector is fortunate in his location.

324. Western Lands.—Fortunes have been made and lost in Western lands.The facts are that some sharpers have been booming lands that are hardly worth the taxes.Persons who have bought “corner lots” in “promising” Western towns have been surprised to learn that the towns were not built, or even surveyed, and that often the site was located in the midst of an impenetrable swamp where a town was impossible.However, lands along the line of railroads, or places which have harbor facilities on the banks of rivers are good investments.

325. The Apartment House.—The apartment house, which is a kind of evolution of the flat, is becoming a feature of life in large cities.The question whether it is a paying property will receive light by the consideration of the rents received by the owners of a building of this kind in New York, the Knickerbocker at Fifth Avenue and Twenty-eighth Street.This is a typical apartment house, and the tenants may almost be said to buy their rooms, for there are several who give $100,000 for a ten-years’ lease, and even small bachelor apartments on the tenth floor command $1,000 a year.

326. The Sky Scraper.—There is no limit to the extent of a building in height. Some are twenty stories, one is thirty, and it is reported that a sky-scraper fifty stories in height is projected. Do they pay? Here is the account of a modest one of only nine stories, the Mills Building on William Street, New York. The cost, with land, was $2,500,000. It is 175 × 150 feet. It contains 400 offices, has 1,200 tenants, and pays an annual net rental of $200,000, or eight per cent. It is related of Mr. D. O. Mills, the owner, that in completing his magnificent residence on upper Fifth Avenue, he gave a carte blanche order to a decorator, and departed with his family to California. On returning he was delighted to find the place transformed into an Aladdin’s Palace, but his joy was somewhat modified at the presentation of the bill which amounted to $450,000.

327. The Jersey Flats.—Right over against property whose taxable value is $3,000,000,000 lies another property worth literally nothing.Step over from Manhattan Island, where every foot of land needs to be overlaid with silver round-moons for its purchase, to New Jersey, and you will find 27,000 acres of marsh lying under the very nose of the metropolis—land hardly worth a song.Why is this?Simply because capitalists have not been wise enough to improve this great waste.In Holland, by a system of diking, land in a similar condition is now covered by great warehouses and factories, and cannot be bought for hundreds of millions of dollars.Here is the opportunity for capitalists.Why invest money in far-off gold fields when you have a Klondike here at the very threshold of the metropolis?“The first step,” says the State geologist, “is to build an embankment and a pumping station. The cost will be about $1,000,000. The main ditches should be made, and the whole area laid out in twenty-acre farms, and sold on the express condition that each plot shall be immediately ditched and brought under cultivation.” If we put the cost of ditching, and of other incidental expenses at $500,000, we have a total cost of $1,500,000. Then, if we estimate the worth of the land at only one-fourth the average price of land on Manhattan Island—which is the average worth of land in Jersey City—we have a value for the total 27,000 acres of $50,000,000. Profits, $48,500,000.

328. Abandoned Farms.—There are 4,300 abandoned farms in New England alone.These with a little expense could all be made profitable.Some are selling, buildings complete, as low as $700, and even $500.Many of these abandoned farms, costing $1,000, could, at the expense of another $1,000, be put in a highly thrifty condition and sold for $4,000.An Abandoned Farm Company will some time be organized with chances of good profit.

CHAPTER XII.

MONEY IN THE FINE ARTS.

This is one of the most enjoyable as well as one of the most remunerative occupations. One of the noblest things which Peter Cooper ever did was to found a Free Art School for Women. Not only is it absolutely free to all women, but opportunities are afforded for meritorious pupils to earn no mean sums during their period of instruction.

329. Crayon Work.—A teacher in the Cooper Institute says: “During the previous year forty of my pupils in art have made $7,000, or $175 each, while learning the art of crayon-photography.Every year one hundred women on leaving the Cooper Institute make from $400 to $1,200 a year by art work.”

330. Drawing.—One graduate of the Cooper Union is now receiving from $2,000 to $3,000 as a teacher of drawing in the New York public schools, and another has been appointed manager of a decorative art society in New Orleans, with a salary of $150 a month, and opportunities to earn as much more by private tuition.

331. Photograph Coloring.—“A little girl,” says Mr. Cooper, “came to my house to thank me for what she had learned at the Institute.”“I have earned $300 coloring photographs,” she said with enthusiasm.The coloring of photographs gives employment to many hundreds of young women, and there is no prospect that the market will become glutted.

332. Oil Painting.—A man in middle life met Mr. Cooper on the stairs of the Institute. “My daughter,” he said, “makes $1,300 a year by teaching painting, and I never earned more than $1,200 myself.” The chief points of oil painting are a good tooth (a canvas which will take color from a brush readily), perspective, fineness of touch, delicate perception, an eye for shades of color, and a bold, free hand. Oil paintings bring from $5 to $50,000, according to merit.

333. Water Colors.—Paintings in water colors are popular because less expensive than those done in oil.Good work in this department is, however, well paid.Much depends upon the subject and its treatment.It is said that the artist, Mr. John LaFarge, sold about $15,000 worth of water colors last year.

334. Wood Engraving.—A young woman from California sat on the sofa of Mr. Cooper’s library.“I have come to thank you,” she said.“I feel as rich as a queen.I have thirty pupils in wood engraving.”

335. Book Decoration.—Publishers of books, and especially of magazines, pay large prices for decorations for the covers, title pages, and other important parts. The secret of success is in the design. If you can find a happy idea, you will get a large price for it. Of course, the point in most cases is to illustrate the subject-matter. A unique conception, happily worked out, will give both fame and money.

336. Dyeing.—This may not be thought one of the fine arts, but it requires a skill hardly inferior to that of the painter or sculptor.There is a large field in the recoloring of tapestries, silks, and woolen goods.The requisites of success are taste, a good eye for color, knowledge of dye-stuffs, and indefatigable industry in finding a market.

337. Designs.—These are constantly in demand.Wall paper manufacturers, dressmakers, architects, builders, home decorators, carpet manufacturers, fine-art workers, all want designs.An ordinary kaleidoscope will furnish you thousands of suggestions every day.From these select a few of the best and work them on a fine, white drawing paper.Have a separate folio for each department of drawings, and advertise what you are doing.If you have a real talent for the work, and a show-window, you cannot fail of success in any large town.

338. Engraving on Glass.—By the use of the wheel this becomes easy work.The chief fields for its operation are in summer resorts where people wish to carry away a souvenir of the place.One who knows how to display goods can do a very profitable work in the season.

339. Embroidery.—This is one of the simplest of the arts. The only capital required is a ball of worsted, the only tool a needle, and the only instruction a few elementary rules that can be quickly learned. The demand depends upon the skill. A small store can be cheaply stocked, and its contents sold at a good profit if the articles are unique.

340. Lace Making.—Our valuable laces are chiefly imported, but there is no reason why work equally good should not be done at home.An immense field yet to be developed is American-made needle-point lace.Get a book on the subject and study it theoretically.Then take lessons of a maker.The book will give you suggestions and enable you, after you have learned the business, to strike out in various directions independently of your teachers.

341. Drawing in Charcoal.—This is a rapid, facile, and effective method for sketching.The drawings are more especially in demand in summer cottages, tents, and in whatever places lodgings are temporary, and where lodgers dislike the trouble of shipping costly paintings.You can find a ready market for good work at any mountain or seaside resort.

342. Painting on China.—This is becoming very popular.Few kinds of art pay better than china-firing.The outfit will cost from $15 to $50, according to the size of the kiln, but the pleasure and profit will be worth many hundreds of dollars.If you live in a country town, put your wares in a prominent store, and they will be sure to attract attention.

343. Portrait Painting.—This is profitable if you can secure sufficient custom.The difficulty is to get the flesh tones, the expression, and the proper degree of illumination. Last year, there were thirty young women in Cooper Institute learning the art, and one-fifth of the number were earning from $5 to $12 a week, even during their tutelage.

CHAPTER XIII.

MONEY IN MANUFACTURE.

Vast profits accrue from manufactures, but the best returns for investments in this line are realized when the manufacturer is able to make a new article, or to make an old article by improved means. David Maydole, a village blacksmith, was requested to make for a carpenter a hammer as good as he could make it. He made a better hammer than had ever before been seen, and the carpenter’s mates all wanted one. The village storekeeper ordered two dozen. A hardware dealer, passing through the place to sell his wares, left an order for all the blacksmith could make. The hammer-maker built a large factory, and this was the humble origin of the celebrated Maydole hammer, and the foundation of a great fortune. Another fascinating chapter on manufacture is the “Story of Pullman,” which reads like a fairy tale, but is all strictly true. Mr. Pullman began in a small way to build parlor cars, making one or two as an experiment. The traveling public were quick to appreciate the luxury, and Mr. P. had to enlarge his works again and again. He built the town of Pullman, which is now valued at $30,000,000, and the capital stock which now has a market value of $60,000,000, has paid dividends with the regularity of a government loan.

