One Thousand Ways to Make a Living; or, An Encyclopædia of Plans to Make Money

PLAN No. 702B. WINDOW-WASHING AND HOUSE-CLEANING

When he came to city he “was down and out.” He was a capable fellow, but owing to domestic trouble he worried and drank a good deal. He was in this shape when I first met him. He got a job washing windows and kept at it. His employer knew nothing about window-washing or house-cleaning—he was a business-getter instead—and finally as he was unable to pay this man for his labor, he turned the business over to him in payment for his services.

He quit drinking when the state went dry. He then saw great possibilities in the window-washing and house-cleaning business. He could do the work himself, and if those he hired did not do their work properly he was quick to see it and let them go.

He would contract for the year to wash windows for an entire building at something like 15 to 20 cents a window. He would go over all the windows once every month. His arrangement was cheaper than having the janitor do it. He also contracted to wash the halls and elevator shaft. He got business where others could not. He and the men he hired knew how to work.

When he had an unusually dirty job he used the following combinations with great success: Citrus powder, three-fourths part; Wyandott powder, one-fourth part; softsoap about the size of a hen’s egg in a bucket of water. This solution was allowed to stand over night. When a place was real dirty he went over it at least three times, washing with the grain of the wood. He was especially careful to see that no streaky work was done in the washing of walls, etc. He washed a square place at a time and was particular to see that the sides and corners were as clean as the center, then when the next square was done there was no overlapping of several inches. He was also careful to see that the base-boards of the room were clean, especially the corners and bottom, which if neglected always remain unclean in appearance.

It is true that his work is not regarded as a high calling, but he believed that if his work did not reflect credit on him, he would reflect credit on it by performing his services well. He also cleaned houses, using a vacuum cleaner.

His business is very profitable and produces for him a very good living.

PLAN No. 703. WHAT ONE GARDEN PAID

Records of the boys’ and girls’ club work of the United States Department of Agriculture are full of instances of boys and girls who grew more than enough vegetables for their home tables and who either canned the surplus or sold the remainder at a profit not to be sneezed at.

For instance, Thomas Bresnan, of Springfield, Illinois, a lad of 15, made a net profit of $283 on a garden that was 310x410 feet.

Thomas had a hard time with worms, but he learned how to fight them. His garden was so far away that when he needed lime he carried a heavy sack of it three and one-half miles from Springfield. Some of the lime spilled out and got into his eyes, and Thomas got mad and quit, but only until he talked with his club leader, then he went in again and won, as above mentioned.

PLAN No. 704. FATHER LEARNS A NEW TRICK

Early frosts are the bane of the tomato grower. When a severe one seemed due one February night in Florida, both a little girl, who had one-tenth of an acre planted, and her father, who had three, got busy covering up their plants. “Father” put tomato baskets over the plants to protect them, and so did Anna, but she did not stop at that; she placed a handful of soil on top of each of her baskets. It required some time, but it was time well spent, for when the baskets were removed Anna’s plants were just as fresh as before the freeze, while “Father’s” had suffered considerably. When the first picking was made in the latter part of March, her father gathered thirteen crates from his three acres, while the girl gathered eleven from one-tenth acre, from which a net profit of $175 was made.

PLAN No. 705. GROWS THIRTY-ONE VEGETABLES IN HIS HOME GARDEN

Among the striking examples of individual achievement in home gardening that have been reported to the United State Department of Agriculture, is that of George A. Williams, an employe of the Government Pension Office in Washington.

Despite the handicap caused by the loss of an arm, Mr. Williams last season grew thirty-one varieties of vegetables in his home garden of slightly less than one-fifth of an acre. He sold in his neighborhood vegetables worth $326, in addition to those used by his family of four persons.

Despite the success in this instance, the Department of Agriculture does not advise home-gardeners to strive for a great variety of crops, but to concentrate their efforts on a few.

Did you find it hard to get ahead last year? If so, perhaps your back yard will put your effort on the profit side.

PLAN No. 706. WHAT A GIRL NEARLY BLIND DID

Of all the stories of girls’ efforts that have come to the United States Department of Agriculture, none tells of more devoted work than that of a Berkshire County, Massachusetts, girl, who is blind in one eye and losing the sight of the other.

She raised a pig when the government called for more meat, and when the army called for fruit pits to make gas-masks, the number of stones she gathered was the second largest individual number in the country. And she cultivated a garden successfully when the government told the necessity for more food production.

“I was very much interested in club work this year, and I was very happy while working in my garden,” wrote this girl in her story. “I knew that all the time I was working in my garden I was helping Uncle Sam.”

Except a few furrows turned by her father, where the land was particularly rough, all the work in her garden was done by the girl, and in addition she helped her father in his food plot. Between the lines in her report may be read some of her difficulties.

“The greatest delight my pig had,” she wrote, “was jumping the fence and rooting in my garden.”

But nothing daunted her, and the surplus products of her work, stored for the family’s winter use, made a fine showing.

When the father is having a hard time to make both ends meet the children can do a great deal to put the home on a successful basis and receive an education while doing so.

PLAN No. 707. SAVING EGGS IS PUBLIC SERVICE

The storing of eggs during the season of greatest production, when they are the cheapest in price, becomes a public service by making them available during the season of scarcity of fresh eggs. There are two approved processes for storage; the first is the water-glass method, and the second is the lime-water method.

Water-glass Method: For 30 dozen eggs, use two 5-gallon crocks (capacity, 15 dozen eggs each.) Take 18 quarts of water that has been boiled and cooled. Mix it with 2 quarts of sodium silicate. Place eggs as collected, fresh and clean, in crocks, keeping covered to a depth of at least 2 inches with water glass solution. Keep in a cool, dry place. Eggs preserved in this way remain perfectly wholesome, maintain full food value and are perfectly edible for from six to nine months.

Lime-water Method: Place 3 pounds of unslacked lime in 5 gallons of water and let it stand until the lime settles and the liquid is clear. Use same as water-glass. This method is recommended when water-glass cannot be obtained; it is good, though not quite as reliable as the other.

The above was published in the Extension News Service by State College of Washington.

Every egg raiser should know when is the time eggs will bring the best price and save them until that time.

Following the above simple suggestion alone would make the egg a profit-maker.

PLAN No. 708. MONEY IN POULTRY

It is strange that the people generally do not avail themselves of the great opportunity the United States Government gives them in poultry. Write the Department of Agriculture at Washington, D. C., and tell them you want a catalog of all publications they have which will help you to raise chickens in town, city or country and you will be surprised at the great amount of information at once available to you. This information will save you several years’ unsuccessful experimenting and bring you to your goal—a successful chicken-raiser—at a much earlier date. The following are samples of what can be done by those who make poultry raising a study.

PLAN No. 709. WHAT ONE WOMAN DOES

To prove that there is profit in poultry raising, let me cite the case of Mrs. George L. Russell, of Missouri, whose husband had maintained all along that her hens were an expense instead of a profit. He was giving all his attention to some brood-mares in which he had invested $2,000.

In defense of her hens Mrs. Russell kept a set of books for a year and proved by the actual figures that the money she had invested in poultry was paying a better dividend than the money her husband had invested in brood mares.

Last year she had a flock of 365 Brown Leghorn hens and cleared $1,782.91, besides adding $200 worth of extra stock to her flock. Her husband isn’t complaining anymore.

To his wife Mr. Russell gives all credit for the success of their poultry business. “It has been a life-saver for me,” he said.

PLAN No. 710. ANOTHER CHICKEN RAISER

Mrs. H. A. Hume, of Tecumseh, Kansas, turned $150 worth of feed into $427.16 worth of chickens, at market prices, this year, besides the eggs she produced from 140 hens. She has demonstrated what can be done on a general farm with poultry as a side line. She breeds a good laying strain of White Leghorns.

PLAN No. 711. MAKES GOOD PROFIT

A California woman states in a letter the following: “Last month I turned $275 worth of feed into $667 worth of eggs.”

If it is possible for these people to do this, it is possible for you, or any other poultryman, to make good money out of your poultry if they are properly handled.

PLAN No. 712. ARTICLES YOU CAN MAKE AND SELL

The following articles could be made by you and sold. They are necessary to the household and will appeal to the housewife.

Each article is easily made up. Give a name to your article so that you may have the advantage of repeat orders. To commence with you will have to solicit your work. You will find that a neat pamphlet telling of the value of your article distributed two or three days before you call will be a great assistance to you.

PLAN No. 713. SHOWER BATH

A very simple, convenient and cheap arrangement for a home-made shower bath has been built by a woman. Take a 2-gallon tin bucket, punch a hole in the bottom of it, and solder in the opening a piece of metal piping 2 inches long. Attach to the pipe a 4-foot length of rubber tube, with a sprayer from a garden watering-pot on the end. Tie to the handle of the bucket a piece of rope and run the latter through a staple driven into a wall at a suitable height, thus making a pulley by which the bucket can be raised or lowered to meet the convenience of the person using the shower. Drive a hook below the staple so that the rope can be fastened to it to hold the bucket in place. A good-size wash tub placed beneath the bucket will serve for the person to stand in. To cut off the water a clothespin pinched on to the rubber tube will do. The cost of the shower bath will be as follows:

PLAN No. 714. DUSTLESS MOP

Another of the conveniences showing a woman’s ingenuity is a dustless mop for painted or polished floors. The mop is made from old stocking legs cut into 12-inch lengths and slashed into strips an inch wide up to within 4 inches of the tops. For a handle cut the straw from a worn out broom. Take a large wooden button and cover it with several thicknesses of stocking, then fold the tops of the stockings so that they radiate from a common center and screw them to the end of the broom handle through the button. Tie twine several times around it just below the button. The mop is then dipped into a solution of one-half cup of paraffin and one cup of coal oil (kerosene) and allowed to dry. Keep moist by rolling tightly and pressing into a paper bag.