344. Bicycle Factories.—These have proved veritable bonanzas during the past few years.In 1878, Col.Albert A.Pike began the manufacture of bicycles, making fifty that year.To-day he has a phenomenal business, employing a capital of $5,000,000 utilizing four factories in Hartford, Conn., and making 600 bicycles a day.

345. Double Profit Furs.—Here is a way to make a double profit from the skins of animals: Soak the furs in limewater till the hair is loosened, then wash and hang it up to dry.Lay it on a board with the hair side up and apply a solution of glue, care being taken not to disturb the natural position of the hairs.When the glue is dry and hard, hold the hairs so firmly as to allow the natural skin to be peeled off.Now you can apply the artificial skin by pouring over the hairs liquid India-rubber, boiled drying-oils, or other waterproof substances, which on drying will form a continuous membrane supporting the hairs.The glue is then removed by steeping the fur in warm water.This plan has the double advantage that the fur so prepared is moth-proof, and the old skin can be used for the manufacture of leather.

346. Mica Sheets.—Large sheets of mica command a great price.There are only a few places where the mineral can be mined in sheets of one foot square or larger, but the vast heaps of waste mica can be utilized by building up the sheets artificially.This can be done by treating it with shellac. There are fortunes in waste mica quarries for those who know how to utilize the countless tons of fragments. The field is especially promising in North Carolina and Georgia, where immense quarries abound.

347. Artificial Marble.—There is room for profitable investment in the manufacture of any article which is procured from nature at great expense.This is the case with marble.It is scarce at best; the quarries are remote from the centers of population, and the mining and transportation make it a very costly article.Marble can be manufactured by imitating nature’s processes—the percolating of water through chalk.The popular verde antique can be made by an application of an oxide of copper.The slices of marble are then placed in another bath, where they are hardened and crystallized, coming out exactly like the real article.In Italy, a fine black marble is made from common white sandstone.The manufacture is carried on by the owners of the local gasworks, who thus reap a double profit from their plant.Here is a hint for American manufacturers.

348. Artificial Whalebone.—Whalebone is in great demand.It is worth from $3 to $4 per pound.No artificial substance has as yet been found to take its place, but we are surely on the eve of that discovery.No one substance is at the same time so hard and so elastic, but experimenters will yet find a combination which will answer the purpose.One has already been found which draws the surplus demand when the genuine article cannot be obtained.The inventor who can advance another step and produce an exact imitation will have the whalebone market in his hands. This field is rich with possibilities.

P.S.—Since writing the above we have the secret.Here it is: Treat the rawhide with sulphide of sodium, remove the hair, immerse the hide twenty-six to thirty-four hours in a weak solution of double sulphate of potassa, and stretch it upon a frame or table, in order that it may not contract in drying.The desiccation is allowed to proceed in broad daylight, and the hide is then exposed to a temperature of fifty to sixty degrees.The influence of the light, combined with the action of the double sulphate of potassa absorbed by the skin, renders the gelatine insoluble in water, and prevents putrefaction, the moisture being completely expelled.Thus prepared, the skin is submitted to a strong pressure, which gives to it almost the hardness and elasticity which characterize the genuine whalebone, with the advantage that before or after the process of desiccation any color desired may be imparted to it by means of a dye bath.

349. Artificial India Rubber.—A man while experimenting recently with cottonseed oil for the production of a varnish, obtained to his surprise, not a varnish, but a rubber.By its use, with fifteen per cent.of genuine rubber, an article can be produced so exactly like the real as to defy detection.The process is so simple that a patent is not obtainable.So, manufacturers, the field is open.Rubber is high and in great demand.

350. Artificial Camphor.—Here is another trade secret.The genuine camphor is scarce.The artificial is made in England, shipped to Hamburg, and then re-shipped to England as the real article.Here is the way it is made: Pass a current of dry hydrochloric acid gas through spirits of turpentine cooled by a freezing mixture. The liquid deposits crystals, which are dissolved in alcohol and precipitated by water. The separated crystals are drained and dried. They are perfectly colorless, with an odor like camphor. At the ordinary temperature, its vapor tension is sufficient to cause it to sublime like ordinary camphor in small brilliant crystals in the bottles in which it is preserved. It is insoluble in water, and gyrates when on the surface of that liquid like true camphor.

351. Car Building.—Some day another Pullman will arise, but with developments in car building in a totally different direction.We quote from a recent magazine article: “The time is sure to come when a new railroad genius will arise and make an end of the game of brag between American general passenger agents.This reformer will probably substitute light and easily cleaned bamboo seats for those now in use; he will save a good deal of the money now spent in useless ornamentation, and spend it in better ventilation and lighting; and he is likely to design frames and trucks much lighter, and at least as strong and durable, as those which carry the average day car of the present time.It is possible, too, that he may accomplish a good result by lowering the center of gravity of the prevailing type of passenger car, thus preventing it from rolling at high rates of speed, and obviating the supposed necessity of placing two or three tons of old rails in the floor to keep it steady.”It is perhaps needless to say that such a man as Mr. Pullman or Mr. Wagner will become a multi-millionaire through this much-needed reform.

352. The Transverse Wooden Pavement.—One day the celebrated wit, Sidney Smith, was talking with some vestrymen of the church of which he was a member about laying a wooden pavement around the sacred edifice. “Well,” said the famous jester, “we have but to lay our heads together and the thing is done.” But here is a pavement which some capitalists will one day lay their heads (funds) together to produce, and it will be no joke. It has been ascertained that the most durable pavement is made from blocks of wood sawed transversely about twelve inches in thickness. The larger and smaller blocks are fitted together, the smaller interstices being filled with wooden wedges. Here is a chance for some enterprising firm.

CHAPTER XIV.

MONEY IN MINING.

The immense importance which minerals play in our industries and the glittering fortunes made by delving into the earth, are faintly indicated by the fact that the output of last year aggregated the almost unthinkable sum of nearly $1,000,000,000. Profits in mining come mainly from four sources. The buying of mining lands with a view to sale, prospecting for the purpose of selling claims, placer-mining, and mining by machinery. Here are a few of the most promising roads to the earth’s hidden wealth.

353. Nevada Silver.—The Comstock lode produced in three years $100,000,000, of which $30,000,000 went for cost and working expenses, and $70,000,000 for profits.Altogether $300,000,000 have been taken from that celebrated mine.In the African mines there are sixty-nine companies.In 1896 the lowest dividend of any of these companies was 10 per cent., and the highest 350.In 1897 the lowest was 10 and the highest 500 per cent.The accounts of the way that such men as James Flood, James G. Fair, and William Sharon obtained their wealth from silver mines reads like the fascinating story of a popular novel.

354. Aluminum, the New Mineral.—“The product of aluminum in the United States,” says a mining expert, “should be three million pounds in 1900.”The present price is from thirty-five to fifty cents per pound.It is found chiefly in Georgia and Alabama at the foot of the Appalachian system, but there is no known reason why it should not be discovered in other parts—the mountains of Tennessee, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.

355. North Carolina Mica.—In the mountains of North Carolina are found the best mica dikes in the United States, but the methods of mining are crude and bring small profit.Here is an opportunity to make a vast fortune by the producing of mica with machinery such as is used in extracting other minerals.

356. Kansas Zinc.—Zinc is a mineral which has a great future.It is being used largely in place of tin.There are many zinc mines, and especially in the Western States, as yet undeveloped.One acre in Galena, Kansas, produced $250,000.

357. Missouri Cottas.—For clay go to Missouri.It is found in 90 out of the 114 counties of the State.From this mineral three companies in Kansas City are manufacturing sewer-pipes and working on an invested capital of $1,000,000.They have an annual output worth $1,100,000, or more than 100 per cent.profit, less, of course, the cost of production.The sewer-pipe industry will vastly increase with the growth of cities.

358. Nickel Mines.—Nickel is a metal for which there is a constantly increasing demand.Aside from the vast number of nickel-plated articles, it has recently been found that steel, alloyed with a small percentage of nickel, makes the hardest substance known which can be produced on a large scale.It is bound to be used in future for the shells of our ironclads.In North Carolina and in Oregon, are large deposits of this valuable ore awaiting the hardy miner or bold speculator.

359. Mexican Iron.—Near the city of Durango, Mexico, are the largest iron mines in North America, but as yet entirely unworked.There are 10,000,000 square feet in sight, sixty per cent.of which is metallic iron.An opportunity for capitalists.

360. Tennessee Limestone.—In the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains are ranges of blocks—lower Carbonifererous and Devonian shales, and impure limestone, but the rocks of the basin proper are pure limestone.This limestone when pulverized makes the best phosphate, and is worth $18 a ton.A mining authority states that with proper working it ought to produce at least 200,000 tons of rock per annum.

361. Fortunes in Copper.—Forty-eight per cent.of the copper of the world is in the United States and Canada.The price is $200 a ton.Almost all the mines of the Lake Michigan region are making profit, but the industry is yet in its infancy.When it is known that a mine has been made to pay which contains less than one per cent.of copper, it can be seen what fortunes are in the mines that pay from forty to fifty per cent., and there are some that pay even more.

362. German Amber.—In Memel, Germany, a dredging company pays the government an annual rental of twenty-five thalers a day for the privilege of dredging in the Kurische Hoff, near the village of Schwarzarts.But it is not to be supposed that this is the only spot where amber is to be found.It will doubtless yet be discovered in this country.

363. African Diamonds.—Diamonds in vast numbers are found in the beds of many South African streams, but if you have capital you may develop an industry like that of the De Beers Company, which is paying forty per cent.per annum.

364. Tasmania Tin.—A single company in Murat Bischoff has paid more than $7,000,000 in dividends to the fortunate owners of a tin mine.

365. Georgia Sapphires.—In 1872, Colonel C.W.Jenks, of Boston, picked up one hundred of these valuable stones at Laurel Creek, Rylang County, Georgia, a single gem of which was sold for $25.

366. Rock Salt.—Rock salt is found in Syracuse, New York, and in Michigan, also in Louisiana, and in South Eastern Arizona.It is believed that if these mines were bored deeper, potassium salt—a salt hitherto not found in the United States—would be discovered, and home plants take the place of foreign imports.Here is a chance for enterprising men.

367. Asbestos Pockets.—A profitable pocket of asbestos was found a few years ago on Long Island not far from Brooklyn.Present supplies come from Sal Mountain, Georgia, and from Wyoming.It is believed that the serpentine rocks in Western North Carolina, as well as similar rocks in California and Oregon, contain rich deposits of this mineral.

368. Prospects in Platinum.—This is a metal of very great importance.It has not thus far been found in large quantities in the United States.The most promising field is the North Pacific Slope, following the line of the coast mountains.Some day, it is thought, that rich platinum mines may be discovered there equal to those in Russia, and, of course, the early prospectors will reap large fortunes.

369. Petroleum Wells.—“Petroleum,” says a leading article in the Electrical World, “is the coming fuel.”It is believed by many that the excitement over the discovery of oil fields in Pennsylvania in 1865 will be repeated on a much larger scale in oil regions yet to be discovered in the far West.At present, the mountains of Wyoming appear to be the most promising field.To sink an oil well costs $500 on the average.On Oil Creek, Pennsylvania, a few wells have been struck which yielded 3,000 barrels a day.One of the quickest ways to accumulate a fortune is to prospect for oil, and when a rich vein is struck to buy as much land as you can.A young man named Johnny Steel once owned nearly all the land where the Pennsylvania oil wells were discovered.His income was over $1,000,000 a year, $30,000 a day, or about $2 a minute.But, verifying the adage that “a fool and his money are soon parted,” he not only spent all this enormous income, but also squandered the entire principal, and came at last to work as the driver of an oil wagon on the very oil farm he had once owned.

370. Gold Discoveries.—Draw a line from Colorado Springs, Colorado, north to Laramie City, Wyoming. From these two points draw straight lines one thousand miles to the west and inclose the parallelogram. You have inclosed what is known as the great gold belt of the United States. Nearly all the gold has been discovered within these comparatively narrow limits. Cripple Creek produced $8,000,000 in four years. A man who walked into that place three years ago to save his stage fare is now taking out $100,000 a year from his mines. Dawson City, way up in the frozen British possessions, promises to do as well as any gold discovery in the United States. Two men, the Thorpe brothers, cleaned up with their pans $13,000 in eight weeks. This was but a very small part of the immense amount of gold found in an insignificant creek, but there are at least five hundred creeks on the branches of the Yukon River, many of them no doubt as rich as the one that gave Dawson City its fame.

371. Prospecting for Mines.—“How many undeveloped mines are there west of the Mississippi, which, if developed, would be valuable properties?There may be ten thousand.It is far more likely that there are a million.”Extract from “Mines and Mining Industries in the United States.”The same authority also says that a prospector who has spent a year in locating a mine should receive $10,000 from a capitalist as his share.Mark this, you who think mining has no prospects, except for men of wealth.

CHAPTER XV.

MONEY IN PATENT RIGHTS.

Probably no enterprise has yielded so great profits with so little capital as the work of the inventor. The small outlay, resulting in mammoth fortunes, has often consisted in little more than the set of stools and the cost of the patent. Of course, there must be brains and hard thinking. The sale of articles protected by patent rights is a stimulus to invent them, and has been the source of fortunes for more people in the United States than in any other country in the world. The United States Patent Office issues every year about 25,000 patents, and the number is constantly increasing. Nor are the patentees in all, or even in a majority of cases, men of genius, or persons who have been learned in the occupations in which they have achieved distinction. The greater part of them have been issued to persons in humble walks of life, who made their lucky discovery either by accident or by close application of thought.

In every department of human industry there are possibilities of improvement.He who can find a cheaper, quicker, or better, way of doing anything will get rich. Cyrus H. McCormick thought out a better way of cutting grain than with the old scythe. The result was the McCormick harvester, known all over the world. His patents made him a millionaire. Charles Goodyear accidentally mixed a bit of rubber and sulphur on a red hot stove. The result set him to thinking. He discovered the process of vulcanization, which is the basis of the great rubber industry throughout the world. His patents made him enormously rich. Elias Howe wondered if there could not be some better way of sewing than by the bone and muscle of weary woman’s hand. He tried and tried in vain. At last he had a dream in which he saw a needle with the eye at the point instead of at the head. He awoke exclaiming, “I have it!” The result was the sewing machine. Mr. Howe received every year more than $100,000 royalties on his patent needle. Eli Whitney, watching some slaves cleaning cotton, set to work to find a better way. He invented the cotton-gin by which one machine performs the labor of five thousand persons. This invention reaped for him untold wealth.

These were men of genius, but there are inventions which, being simple, lie apparently within the reach of all men.Mr. Parker, whose invention of the tobacco box fastening, is nothing but a “bulge and a dent,” and which it would seem any child might have thought out, made an immense fortune.Another inventor obtained a patent for a washing machine, and sold it in about fifteen months for $50,000.A man obtained a patent for a windmill, took a model through the Western States, and in eight months returned with $40,000 in cash.Probably the simplest device of all which has afforded amusement for millions is the game of the “Donkey Party,” which is nothing more than the picture of a tailless donkey placed upon the wall.The game costs less than one cent, but millions are annually sold. A copyright costing $5 insured this windfall to the inventor. The “Parlor Target and Dot” patent brought $35,000. The chief examiner of the Patent Office says: “A patent, if it is worth anything, when properly managed, is worth and can easily be sold for from $10,000 to $50,000.”

According to an estimate by the Commissioner of Patents seven-eighths of the manufacturing capital of the United States, or upwards of $600,000,000 is based upon patents, either directly or indirectly.A very large proportion of all patents prove remunerative; this is the reason so many are applied for, and so many millions of capital invested in their workings.There is scarcely an article for amusement, convenience, or necessity, in use to-day that has not at some time or other been the subject of a patent either in whole or in part.The sale of every such article yields the inventor a profit.If we purchase a box of matches a portion of the price goes to the inventor; if we buy a bicycle the chances are that we pay royalty to a dozen or more inventors at once.

There are gold mines in every walk in life.There are fortunes hid in the smallest and meanest of things.So far from the field being exhausted, more inventions are now being patented than ever before.The world is inexhaustibly full of nuggets for him who can find them.Every sphere of enterprise is like the children’s play of “hide the thimble.”Friend, shall you be the first to spy the golden rim?The cost of a patent in the United States is about $60.This includes the government fee, and that of a patent attorney.The way to get a patent is first to think it out; then make the design and take it to a lawyer who makes a business of procuring patents.The government does not now request a model, but it requires a drawing and a specification, and these must be prepared by some competent attorney, in the legal form prescribed. The following are a few suggestions in the various departments of toil where inventions are needed, or where the pry of the brain will disclose the flashing ore.

Section 1.Money in Bicycles.

372. A Non-Puncturable Bicycle Tire.—Any improvement in the universal wheel means a fortune to the inventor.The Dunlap tire sold for $15,000,000.

373. A Bicycle-Holder Attachment.—One that will make it stand upright when not in use.There is a fortune here.

374. The Bicycle Umbrella-Holder.—It should not be difficult to fit to the wheel a small attachment for holding an umbrella.The device should be made so as to allow the umbrella to turn at an angle.Most bicyclists would want this invention.

375. A Bicycle Cyclometer Clock.—A small clock or a watch to be fixed to the front part of the bicycle with cyclometer attachment, so as to give the time of day, the number of miles traversed, and the rate of speed.