PLAN No. 715. SCRUBBING CHARIOT

Another woman’s invention is the scrubbing chariot, and it is one of the cleverest of labor-savers. This consists of a comfortable, padded frame on rollers, which enables the housewife, in wiping floors, to roll herself about and do her scrubbing with ease and comfort and save a great many steps. An ordinary soap box can be used for this by cutting down the sides to about five inches high and knocking out one side. Padding made of burlap will make it comfortable when kneeling, and the whole thing is placed on four rollers and stands just the height of the rollers off the floor. On one side of it should be screwed a dish for soap and on the other a rack for the scrubbing brush.

PLAN No. 716. ICELESS REFRIGERATOR

This iceless refrigerator was made by a woman, and its cost was practically nothing. It stands in a tub of water and on the top shelf is a pan of water. A canton flannel covering should be made and hung smooth side outward, tied closely at the bottom, buttoned securely down one side, and the top laid in the pan of water with a weight to hold it. Of course, with this arrangement the cloth keeps itself continually wet with water supplied from the pan on top and from the tub in which it stands.

The central post should be substantial, with a large heavy base so that it will not tip. Two shelves 12 inches apart will hold the milk, butter, etc., and a third shelf at the top is necessary to hold the can of water. Keep the refrigerator in a shady place where air will circulate around it freely. On dry, hot days a temperature of 50 degrees can be obtained in this refrigerator if plenty of water is kept in the pan and in the tub.

PLAN No. 717. FOLDING IRONING-BOARD

This ironing-board is a step-saver. Being hinged to the wall, it is always ready and in place. It may be hooked up against the wall when not in use. The leg (braced) is hinged to the board and falls flat when the board is lifted. With it down and in use the leg is not in the way and skirts may be ironed without lifting or changing. The directions for making are as follows: The ironing-board is 57 inches long and rounded at the free end and should be made of thoroughly seasoned wood, 1¹⁄₂ inches in thickness.

Its width at its attached end is 15 inches, at the free end 10¹⁄₂ inches. The leg (brace) is 56¹⁄₂ inches if the board is attached to the wall at 33 inches from the floor. If the board is higher the leg is longer. Attach the leg to the board 11 inches from its free end, by hinges.

The board should be padded with any heavy material such as cotton flannel or a blanket, and brought to the under side of the board and tacked smoothly in place. The ironing-sheet should be 4 inches wider than the board with tapes on opposite sides about 10 inches apart to tie it in place.

PLAN No. 718. SOLDERING KIT

An outfit for repair work by women in their homes is useful and will save considerable time and expense. The equipment includes a soldering iron, a small brush, a file, sandpaper or a brick to rub the iron clean and to clean the surfaces to be repaired, a porcelain or stoneware cup, and from the hardware store get 10 cents worth of muriatic acid, some zinc points, such as glaziers use, and some solder. Soldering flux is a solution of zinc in crude muriatic acid. To make it put half a teaspoonful of muriatic acid in the cup and add one zinc point. Be sure not to spill any on your clothes. It is used to tin the soldering iron and also for brushing the tin and soldering surfaces so that the solder will adhere to the tin.

While iron is heating, thoroughly clean the vessel to be mended, by scraping down to the bare metal, then brush over it with the flux. When your iron is heated, clean it free from soot or dirt with sandpaper or other means, then dip it into the flux in the cup and at the same time hold the solder to it, and the end of the iron will become covered with the solder, which is called “tinning” it. For small holes this is all the solder needed. Just touch the tinned iron to the hole and it is filled. For larger holes more solder is needed. For a still larger hole a zinc point can be laid on the hole and fluxed, then solder applied. A hot iron and clean surface will insure good work.

PLAN No. 719. WOMEN MAKE GOOD COW-TESTERS

The twenty-seven women now employed as cow-testers by some of the 353 cow-testing associations in this country have not only done satisfactory work, but have achieved results above the average, according to dairy specialists of the United States Department of Agriculture.

The main reason why women have begun to do this work is the scarcity of cow-testers. Most of the testers at work when the war began were young men, and many of them are now in military service. Because of the shortage of workers the past year has seen the number of cow-testing associations (organizations of farmers who want to keep records of their herds) decrease for 472 to 353, although there has been an increased demand for such associations, and it is believed the number could easily be doubled if enough testers were available. The work does not require great physical strength. It does demand some training, but this is easily acquired by women.

The first woman cow-tester in the United States, Miss Bessie Lipsitz, began work less than three years ago, with a cow-testing association in Grant County, Wisconsin. Wisconsin now has eighteen women cow-testers, Iowa six and three other states have one each.