376. The Double-Power Bicycle.—One in which the hand or the foot may be used in propelling, to be employed alternately, the one as a rest for the other, or jointly, as when pedaling against the wind or uphill.

377. The Folding Wheel.—One that can be carried lightly on the shoulder and packed in small space for storage or shipment.

378. A Bicycle Support.—A contrivance for holding the wheel in place when the rider stops but does not wish to dismount.A large sale guaranteed.

379. The Cushion Saddle.—The chafing, painful experience of many bicycle riders would be obviated if some one would invent a saddle top as durable as leather, and yet affording a much softer seat.

380. A Bicycle Guard.—One which will enable a lady with a long dress to ride without fear of her skirts being entangled in the wheel.Almost every lady in the land would ride a wheel if this difficulty could be obviated.

381. A Combination Bicycle Lock.—One million bicyclists want a cheap lock which can be operated without a key and fastened to any object.

382. A Bicycle Trunk.—One made of light material and adapted to carrying on the rear of a wheel.

383. The Unicycle.—The wheel of the future will doubtless be single.The man who is the first to invent a practical unicycle will reap a gigantic fortune.

384. A Bicycle Cover.—One which will protect the frame and handle bars when the rider is overtaken by rain, and one which can be packed into a very small compass.

385. A Package Holder.—One adapted to be kept on the bicycle frame.As all bicycle makes are nearly uniform in size, this invention should be an easy one.

386. Handle-Bar Cyclometer.—Let the indicator or dial face be fixed to the handle-bar instead of the wheel.Every bicyclist would want it.

387. The All-Selling Wheel.—A pneumatic bicycle tire with a non-puncturable coating would easily bring a million, and might even rival the popularity of a Dunlap.

388. Toe-and-Heel Clip.—An appliance to the bicycle pedal which would hold the heel as well as the toe, and which would not increase the difficulty of mounting, would have immense sales.

389. The Extension Bicycle.—A wheel which may be made as convenience requires into a tandem or single wheel by addition or removal of parts would be in great demand.

390. A Bicycle Shoe.—A sole adapted to be attached to an ordinary shoe, and with means for retaining a hold on the pedals.

391. The Stirrup Pedal.—A pedal which is shaped like a stirrup, holding the foot and doing away with toe-clips.

392. The Home Bicycle.—The use of the bicycle in certain hours every day has become indispensable to the health of thousands, but there are many rainy and inclement days as well as weeks and months in the winter when it cannot be used.Invent a home bicycle by means of which one can have all the exercise of the ordinary wheel in all kinds of weather.

Section 2.Money in Building Contrivances.

393. The Ornamental Floor.—Ornamental floors, for ballrooms, summer hotels, and all rooms where carpets are not indispensable.

394. The Secure Window Blind.—The present appliances for holding back the window blind permit it to shake to and fro, giving unpleasant noises in the night.There is needed a device that will hold it securely in place.

395. The Self-Locking Window.—Doors are made self-locking; why not windows?Who will invent a means by which the shutting of a window at the same time locks it?

396. The Adjustable Blind.—A mechanism by which a blind or shutter can be worked from within.A toothed wheel with crank inside the window, and a connection by an iron rod with the shutter whereby the blind or shutter can be held wide open, can be closed, or held in any position whatever, by simply turning a crank.

397. The Dollar Door Closer.—The automatic door closer made the inventor rich, but it is expensive; we want a door closer that can be fastened to every door and sold as low as $1.

398. Sectional Window.—A window built in horizontal sections of two or more with a spring or casing to hold it up—much cheaper than weights.

399. Adjustable Storm Door.—Devise a simple door which can be readily brought into place in time of storm, and which will be unnoticed or not seem unsuitable when not needed.

400. A Hinge Lock.—A hinge which operates as a lock, when the door is closed, and can only be opened by a key. Operated the same as a spring lock, but with less mechanism.

401. The Double Window.—Here is a plan for window ventilation.It is the idea of a French physician, but he has not patented it.Have a double window with openings at the bottom of one, and at the top of the opposite one through which the air comes in freely without any one feeling it.The plan is said to possess simplicity, efficiency, and cheapness.Let the American carpenter take notice and profit thereby.

402. Hot-Blast Furnace.—A small hot-blast furnace for drying walls.Builders who have to wait days for walls to dry call for such a machine.

403. The Weightless Window Sash.—When the window can be opened the desired width and kept there without the aid of a rope that finally breaks and involves trouble and expense, a great want will be supplied.

404. A Floor Cover.—Carpets are expensive; matting is not elegant.Discover something in place of both, cheap and ornamental, and you will reap one of the richest financial harvests of the century.

405. Sash Balance.—A system by which the force which holds the lower sash up may exactly balance the force which holds the upper sash down, both sashes being opened at the same width, and thus insuring both the outflow of impure air and the inflow of fresh.

406. Painting Machines.—Why may not painting as well as so many other modern arts be done by machinery?Something on the order of the garden-hose and spraying nozzle could do the work of the painter more rapidly, cheaply, and with less risk of life and limb. Inventors, give us a painting machine.

407. The Pneumatic Water Tank.—Instead of the unsightly water tank on the top of isolated buildings or country dwellings, with its liability of leakage and destruction of property, why not have a water tank in the cellar operated by means of compressed air?By being placed in the cellar or underground, there would be the additional advantage of having the water drawn cool and fresh.In winter also, it would be much better protected from freezing than when placed on top of a building.Some one will find money in a pneumatic water tank.

408. The Wood-Pulp Floor.—Floors have been accused of great sins.If the timber is not thoroughly seasoned they warp; if the boards are not properly laid they creak; and the cracks are all at times filled with injurious dust and dangerous germs. Why not invent a wood-pulp floor which shall have no warps, and no cracks, and no creaks?Dry the pulp to powder to facilitate transportation, mix with a small amount of cement, to increase the resistance of the floor, and then after making it a gelatinous mass pass it between rollers.When dry, paint it to imitate oak or other wood.Besides avoiding all the inconveniences and annoyances of the ordinary floor, it will be soft to the foot, and though somewhat more expensive than the entire boards, it will yet be the floor of the future in all comfortable homes.

Section 3.Money in the Kitchen.

409. The Cheap Washer.—For all the many washing machines, most of our women in middle-class and lowly life are still bending painfully over the old tubs. What is needed is a cheap washer that everyone will buy.

410. A Meat Chopper.—One which has a large number of small blades dividing the meat ten or twenty times with one stroke, where now the large blades divide it only one-fourth or fifth that number of times.The scroll bread-knife netted a princely revenue to its fortunate inventor.

411. Automatic Stove-Damper.—One to take the place of the heedless servant, and close when the state of the fire warrants it.Thousands of dollars’ worth of coal could annually be saved to housekeepers by this device.

412. Potato Extractor.—Apply the principle of the glass lemon-squeezer to the raw potato and you have not only a new invention but also a new preparation of the common vegetable.The potato in the form of the raw pulp can be cooked in various ways, and will have a decidedly new and agreeable flavor.As a salad or a dressing it would be invaluable.

413. Knife Sharpener.—One for the kitchen use, that could be sold for twenty-five cents; almost every housekeeper would want one.

414. Cold Handle.—A separate handle which could be instantly applied to utensils on the stove and remove them without burning the hands waits to enrich the inventor.The cold-handled smoothing-iron brought much money to its inventor.

415. The Electric Stove.—Cooking by electricity will be the domestic feature of the next century.There is a rich field here awaiting some inventive brain.

416. Fruit-Jar Holder.—A device for holding fruit jars during the preserving process so that the can will neither burn the hand nor spill the fruit.

417. Can Opener.—All the women are crying for an effective can opener.Those on the market are not satisfactory.They must be made to sell very cheap.A gold mine in a can opener.

418. Odorless Cooking Vessels.—An attachment whereby the odors of cooking will be carried into the chimney instead of out into the room.

419. Coal-Filled Flat-Iron.—Construct a hollow flat-iron so that it can be filled with live coals, and thus keep in proper heat much longer than those now in use.

420. Automatic Soaper.—A washboard so arranged that the soft soap is fed to the clothes by the simple act of rubbing.

421. Dish-Washing Machine.—A dish-washing machine which can be sold for $5.There are plenty of machines on the market, but they are too expensive for use, except in hotels or in rich households.A cheap machine could be sold in every house.

422. A Stove Alarm.—Proper cooking requires the heat of the stove to be kept equable.Invent a contrivance by which when the heat exceeds a certain degree an alarm will be sounded.

423. The Elastic Clothes Line.—Save washerwomen and housekeepers the nuisance of tying and untying of hard knots by inventing the elastic clothes line.

424. Combination Line and Pin.—If the old-fashioned line is to be used, why not invent a cheap clasp which remains permanently on the line, and is capable of being moved in either direction.Clothes pins are lost, broken, or not at hand when required.

425. A Fruit Press.—A cheap press which will be as much a part of every furnished kitchen as a range.Every housewife needs one for the extracting of juices.

426. The Can-Slide.—The opening of hermetically sealed cans is one of the difficulties of life.All can openers so far invented are more or less ineffective.A vast fortune awaits a man who will invent a can-slide which will effectually keep the food air-tight, and which at the same time may be easily opened.

Section 4.Money in the Parlor.

427. The Chair Fan.—A slight vertical motion of the foot is much less tiresome than a lateral motion of the hand.An ingenious man could attach a fan to a chair so as to cool the face by the action of the foot.

428. Rocking-Chair Fan.—A fan to be attached to the top of a rocking-chair and operated by the motion of a rocker.

429. Christmas-Tree Holder.—A device for holding the tree upright in any spot without further support.Would sell once a year by the million if made for twenty-five cents.

430. Picture-Frame Fastener.—A device such that every one can frame his own picture, the parts of the frame being attached without hammer or nails.

431. Adjustable Head Rest.—One that can be attached to any chair and adjusted to any position.

432. Imitation Coal Fire.—The asbestos back-log was quite a hit.Now let some one invent a fire where gas may be used in the same manner, but the representation be that of red, live coals.

433. Music Turner.—A piece of music has only a few leaves.It is easy to arrange a series of markers between each leaf with a handle for turning.It may be an ornament as well as a convenience.

434. Roll-Front Fire-Screen.—It is to be constructed on the principle of the roll-top desk, with the difference that it rolls sidewise from one side or from both sides of the fireplace.

435. Removable Rockers.—A chair with rockers easily adjustable, so that it may be a rocker or an ordinary chair as desired.

Section 5.Money in the Bedroom.

436. A Noiseless Clock.—Many nervous people are annoyed by the ticking of clocks.Who can invent one which will perform this work silently?

437. A Narcotic Pillow.—Will not some one give us a pillow composed of the dried flowers or leaves of soporific plants?The nervous, overworked persons who could thus get a night’s sound sleep would bestow upon the lucky inventor the money which he now expends in drugs.

438. The Electric Fire Igniter.—In almost every household some one on a winter’s morning shivers over a cold stove and suffers much till a fire is well started, but if the fuel were laid over night and the stove equipped with an electric wire running to the bedroom, one could press a button with the satisfaction of soon entering a warm kitchen. Such a device would pay the inventor well.

439. Bedclothes Fastener.—A clamp or clasp which shall fix the cover to the board so that children shall not kick or pull the clothes off in their sleep.

440. The Easy-Working Bureau.—Who will contrive some device by which a bureau drawer will open readily and evenly at both ends?The present working of these drawers is a vexation of the soul.

441. The Extensible Bedstead.—A bedstead that can be extended to accommodate two or three persons, or when room is wanted contracted to the use of one person.

442. Movable Partition and Folding Bed.—Some one should invent a partition that will form a part of the wall of a room, and which will inclose a bed when the latter is not in use.In the economy of space which forms so important an element in the construction of city houses, it is strange no builder has not yet thought of this.

443. An Attachable Crib.—A combined bed and crib so arranged that when the crib is not in use it may be folded in or under the larger bed of an adult.

444. Pulse Indicator.—Hardly one in a hundred can take the beats of his own pulse.The first thing the doctor does is to feel your pulse.Invent an instrument so delicate that its clasp on the wrist will accurately tell the pulse.

445. Dress-Suit Hanger.—The device for a dress coat should be extended to other parts of a gentleman’s wear.Give us a dress-suit hanger which will cause the suit to appear when not in use very much as it does when on the body of a man.

446. The Anti-Snorer.—It should not be difficult to invent a simple mouth or nose attachment to prevent the intolerable nuisance of snoring.

447. The Ventilated Mattress.—Housekeepers take pains to air their beds, but the mattress remains for years a mass of unventilated feathers or hair, and a fruitful soil for the deposit of disease germs. A kind of honeycombed mattress might be constructed, through the holes of which the air could circulate freely.It might be possible on this plan to have the spring and mattress in one piece.

Section 6.Money in the Cellar.

448. A Furnace Feeder.—Every householder would buy an automatic feeder for the furnace, thus saving the arduous labor of shoveling coal.There should be a bonanza in the right invention.

449. Ice Machine.—The study of the large ice machines now in use, with a view to produce one on a scale so small and cheap as to be introduced into every household has boundless possibilities of wealth for a fertile-brained inventor.

450. Stove Ash-Sifter.—The waste of coal in unsifted ashes is enormous, but the process of sifting is disagreeable. What is needed is an attachment beneath the grate by means of which the ashes will be thrown into one pan and the unconsumed coals into another. An immensely paying invention.

451. Jointed Coal Chute.—Much time could be saved in unloading coal if some one would give us a coal chute jointed so as to be swung at an angle, thus avoiding delay where the driveway is too narrow to permit the straight chute to be inserted properly.

452. Combined Pan, Can, Sifter and Roller.—A useful article would be the pan beneath the grate of the furnace, which could be used also as a can containing a sifter and provided with rollers so that it could be easily transferred to the street.

453. Ash Barrel.—Much annoyance is caused, especially on windy days, by the blowing of ashes from the carts of the ash gatherers.This might be avoided by the construction of a patent ash barrel which could be transferred to the cart and exchanged for an empty one, on the same principle as oil cans are exchanged by the venders.

Section 7.Money in the Library and Schoolroom.

454. A Paper Binder.—One that will bind newspapers and other periodicals, and which can be sold for twenty-five cents.Those on the market are too expensive.

455. The Correspondent’s Desk.—A desk with compartments specially arranged for correspondents would save much time and annoyance on the part of letter-writers.Paper, pen, ink, envelope, postage stamp, answered letters, letters requiring immediate reply, and letters which require time for consideration, would then be relegated to the most fitting place, and be available when wanted.

456. Book Duster.—There is needed some simple attachment to a bookcase whereby the dust which has gathered on the books may be quickly removed when one wishes a volume without soiling of the hands.

457. The Portable Library.—A useful device would be a combined box and bookcase, so that in packing for removal the books need not be disturbed, the doors of the bookcase serving as a lid for the box.

458. Pocket Lunch Basket.—A lunch basket which can be folded and put in the pocket when empty.Ten million school children want this article.

459. The Multiple-Leaved Blackboard.—A blackboard attached to the wall and opening outwardly with several leaves so that it can be used by a number of pupils at once, and when not in use can be folded back so as to occupy a small space.

Section 8.Money in Meals.

460. Butter and Cheese Cutter.—A device which cuts butter and cheese into small square blocks.It should be shaped like a caramel-mold with sharp edges, cutting ten or twelve blocks with a single insertion.

461. Paper Table Cloth.—The constantly increasing use of paper for new articles is a feature of the times.We have paper napkins, but why could not a paper be manufactured of a little better quality so as to serve for a tablecloth?

462. Scroll-Edge Meat Knife.—The scroll-edge bread knife is being manufactured as fast as possible, the factories running night and day.Construct a meat knife on the same principle, with difference only sufficient to secure a patent, and a fortune is yours.

463. Carving-Knife Holder.—A small wooden or wire frame with depressions for knife and fork when not in use would conduce to cleanliness and save much vexation on the part of those who carve.

464. Lamp Cooker.—A wire frame with hooks on the bottom for clasping a lamp-chimney could be placed on the top of a lamp, and would make an excellent patent cooker for light dishes.Think of the convenience of cooking your supper on your lamp chimney!

465. Wine Tablets.—Here is an idea for the trade.We have lemonade tablets; why not those of wine?The grapes should be pressed in the ordinary way, and then by means of a knife transferred to an apparatus where they can be evaporated in a vacuum, the vapor to be drawn off by a pump and condensed.As soon as the mass has the consistency of a syrup it is to be mixed with the pulp.Thus a sort of marmalade is produced, containing eighty per cent.of grape sugar.Makers of the lemonade tablets have done well, but the inventor of the wine tablets would have an immensely larger market.

466. Extension Table.—Difficulty is experienced with the present extension table.The boards are not at hand when wanted, and frequently will not go into place readily.A table is needed in which the boards fold underneath, and can be readily brought into place by the turning of a crank.

Section 9.Money in the Business Office.

467. The Keyboard Lock.—A combination lock on the principle of the cash register.Instead of carrying certain combinations of numbers in your brain, you simply remember a definite order of keys, and push them in turn as you would in playing a light air on the piano.This patent would be a great improvement on the present system, and contains barrels of money.

468. Automatic Safe Opener.—Run by clockwork, and set so as to open automatically at a certain hour of the day, and impossible to open at any other time.

469. Paper Binder and Bill Holder.—A flat stick, concave at each end, so as to hold a large number of elastic bands.Slip a band over each bill, and you may have a hundred or more papers preserved in compact form.