Considering that the testers get free board and lodging, the pay is thought to be satisfactory. The women cow-testers are paid the same as men and receive from $50 to $75 a month, besides board and lodging. Conveyance to the next farm is furnished in some associations, while in others the tester provides her own conveyance and the farmers furnish free stable room and feed for her horse.

The employment of women as cow-testers came as a war measure. To keep the work on a satisfactory basis, women must continue to receive the same pay as the men for the same work. Occasionally there may be an association in which it would not be advisable for a woman to work, but if such is the case, the fault is with the association and not with the woman cow-tester.

How to obtain more testers is a serious problem. Partially disabled soldiers, in some cases, may be induced to take the necessary training and enlist for the work. In some sections young men below the draft age have been employed, and the results have been satisfactory. The most radical step, however, and the one that promises the most far-reaching and immediate results, is the employment of women as cow-testers.

PLAN No. 720. SUPPORTS FAMILY BY HOME CANNING

The sale of her canned fruits and vegetables has enabled a woman in Albemarle County, Virginia, to feed and clothe her eight children the last two years. When war was declared her eldest son enlisted in the navy. In a few months the second son went into the army, and the mother was left to wrestle with the problem of providing three meals a day for the eight younger brothers and sisters. About this time the home-demonstration agent of the United States Agricultural College was teaching the women in that locality how to can. With a garden that could raise plenty of fruit and vegetables, and with wild fruit to be had for the picking, the mother of ten decided that therein lay the solution of her problem. Results have proved that her judgment was right. Thousands of cans of fruit and vegetables have been put up and sold from this country home. One lot, which the home demonstration agent helped her sell, brought $125. This plan made a living for a mother and eight children.

PLAN No. 721. GIRL MAKES $98 FROM NINE HATCHES

Little girls who have to help themselves to go through high school can often accomplish it by raising chickens.

A little girl in Orange County, Virginia, borrowed money to buy nine settings of eggs. On this venture her first year’s work netted a profit of $98, and she has three roosters left.

There is no reason why your little girl should not have a few chickens and help swell the family income.

PLAN No. 722. MOUNTAINEER WOMAN CANS TO KEEP TEN CHILDREN IN SCHOOL

Knowledge of how to can products that will command a ready sale is enabling a mother in the hills of Virginia, to keep her ten children in school. Schoolbooks and clothes cost money, but this ambitious mother was determined that her children were to have schooling if it were possible.

Late in the fall, with a 2-horse wagon loaded with her canned fruit and vegetables, this woman of the hills drove 20 miles to the home-demonstration agent’s headquarters. She brought 30 gallons of apple butter, 376 quarts canned tomatoes, 8 quarts ripe tomato catsup, 8 quarts green tomato catsup, 12 quarts succotash, 36 quarts soup mixture, 12 quarts okra, 12 quarts fox grape preserves, 48 No. 2 cans string beans, 36 cans (No. 2) corn, 48 quarts peaches, 48 quarts blackberries, 12 quarts butterbeans, 12 quarts squash, 2 quarts damson preserves, and 8 quarts green tomato and mince meat to be sold.

Through the co-operation of the home-demonstration agent, the wagon was emptied in a short time in the university town, and the little boys and girls up in the hills will have shoes and schoolbooks this winter as a result.

PLAN No. 723. SUCCESS IN POULTRY WORK

All poultry raisers, especially girls should receive encouragement and inspiration from the record made by this girl. Her experience demonstrates the wide possibilities for poultry paying a girl’s way through school, making worth-while trips, purchasing their clothes, and having spending money for other purposes. With an original investment of $17.50 for a pen of Barred Plymouth Rocks, this girl in one season—her first year in poultry work—made a net profit of $370.50.

According to her own story, she bought her original stock just a few days before Christmas, in 1917, giving the local bank a note for $17.50. Her birds began to lay a month later. From January 25 to October 17 the original pen of pullets laid 650 eggs.

The first nine eggs she received from the flock were used as a setting, from which were hatched and raised seven chicks. From these she selected her chickens, which later took prizes at the tri-state and county fairs. From her first 100 eggs set she hatched 92 chickens. From the next 125 eggs set, 110 chickens were hatched. During the season she raised 170 chickens.

According to her account these results were not obtained without work and some hard luck. For example, a mink visited the flock on the night of the 4th of July and killed twelve of the biggest chickens. Hawks in the neighborhood seemed to have a fondness for her chicks, and carried off their share.

Last September she sent two pens of her chickens to the tri-state fair, where they won first and second prizes. The following month she exhibited them at the county fair, and won first prize, which was $20. She now has a flock of fifty selected pullets and eight cockerels, in addition to her original pen.

In spite of the losses from the mink and all charges, she made a good profit. All the grain fed came from her father’s farm, but was charged at market prices, the total cost of feed amounting to $40. The cost of the original chickens, interest and express, brought the expenses of the season to $59.50. From the sale of settings of eggs, chickens sold, prizes, and value of stock on hand, a total of $430 is credited to her work. When expenses are deducted, there is a total net profit for one year of $370.50.