470. Book Lock.—A pocket contrivance which can be attached to the edges of a book.Notebooks, diaries, and private correspondence, could then be guarded during the momentary absence of the writer.A great sale predicted.

471. The Perpetual Calendar.—A calendar which will show on what day or month any event fell or will fall for all time.

472. The Lightning Adder.—It is possible by a system of keys to invent a machine which will set down almost as quick as lightning the sum of any column of figures, thus dispensing with much of the service of a bookkeeper.

473. Copyholder.—Typewritists want a copyholder capable of being adjusted to any size of manuscript and which can be sold as low as twenty-five cents.

474. Envelope Moistener and Sealer.—Construct a narrow brass or iron plate, one-fourth of an inch wide and shaped like the flap of an envelope.A shallow vessel of water is placed underneath, into which by the manipulation of a screw, the plate is occasionally dipped.Above the plate is fixed a second plate which acts as a sealer, and which operates with a screw-head.

475. Multiple Lock.—A device for locking with one movement all the drawers in a desk or bureau.

476. Office Door Indicator.—One to be operated instantly and easily, showing that the occupant is out, and with a dial face to indicate when he expects to return.

477. Automatic Ticket Seller.—It is entirely feasible to have an automatic ticket seller which will both date and deliver tickets.A machine of this kind has been fixed in the Hammerton Station at North London, and is said to work satisfactorily.But there is room for improvement on the part of brainy inventors.

478. Perforated Stamp.—The chief of the London Stamp office said the government was losing $500,000 a year through the dishonest practice of removing stamps from official papers and using them again; and he offered a large sum or a life office at $4,000 a year to any one who would invent a stamp which could not be counterfeited.

Section 10.Money in the Packing Room.

479. Nonrefillable Bottle.—Such a bottle is an absolute necessity to beer and liquor manufacturers, sauce and patent medicine makers, yet no one has yet supplied the demand.Here is a chance, and there are millions in it.

480. The Collapsible Box.—A box that cannot be refilled for fraudulent purposes.Must be so built that it cannot be opened without destroying it.It would be purchased by every maker of confections.

481. Bottle Stopper.—There are mines of wealth in a cheap substitute for cork.An inventor will some day make a fortune by the inventing of a paper stopper.

482. Combination Cork and Corkscrew.—A bottle stopper which can be removed by simply turning it around like the top of a wooden money-barrel made for children.Must be made to sell cheap.

483. The Collapsible Barrel.—A barrel arranged in a series of parts each one above smaller than the one below, and so contrived that when not filled the parts sink into each other like the pieces of a field glass.A barrel of such convenience for reshipping would be bought by the hundred thousand, and would be full of gold for its inventor.

484. Self-Standing Bag.—A device whereby bags will stand alone with wide-open top while being filled, thus dispensing with the services of an extra man.All shipping merchants would pay largely for such a bag.

485. Barrel Filler and Funnel Cut-Off.—Barrel filling by the ordinary funnel is slow.Provide four openings at the bottom instead of one. A small rubber hose will connect the opening of each barrel, and a cut-off or a string attachment at the end of each hose cuts off the flow when the barrel is full, and permits the contents of the hose to be carried back to the barrel and thence into one of the unfilled barrels, thus avoiding waste.

486. Folding Crate.—The transportation of fruit and other produce would be greatly facilitated and cheapened if some one would invent a folding crate.An empty crate occupies as much room as a full one.

487. Paper Barrel.—Who will invent a paper barrel which will be as serviceable as the present wooden one, and have the advantage of being light?It would have a universal sale.

Section 11.Money in Articles of Trade.

488. The Tradesman’s Signal.—An automatic device for letting the grocer, butcher, baker, etc., know when he is wanted, saving time both to the household and trade.Sure to sell.

489. Barrel Gauge.—A dial with hands to be attached to a barrel or keg to indicate the amount of its contents.

490. Elastic Chimney.—An elastic glass chimney which will expand with the heat and not break would sell by the million.

491. Air Moistener.—A apparatus for moistening the air in the room.It should avoid the objectionable feature of all present devices which sprinkle minute drops of water to the damage of goods.All large manufacturers and proprietors of large stores, where many workmen and clerks are employed will pay handsomely for such a machine.

492. Automatic Lubricator.—Every wheel, axle, pulley and joint, in labor’s great beehive needs oil.A vast amount of valuable time is consumed in the work.Invent an oil-can which will work automatically, and you can name your own price.

493. Short-Time Negative.—A process by which the negative of a photographic camera may be developed almost instantly instead of consuming the time now required.An immediate fortune is assured to the discoverer of this art.

494. Drying Apparatus.—An invention by which dry air could be produced in abundance so as to dry clothes or be employed in the preservation of fruits would make its deviser independently rich.

495. Rotable Hotel Register.—A revolving frame for a hotel office, so that the register is alike accessible to the clerks within and the guests without.

496. Glass Dome.—The inventor of the little glass bell for hanging over gas jets made a fortune, but as the gas fixture is commonly attached to a movable bracket it does not always occupy the same place.A glass dome which shall be a part of the gas fixture would be a great improvement and bring much money to the inventor.

497. Round Cutting Scissors.—A scissors or shears that will cut round as well as straight.It would be bought by every one who uses a needle.

498. Casket Clamp.—Three thousand people die every day in this country.Undertakers want a clamp which will keep the casket from moving in the hearse either laterally or longitudinally.

499. Self-Winding Clock.—An arrangement such that when the weight of the clock touches a certain point it will set in operation a mechanism which will wind.The prize for perpetual motion has never yet been awarded.Possibly the solution is in the self-winding clock.

500. Dose Stopper.—A thimble-like contrivance which shall act both as a bottle-stopper and a cup to contain the exact dose.

501. Faucet Measure.—A device for measuring the quantity of liquid that passes through the faucet.Invaluable for store-keepers.

502. Automatic Feeder.—A feeding rack so constructed that the hay or grain will be fed automatically with a cut-off when the proper amount has been given.

503. Coupon Cash Book.—At present persons who pay cash are charged the same as those who trade on credit, a practice which is manifestly wrong.A cash-book should be made so that those who pay immediately for goods should receive a rebate.Every merchant would purchase a quantity of these books, since the great bane of merchandise is bad debts.

504. Gas Detective.—A device to be placed on a gas fixture to ascertain instantly whether it leaks.Often there is an odor of gas when it is difficult to tell whence it proceeds.

505. Paper Towels.—Paper towels having the quality of cloth, yet designed only for a single use, will doubtless be a feature of the near future. They will “make” their first maker.

506. Water Filter.—A cheap device for use in every household, one which could be attached to the water faucet, and which would insure pure water.It would sell enormously.

507. Pneumatic Freight Tube.—If small packages for store and post office use can be sent by tubes, why may not the principle of compressed air be extended so that grain and fruit may be transported thereby, thus saving the great expense of handling and of car freightage?Some day the greater part of our freight will be carried by this means, and he who is first in the field will coin a mint of clean dollars.

508. Storm Warning.—Apply the principle of the barometer to a large glass globe, placed on the top of a public building, by means of which the contained liquid shall be colored red on the approach of a storm; or construct an instrument which will give forth a sound when bad weather is to be feared.Such an invention would be wanted everywhere.

509. Heat Governor.—If a regulator could be placed upon heat pipes so as to keep the heat at a desired temperature, the inventor would reap untold millions.Florists, poultry raisers, and in fact every housekeeper needs this device.

510. Automatic Oil Feeder.—An invention which will feed oil to a lamp at a uniform rate, and which is provided with a cut-off whereby the supply can be stopped when the light is extinguished.

511. Paint Brush Feeder.—A brush with a reservoir of paint so that when the painter finds the uplifted brush growing dry he has but to reverse it in order to have it replenished.

512. Inside Faucet.—The outside faucet is awkward and interferes with cartage.One which could be worked on the inside by a button on the outside is demanded.Improvements in faucets have made two or three inventors rich, but the right one is yet to come.

513. House Patterns.—Thousands of people like to plan for themselves the building of their homes.At present the only means provided is that of pencil and drawing paper.Wooden blocks adapted for the purpose, and ready-made joints would fill a long-felt want.

514. Extension Handle.—A handle which may be applied to any kind of a brush, and which will enable painters, window-scrubbers, and others who have to work at high elevations, to do their work from the ground.

515. Wire Stretcher.—Thousands of tons of wire are manufactured annually, but the wires often are slack.Invent a cheap, simple device which will keep spring beds even and wire fences taut.

516. Price Tag.—A price tag which can be instantly attached to a piece of goods.Merchants would buy it by the thousands if made for a trifling cost.

517. The Handy Vise.—In the course of time a hundred things need fixing in every house.What is needed is a small vise which can be readily attached to a kitchen table, and which would not cost over fifty cents.