PLAN No. 724. BUSY BEES WITH BUSY BOYS OR GIRLS MEAN MUCH HONEY

Bee raising by boys or girls received special encouragement during the past year from the Department of Agriculture and the state agricultural colleges because the honey produced aided materially in relieving the sugar shortage. Plenty of cane sugar is now in sight, but the young people seem to have no intention of ceasing in their efforts to produce honey. They and their families have acquired a taste for the delicacy, and hot biscuits minus honey don’t taste the same any more. Then, too, there is a ready sale at a good price for all the surplus honey one can produce.

The parents co-operated with the young people in the study of modern methods and plans for bee raising. Comb-honey only had been produced heretofore, as little had been known of extracted honey or how to manage colonies producing it. The parents were willing to secure modern equipment for the children, and to move the bees from old crooked combs in poor boxes and hives to modern 10-frame hives. When the colonies began to produce well, the children united in the purchase of a complete extracting outfit.

With honey selling 20 to 30 cents a pound in some markets, keeping bees is a business by which boys or girls can make fair incomes without the expenditure of much work or time.

Two of the largest producers in Lyon County were boys of 17. One boy with seven colonies produced over 500 pounds in the 1918 season. The other, with fifteen colonies, took from his hives 858 pounds. With an initial investment of $15, one of the smallest boys in the club, working in the country at extracting time, found 100 pounds in his contest hive and sixty pounds in the other. A third member cleared $40 from the season’s work, besides supplying the family table.

PLAN No. 725. LOST—A COMMON FACTORY-HAND; FOUND—A GOOD FOOD PRODUCER

Four years ago a boy in Massachusetts faced what would have seemed even to an adult a hard problem. Born in Italy, but thoroughly inoculated with American ideas of the necessity of education, James was told by his father while in the 8th grade that he could no longer be kept in school. His future path was to lie toward the near-by factory.

Believing, because of his garden-club experience under the auspices of the local leader of the United States Department of Agriculture, that he could earn as much by potato raising outside of school hours as he could in a factory by devoting his whole time, he finally obtained permission from his father to try it. So successful was he that summer that his father was willing that he should enter the 9th grade in the fall.

The next spring the superintendent let him have land to use for a large garden. To ten boys he had selected from the upper grammar grades he made the proposition to pay so much an hour and to give each a garden plot. The following excellent advice he offered to them in addition: “If you are going to quit, quit now while it is cool and not when it is hot next August.”

By fall he had decided that enough could be earned in the summer to enable him to attend high school and the agricultural college later. Now a junior in high school, he has a good-size hot-house under lease, where he raises cabbages, cauliflower, and tomato plants; he owns an auto truck to handle his produce, and he has a bank account and pays his bills by check.

With all the school and business cares, he still has time to look after the school welfare of his younger brothers and sisters, visiting their teachers and watching their progress.

A factory hand, probably only a mediocre one, has been lost, but a good food producer has been gained through the vision given James by his experience in raising a garden. If you are in a factory this example will give you hope.

PLAN No. 726. A BOY’S BIG PROFIT ON ONE PIG

From Blackwell, Texas, comes the report of the worth-while achievement of a 15-year-old boy, Kenneth Campbell. This little live-wire pig-raiser sent his pig to the Fort Worth Fat Stock Show. It turned out to be the grand champion barrow of the whole exhibit. It won $105 in prizes and sold for $115. The initial cost of this prize-winner was $5 and $34.60 was spent for feed; leaving a net profit of $180.40.

It is a fine thing to teach your boy to-day, while you are with him, how to support himself in an independent way. Would your boy know how to do something himself, if you were gone? A knowledge of how to make his way is worth more to him than your money when you are gone.

PLAN No. 727. WHAT A UTAH GIRL DID

“I am going to take the first prize in gardening away from the boys at the Utah State Fair in 1919,” is the challenge of a 15-year-old girl member of a boys’ and girls’ club in Salt Lake County, Utah, conducted under the direction of the United States Department of Agriculture and the state agricultural college. It looks as if her prediction may come true, for already this industrious girl has made a rather remarkable record. She began at the age of 11, and in the first year her exhibits took first prize at the grade school, first prize at the high school, and second prize at the state fair. When she finishes her course at the high school she is going to enter the Utah agricultural college.

In addition to plowing, harrowing, and leveling sixty acres of land and helping her father with other farm operations—doing for him all that a boy of her age could do and much more than many boys would be willing to do—this young food producer this year raised and sold an abundance of garden produce; put up 600 quarts of fruit and vegetables, besides drying a quantity of them; raised 100 chickens, knitted socks for soldier relatives overseas, and bought Liberty Bonds to back them up. But let her tell her own story:

Helped Plant 1,500 Fruit Trees

“I was born and raised in Salt Lake City. When I was eight years old my father moved to his farm in Pleasant Green near Utah Copper Mills and Garfield Smelter, Salt Lake County, Utah. It was covered with sage brush and rock, which had to me removed.

“The following spring we cleared a part of the land and planted 1,500 fruit trees. We also engaged in truck farming that season. I, the oldest girl of a very large family, assisted my father in every way I could. He always enjoyed instructing me, and he explained every little question I asked him. He taught me how to plant small seeds by mixing them with sand, scattering it along the trench and covering with a hoe. Also he taught me how to plant vegetables and how to cultivate. We raised an abundance of tomatoes, cabbages, cauliflower, peppers, egg plant, and also 1,600 bushels of carrots and 200 bushels of potatoes.

“The next year I assisted again, and the following year—I was then eleven years old—he gave me a small space of my own, which he plowed for me. He made me plant everything myself, also do the weeding and hoeing. I raised an amount of garden truck and took it to town and sold it. The next year—at the age of twelve—I was attending school in Hunter when they started a boys’ and girls’ club. When I joined, my father said I would have to learn to plow, so he bought me an 8-inch plow. I plowed about half an acre; then he allowed me to drive three horses with a sulky plow. I plowed twenty acres for him that year and mowed thirty-three acres of alfalfa hay. My sister raked it, and we all bunched it and I helped stack it. I raised nine different kinds of tomatoes, six different kinds of peppers, cauliflower, cabbages, and peanuts, and seventy-two different kinds of flowers. I took first prize at the grade school and first prize at the high school and second prize at the state fair.”

Plowed Sixty Acres Herself

“Last year I plowed, leveled and harrowed thirty acres and cut all father’s hay, put up 300 quarts of fruit and vegetables and had a war garden. This year I plowed sixty acres all myself, harrowed and leveled it—wheat, alfalfa and beets—and helped father plant and cut and irrigate. I have put up fruit and vegetables—600 quarts—besides drying fruit and vegetables, and have baked the bread, and on Saturday and after school I have to plow until the ground freezes up, and finish in the spring, 1919. I am going to take the first prize away from the boys in gardening, in the Utah state fair.

“I attend the Cypress High School. When I finish there I am going to go to the Utah Agricultural College.”

Raised One Hundred Chickens

“I also raised 100 chickens this year. I joined the Soldiers of the Soil, and with $15 I borrowed in June I bought 105 baby chickens and raised 100 of them. In June, 1919, I will pay off my note. I am going to market all my roosters and keep the pullets. I could pay the note now, but I am going to lend it to Uncle Sam on the Fourth Liberty Bond for our boys over there. I have found time to knit socks for some of my cousins over on the firing line.”

PLAN No. 728. 33 ACRES, 23 PIGS, GIVE BOYS $2,255.64

Twenty-three boys under 16 years of age, in a Haywood County, Tennessee, pig club, each bought a pig. The average weight of the pigs was 78 pounds. Most of them were registered. In 180 days they attained a weight of 266 pounds each, at a cost for feed of 10¹⁄₂ cents a pound. These pigs at the time of the local pig club show were worth 15 cents a pound, at market prices, making a profit of 4¹⁄₂ cents a pound, averaging a net return to each boy of $11.97 over cost of all feed—a total gain for the club of $275.31.

Now see what the corn club in the same community has done: Thirty-three boys, 16 and under, each cultivated one acre in corn, according to instructions furnished by the county agent, produced an average of 53.1 bushels to the acre at $1.40 a bushel selling price—$74.48—making a total production for all of $2,457. Cost of raising the corn was 27¹⁄₂ cents a bushel, or a total cost of $477.51, leaving a clear profit of $1,980.33

Now add to this the pig club profits of $275.31 and you have a grand profit for the boys of $2,255.64 from thirty-three acres of land and twenty-three small pigs.

If boys can do this well what can a man thoroughly trained in farming do? The government will supply you with unlimited literature on farming if you write to them, and will give you much other assistance if you call on them.

PLAN No. 729. TEXAS BOYS MAKE MONEY FROM CALVES

“I have bought a $50 Liberty Bond and intend to use the balance to help in paying my expenses at the A. and M. College the coming term,” was the answer of a boy in Nolan County, Texas, when asked what he would do with the profit from the sale of his two prize-winning calves.

This boy, a member of an agriculture club conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture and the Texas A. and M. College, exhibited two calves at the Fort Worth Fat Stock Show. His steer calf, a little over a year old, and weighing 950 pounds, brought $149.62, besides winning $25 in prizes. The cost of feed and other expenses was $85 for each calf, leaving a profit of $103.14 on the two, besides the $50 in prize money.

Another entry at the Fort Worth show was that of a 15-year-old club member from Sweetwater, whose calf, fourteen months old and weighing, after shrinkage, 1,060 pounds, sold for $169, after winning $20 in prizes. This young exhibitor believes in good stock, and has bought a registered Hereford calf with the proceeds.