518. Folding Ladder.—A light ladder which is portable and extensible would pay well.

519. Smokeless Fuel.—A kind of kindling which will be as ignitable as wood, but which will not smoke.The inventor will have money to burn.

520. Finger-Ring Gauge.—A cylindrical piece of metal to which are loosely attached a number of rings of the same material, serving as a gauge to measure the finger, each ring differing from the others by a slight fraction.

521. Laundry Bag.—Hotel keepers want a bag adapted to the carrying of washing, so as to avoid the unsightly baskets of washerwomen.A large ornamental bag should be constructed with apartments for different kinds of wearing apparel.

522. Sole Cement.—A cement which could take the place of pegs, nails, and threads in the manufacture of shoes would revolutionize the trade and make money for the patentee.

523. Goods Exhibitor.—On an upright column attach a number of steel or wooden rods radiating like the spokes of a wheel, and made to turn by clock-work machinery.

524. Shoe Stretcher.—A metal frame made adjustable to any shoe by having its parts extended or depressed and worked by a tiny crank.The extension of the frame when the crank is turned stretches the shoe.

525. Cork Ejector.—A simple means by which the cork can be ejected from within would supplant all prevalent methods and bring wealth to the inventor.

526. Lemon Squeezer.—A squeezer of a new type, having a tongue to pierce the fruit, and making a hole just large enough for the juice to be extracted by the squeezer, but not large enough for the pulp to escape.The only squeezer which presses the lemon without cutting it in half.The inventor of the glass lemon squeezer made a large fortune.

527. Spring Wheel.—A wheel with inner and outer rim, and the space between filled with springs would afford much easier riding than the present method.

528. The Plural Capsule.—Capsules made so as to be divided in order that one-half or one-quarter the quantity can be taken.

529. The Dose Bottle.—This might be called the neck measurer.A bottle whose neck holds exactly the dose, and an arrangement for closing the lower end of the neck when it is full.

530. Fisherman’s Claw.—A large, steel claw somewhat on the principle of a net, but with many advantages, might be invented.The claw when opened should cover three or four square yards of water.It closes with a spring attached to the handle.Quite as much sport in this as with the hook and line.The right article ought to have great sales.

531. Pocket Scale.—A little scale capable of being carried in the pocket, so as to be instantly at service in weighing small articles would be appreciated and purchased by almost every one.

532. Toy Bank and Register.—There is needed for the holding of children’s money a bank with a device attached for registering the amount which it contains. A cheap device of this kind would be a great improvement on the present toy bank. The inventor of one of the principal banks for children now in use is said to have made half a million dollars out of his invention.

533. The Paper Match.—“The time-honored scheme of rolling up a piece of paper and using it for a lighter could be utilized by an inventor in the manufacture of matches,” says the National Druggist“The invention would revolutionize match manufacturing, because the wood for this purpose is constantly growing scarcer and more costly.The matches would be considerably cheaper than the wooden ones, and also weigh less, a fact which counts for much in the exportation.”

534. Illuminated Type.—Here is an idea which if properly worked ought to put the inventor on the high road to fortune.Why could not our newspaper-type, by the use of phosphorous, after the manner of the illuminated watch dial, be illumined so that the print could be read in the dark?Illuminated type may be a newspaper feature of the coming century.

535. Paper Bottles.—If a paper bottle could be made as serviceable as glass, its many other advantages would make it an El Dorado for the inventor.Its lightness in transportation and its freedom from breakage would cause it to come into general use.Especially on shipboard, where bottles are constantly broken by the roll of the vessel, would such an invention be hailed with joy.

536. The Paper Sail.—“Paper sails,” says the Railway Review, “are meeting with considerable favor. They are cheaper than canvas sails, and they are soft, flexible, and as untearable as the original article.” There is room for invention here. Treated with the proper solutions, it may be that paper will entirely displace cloth in the wings of our ships.

Section 12.Money in the Street.

537. Street Sweeper.—A device like the present carpet sweeper to be used on paved roadways will command a large sale.

538. Phosphorescent Street Numbers.—Who has not been vexed in trying to locate an unfamiliar house in the dark?In many streets not one number in a hundred can be seen in the night.Contrive some means of illuminating these numbers, and you will confer a boon to others and reap a reward for yourself.

539. Buggy Top Adjuster.—A contrivance for raising or lowering the buggy top so that it can be readily operated from the buggy-seat.

540. Shoulder Pack.—Men persist in carrying in their hands that which could be borne between the shoulders with much less strain.Who will give us a convenient pack to be carried upon the back?

541. Adjustable Cart Bottom.—A cart with device for lowering the bottom to the ground or nearly so, for the easy reception of the goods, with jack for raising the same when loaded.Every merchant, carter, and expressman would hasten to possess himself of this invention.

542. Nailless Horse Shoe.—A rubber shoe, which can be easily adjusted to a horse’s foot without nails. The advantages would be many and the sales numerous.

543. Elastic Ring.—An elastic ring for hitching horses.One with snap buckle for opening so as to receive both the bridle and the object to which it is to be attached.As the ring is elastic, it will fit any hitching post or tree.It would be welcome to everybody who owns a horse.

544. Heel Cyclometer.—An indicator fixed in the heel of a boot or shoe so that each step records itself, and by which the pedestrian is enabled to tell the distance he has covered.

545. Whip Lock.—A cheap device to be placed in the whip-stock of a carriage for securing the whip against theft.If it could be sold for ten cents every driver would have one.

546. Rein-Holder.—A contrivance attached to the dashboard and which holds the reins securely in position and prevents them from being switched under the horse’s tail.

547. Automobile.—The horseless carriage is sold at prices ranging from $1,800 to $3,000.Josef Hofman, the great pianist, says he is confident he can build one for $300.Here is a great opportunity for mechanical electricians.

548. The Low Truck.—It would be a great advantage to carters if a truck could be constructed whose body would be much nearer the ground than the one in present use.Great expense as well as expenditure of muscle would be saved if by some arrangement the cart body could be as low as eighteen inches from the ground.

549. Automatic Horse-Fastener.—The man will make a fortune who can devise some means whereby the rider can fasten his horse and unfasten him without alighting from the vehicle.

550. The Foot-Cycle.—Persons who know the ease and exhilaration of skating as compared with walking will be interested in an effort to invent a foot-cycle which will do for the foot on the ground what the skate does on the ice.The roller-skate does this in a measure, but it is adapted to hard surfaces only.What is needed is something in the order of a miniature bicycle—a machine capable of going over surfaces hard and soft, in fact, a sort of bicycle skate.Here is vast room for a fertile inventor.

Section 13.Money in Farming Contrivances.

551. A Corn Cutter.—A machine to run between the rows and cut the stalks on each side would sell to every farmer; and there are 4,565,000 farmers in the United States.

552. Frost Protector.—A chemical combination whose product when ignited is chiefly smoke.All farmers suffer from late and early frosts.They would pay liberally for a smoke producer which would protect their crops, for it is known that a very little smoke acts as a mantle to keep off the frost.They should be made cheap so that half a hundred might be placed to the acre.Farmers are the most numerous class of people, and fortunes await those who can invent anything for their benefit.

553. A Farm Fertilizer.—Wanted—a fertilizer more powerful and less bulky than those in use.We have condensed meat extracts for the table; why not better condensation of food for the farm?Chemists will find no better paying employment for their brains than in this direction.

554. A Postless Fence.—For posts substitute a windlass at each corner of the field so as to keep the wires taut.If the field is large or irregular, more windlasses would be required, but they could be manufactured at a cost much less than that of posts.

555. Automatic Gate Opener.—Fix an iron bar or rail with a spring contrivance in such a way that the pressure of wagon wheels on one side of the gate releases a spring and causes the gate to fly open, while the pressure on the opposite side causes it to close.The arrangement of the contrivance on one side is of course the reverse of that on the other.

556. Corn Planter.—A long, hollow cylinder filled with seed corn and having rows of holes placed at regular intervals for dropping the kernels, and wedge-like or plow-shaped pieces of iron between the rows so as to throw up a light covering of soil, would plant easily twenty-nine acres a day.Such a simple contrivance would cost only a few dollars, and would command a ready sale to agriculturists.

557. The All-Seed Planter.—A device like the above, the wheels and gearing remaining the same, but with the cylinder fixed so as to be readily detached, and other cylinders substituted, having the rows and sizes of holes adapted to the planting of any kind of seed.These sets of cylinders would make the machine much more expensive than the one in the former article, but it would be much cheaper than separate machines for different seeds.

558. Fertilizer Distributor.—One constructed on the plan of the street-sprinkling cart would make much of the farm labor easier than it now is.

559. Bone Cutter.—Farmers want a cheap bone cutter—cost not to exceed $5—by which bones and sea-shells can be cut into small bits for fowls.Bone is an egg-producer, but no cheap means has been invented for utilizing this kind of refuse.