PLAN No. 730. COW PROVIDES MUSIC LESSONS

In Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, lives a little girl who won in 1916 many prizes for farm club-work; enough in fact, to buy a calf. She sold the calf, which had grown into a cow, for $80. She plans to use the money for music lessons this winter while she is attending high school. She is proud that she is able to pay for the lessons by her own work.

PLAN No. 731. REAL ESTATE MAN BUYS SNAP

This man was engaged in real estate for years and stated that his best profit was made from special propositions that he discovered during the year.

Probably during the year he would find five or six different places that were exceptional purchases. He put but very little money in these investments as a rule, and would prepare them for early sale. He would paint the dwellings, arrange the yards, and put in trees, if needed, and if it was a farm he would wholly renovate the farm from one end to the other, painting the buildings and re-arranging the entire place. Some times it would take a year to get the farm into shape. He states that by this method, he earned as high as $2,000 to $3,000 a year.

His wife has been a very valuable assistant to him in this work, as she arranges the shrubbery and the general decoration of the house and yard for him.

PLAN No. 732. HE BOUGHT AND SOLD MERCHANDISE STORES IN THE COUNTRY TOWNS

When this man was in the university he took a literary course, but after finishing his college work, he took to business and enjoyed it thoroughly. He found quite an opportunity in the small country towns surrounding a northwestern city. He said the electric railway and railroads and automobile highways were becoming such a factor within a hundred miles of this city, and the advertising in the daily paper was practically putting out of existence the small town merchants. He said this was so manifest that many merchants were compelled to go out of business. Where he made his profits, was to buy the merchandise of these local merchants. He knew the value of their stock without making an inventory of the goods. He told them he would buy on his own judgment. Oftentimes on the purchase of the stock itself he would make more than $2,000. He would then start in, fixing up the store, rearranging everything about the place, putting in more new stock, and, as a result he made a few sales. He conducts the business for about a year and having obtained all the advantages and profits that a new store would enjoy, he gradually sells out and closes up the business.

Often while holding these stores he is enabled to make an exchange and thereby realize a nice profit. He has secured three or four stores, far removed from the paved road, railroads and electric lines, and these pay well. One plan he has adopted is when he goes into a new community to start a weekly newspaper. Through this he carries all of his advertising and the news of the community.

I saw him about six months ago, and he has made in six years more than $30,000 in this work. His farm lands and four stores insure him a good income. This is a good business in the surroundings of any large city.

PLAN No. 733. GIRL FROM SMALL COUNTRY TOWN EARNS HER WAY THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL

She earned her way through high school by placing an ad. in the Sunday Newspaper, stating that she would be glad to exchange, for her work, room and board, as she desired to attend school and wanted to be with a respectable family. This method is followed by hundreds of girls from the country and when the summer vacation comes, she does certain farm work, whereby she is enabled to make some extra money, and in this way, makes enough money to pay her expenses while she is at high school.

Families that have a couple of small children are glad to avail themselves of such an opportunity, and often a girl finds a good home.

PLAN No. 734. GRAIN SUPERVISOR. SEE PLAN No. 217

PLAN No. 735. ATTORNEY USES INFORMATION BUREAU IN HIS CITY

This attorney made up his mind when entering practice that he would use as much care as possible in bringing his suits, so when a case was brought to him, he always had a complete report concerning the party against whom the suit was brought. He made it a point to know the party’s standing in the community, whether he was good or poor pay, what property he had, if he had property, what incumbrances were against it,—in fact, he knew everything about his man before he started his suit and knew very well what per cent of the judgment he would receive if he obtained same. This was business-like and it made him much money and saved him a great deal of time in useless litigation.

At the court house usually there is an information bureau, conducted by some member of the reporting company of the city which can give him a complete statement of the people’s credit. A Clipping Bureau in the city can also give additional information. The information bureau of the abstract office can tell all about the property that the party concerned owns, the obligations against it and so forth. The assessor’s office, county treasurer’s office and the clerk’s office are all able to give information. He claimed that these various avenues of information which he uses, have made him more than $1,000 to $1,200 a year.

He also runs in a few lawyer’s-directory services, holding himself ready to give reports concerning people who live in the community. For these reports he charges $2.00 or more and if the report is very long, he makes a charge of $5.00. These reports, he says, run into a considerable sum each week, which, alone, would defray all of his office expenses.

PLAN No. 736. DIVORCED WOMAN FARMS

This woman was left alone by the desertion of her husband and had two small children to take care of. She endeavored to secure a position in the city, but was unsuccessful, so she made arrangements to rent a farm two or three miles from the city, and near the electric line. It was an irrigated tract, and she went on the farm in the early spring and remained there until late in the fall.

She had had very little farming experience prior to this time, but found that she could not only make a living, but put up many preserves besides, and soon she had four or five hundred dollars to carry her through the winter.