560. Bucket Tipper.—A bucket with an attachment at the bottom connecting with a finger-piece at the top, so that the bucket can be tipped and its contents emptied without the wetting of the hands.

561. Post Hole Digger.—A four-sided metal casing is driven into the ground by a sledge-hammer.A small handle sunk in one side of the casing pulls a metal plate through the earth at the bottom, thus making an earth-filled box.Two more stout handles on the top are for lifting the digger and its contents.A digger which could be made for $5 would sell by the ten thousand.

562. Well Refrigerator.—Farmers often keep articles in the well; but if an accident to the rope occur, the articles of food are often spilled, thus spoiling the water in the well, and entailing great annoyance and expense.Invent a way by which a well may be a safe ice-box.

563. Multiple Dasher Churn.—A churn which is constructed on the principle of the common egg-beater, and which is operated from the top instead of the side or end. A fortune in this.

564. Fruit Picker.—An open bag fixed at the end of a long pole with a shears operated by a string in the hand of the picker.

565. Portable Fence.—A fence in which the posts are made of steel or iron two inches in diameter, and tapering at the end so as to be readily driven into the ground.Such a fence may be carried in a wagon and set up anywhere in a few minutes.

566. Poultry Drinking Fountain.—A round wooden dish with a large cone occupying the central space, except the narrow channel near the rim.This will prevent the fowls from getting their feet in the water and fouling it, while at the same time the cone is a reservoir of supply.There should be a faucet allowing the water to drip slowly so as to keep the channel filled.

567. Poultry Perch.—A movable perch, with an erect post and numerous projecting arms. It has the advantage that it can be removed and cleansed.

568. Mole Trap.—One of the greatest pests of the farmer, and the most difficult to catch is the mole.Invent a trap whose upper part shall be somewhat like an old-fashioned hetchel, full of sharp spikes; the under part is a platform, and releases a spring when the mole steps upon it.

569. Seed Sower.—Apply the principle of the revolving nozzle in the lawn sprinkler to a machine for the sowing of seed.

570. Milker and Strainer.—Construct a pail in two parts, the upper part to receive the milk directly from the cow while a strainer separates it from the lower part.Thus the milk can be taken from the barnyard already strained.

571. Paper Milk Can.—In time milk cans will probably be constructed of paper.The saving in cost of transportation would cause every farmer to hail the construction of such an invention.

572. Plant Preserver.—“A German chemist,” says Merck’s Report, “has prepared a fluid that has the power when injected into the tissue of a plant of anesthetizing the plant.The plant does not die, but stops growing, maintaining its fresh, green appearance, though its vitality is apparently suspended.It is also independent of the changes of temperature.The composition of the fluid is shrouded in the greatest secrecy, but as the process is not patented the secret may be discovered and utilized by another investigator.”

Section 14.Money in the Mails and in Writing Materials.

573. The Reversible Package.—There is needed a package or paper box in which legal papers or merchandise sent for approval can be turned inside out and remailed to the sender.Such a device would have a large demand.

574. Copying Paper.—A paper used for duplicating manuscripts would command a ready sale.The carbon paper now employed is very expensive.

575. Word Printing Typewriter.—Some typewriters have as many as fifty keys.A small increase in number would cover the words in common use. Many words can be omitted, and yet the sense be conveyed. Letters or postal cards, consisting of one, two, or three lines could thus be written in one moment.

576. Transparent Ink Bottle.—Produce an ink-bottle of which the glass shall not be so opaque as the one in common use and in which the depth of the ink is clearly seen, thus avoiding the too deep dipping of the pen, with the result of blots on the page and stains on the fingers.

577. Double Postal Card.—The United States Government would no doubt consider favorably a postal-card made double, so that one part could be readily torn from the other and remailed, the one part containing the message and the other left blank, save for the sender’s name and address.

578. The Safety Envelope.—An envelope such that it is impossible for it to be surreptitiously opened without the fact being discovered.The government seeks such an envelope.

579. Combination Cover and Letter.—An envelope to which is attached a half-sheet of paper which folds in the cover, thus making only one piece.

580. Always Ready Letter Paper.—There is room for a device whereby letter paper can be fed out to the writer as desired, so that the pen or machine may travel continuously without stopping for new sheets.

581. Ink Regulator.—An inkstand provided with a tiny wooden disk which floats on the surface of the ink.The slightest touch of the pen depresses the disk and permits the pen to be filled, and at the same time prevents it from dipping too far, and thus making an unsightly daub on the holder and fingers.

582. The Pen Finger.—Might not a device be attached to the forefinger which could serve the uses of a pen?Think what ease and speed would be gained if one could write directly with one’s finger instead of employing the entire hand.

583. Pen Rest.—There is room for a device which shall rest upon the paper and support the pen while the latter is writing.Those who do every day a vast amount of writing would appreciate this invention.

584. Perpetual Pen Supply.—On a slight elevation have an inkstand with an opening at the bottom to which is attached a small piece of hose, the other end being connected with a hollow pen holder, thus insuring a perpetual flow of ink.A saucer on the writing table containing a tiny cup or several tiny cups holds the pen or pens in an upright position when not in use, care being taken that the pens in that position are higher than the reservoir, so as to cut off the supply.

585. Letter Annunciator.—Constructed on the principle of nickel and slot.The weight of the letter in the house letter box pushes up into view a red card, thus announcing the presence of mail matter at a distance, and avoiding the opening of the box in vain.

586. Envelope Opener.—Most people open envelopes at the end, often with trouble and awkwardly, but almost every envelope has one of the flaps a little loose near the corner.A small flat piece of steel with ivory handle such as could be disposed of for ten cents, would be salable.

587. Mail Stamper.—A stamper constructed upon a letter box so that it would be impossible to insert a letter without at the same time stamping it.The United States Government would pay a large sum for such a device.

588. Rotary Stamper.—A wheel broad enough to contain the name desired, and which is operated by taking the handle and drawing or pushing the wheel over the matter to be stamped.It would be ten times quicker than the ordinary way.

589. Invisible Ink.—An ink which is invisible, and must be treated by some chemical to make it appear.It would be invaluable to those carrying on a secret correspondence.

Section 15.Money in Dress.

590. Bachelor’s Buttons.—Invent an eyeless and threadless button, somewhat on the style of the envelope-clasp.The million or more bachelors would surely buy them.

591. Shoe Fastener.—Some device is needed for the quicker and surer way of fastening shoes.The button is inconvenient and the tie is unreliable.The Foster kid glove fastener made the inventor a man of millions.

592. A Trousers’ Guard.—One which will effectively prevent the wear at the bottom.Trousers commonly give way first at the end of the legs.The trousers-wearing world is vexed by garments frayed at the bottom.

593. Twentieth Century Shoe.—It will be one without laces or buttons.The upper can be taken off or put on instantly when desired, and yet be waterproof.There is a gold mine in that shoe.

594. Combination Tie and Collar.—A time saver which can be adjusted instantly, and yet be separable when desired.You would not have lost the train but for the delay in fixing your collar and tie.Thousands of minutes saved every day mean as many thousands of dollars in the pockets of the fortunate inventor.

595. Spring Hat.—Not a hat to be worn only in the spring, but a hat with a padded spring on each side, so that it will fit closely in all kinds of weather, and whether the hair is long or short.

596. The Rear-Opening Shoe.—A shoe in which the foot could enter from the back instead of from the top would have the double advantage of ease of adjustment and elegant appearance.The buttons or lacings would then all be upon the sides.There is a possibility of much money here.

597. Detachable Rubber Sole.—An invention whereby a rubber sole may be attached to an ordinary shoe in wet weather, or to the shoes of base ball and tennis players to prevent them from slipping.

598. The Instantaneous Cement.—For the last-named invention as well as for hundreds of other cases, there is required a cement which will set in a minute.The man who will produce it can live at his ease the rest of his days.

599. Elastic Hat Pin.—A flexible pin provided with a clasp at the head so that the pin may be bent around and secured, thus lessening the danger from that formidable weapon.

600. Starch-Proof Collar Band.—Shirts first wear on the collar.Millions of otherwise perfectly sound garments have to be thrown away because the collar band is worn out by the use of starch in ironing.Here is the inventor’s opportunity.

601. Dress Shield.—Ladies are often inconvenienced in keeping their dresses out of the mud, both hands being occupied.A dress shield attached to the dress does the work.

602. Sleeve Holder.—An elastic cord passes between the fingers with a grip at each end for holding the sleeve of a coat while an overcoat is being donned.

603. The Convertible Button.—The button which can be so contrived as to be made into a flower holder when required would have an unlimited sale.

604. Paper Clothing.—Many of the Japanese wear paper clothing.The idea might be extended to warm climates, and in the summer season to our own climate.Will not the time come when we shall hear of “Moses’ Patent Paper Trousers,” and “Isaacs’ Patent Paper Coats?”