PLAN No. 737. YOUNG LADY ON THE FARM BECAME AMBITIOUS

She became convinced that by making good cottage cheese there would be a ready sale for it, so she prepared to learn all that she could about cottage cheese making. She asked questions of all of those who made it, and she attended every meeting where she could make inquiries about making the cheese. She wrote to the Department of Agriculture for a bulletin of how to make cottage cheese on the farm. From these sources she gained much information and started making the cheese. She put it up in very pretty packages and labeled them, “Cottage Cheese from the Farm Direct to You.”

Those who ate her cottage cheese wanted more. She made a price high enough to net her a very good profit. She placed an ad. in one of the daily papers of the city and secured a good deal of business through it. She delivered her sales by parcel post.

In the beginning prior to advertising, she solicited among her friends by telephone, selecting in this manner people with whom she could get in direct touch from the farm. She secured regular customers through her friends who lived in the city in this manner, and in five or six months she had a steady demand for all the cottage cheese she could manufacture. She claims to make seven or eight hundred dollars a year in this way.

PLAN No. 738. BLUE PRINTS OF FURNITURE BECAME VERY POPULAR

This man made a specialty of making blue prints of different kinds of furniture that could be made at home. He exploited the fact that the ordinary farm conveniences could be made by the man on the farm and much money saved.

If it was a kitchen cabinet, he drew the plan and made a blue print of it, which showed how to put it together. He also wrote a letter of instructions on “What to Do and How to Do It,” and approximately the cost of making the article. He had these blue prints and letters prepared and when inquiry was made for these plans, for which he charged $1.00 each, he forwarded them at once.

There was scarcely an article of utility in the house that he did not have a blue print of, and instructions for making it, and the exact cost of materials and tools necessary to do the work. These grew very popular, and in a year’s time, by running an ad. in several of the local, country, weekly and farm papers, he was enabled to make a net profit of approximately $2,000. In the beginning he did this work on the side, but later it took up his entire time.

PLAN No. 739. RETIRED MAN GOES INTO POLITICS

This man had sold his farm and had been residing in the city for about two years without anything special to do. He became possessed of the idea that he could serve his country, city or state in some manner, so he saw one of the leading politicians of the town who gave him the following advice:

That he go to one of the local attorneys and pay him a fee of, say, $25.00 and get a complete list of all of the various offices that were open to people in that county seat, giving the names of the township offices that he might be able to fill, the requirements of each office and the salary to be derived therefrom, and the time that these offices would come up for appointment or election, also the same information relative to the county, the city, and the other towns in the county; also what offices were open in the state, with their respective salaries and the requirements of each, and a further statement from the attorney as to what appointments were open, or were available from the various congressmen and other governmental agencies. This report was submitted to him and he went over the entire field and ascertained which one aroused his interest. After making his selection, he went to the office of the county auditor and obtained leave to look over the votes that had been cast for the last few years and found that the Republicans had dominated the county for years back; so from this he determined that it was a question of getting the nomination on the Republican ticket, and this he set about to do.

First, he became familiar with the strong men of his party and also found out in what way he could be of real service to the party. In this way he ascertained what offices were short and what kind of competition he could expect. While he did not get the office that he thought he was best qualified to fill, yet there was another in which he did not encounter any competition and was nominated and elected.

The $25.00 he paid the attorney for this outline was money well invested, and he made the suggestion that any young man who desires to follow public work for a livelihood would do well to follow the advice which was so profitable to him.

Politics is like any business—one must build slowly and carefully. After he has rendered his party service for a period of years, and even though unsuccessful at the polls, there are always opportunities for him to secure appointments on certain commissions or obtain good positions through the influence of friends in the party. And receiving the above report, which has been given as a suggestion, you will be very much surprised to know how many political offices there are in your city, county, state, and nation.

PLAN No. 740. DOUGHNUTS EARN HER A HOME

She lived in a city of about 50,000 population and was absolutely dependent upon her own efforts. She chose, rather than go out to work, to earn her money from her own kitchen, if possible. She had always been complimented on the kind of doughnuts she made, and she thought that if people were as appreciative as those who had eaten her doughnuts, she would be able to make a very good income from making them. So she started making “Home-made Doughnuts;” real home-made doughnuts—no make-believe about them. She labeled them, “Mrs. Blanche’s Doughnuts.” Soon she established a reputation for them, as people began to talk about the quality of her doughnuts. They called for them at the store, and the store people wanted to buy from her, so they could fill her orders. The result was that in a few years she had bought and paid for a home in one of the best districts of the city, as well as making a good living besides.

To a woman who has a home and children, one wonders why she should prefer to go out to work when there are so many plans that she can execute in her own kitchen, and be with her family and be her own boss.

PLAN No. 741. HIDDEN COIN IN WINDOW

This is an old plan, but to those who have never seen it worked it might be suggestive of some idea.

The merchant increased the value of his store windows by means of concealing a coin or some other object and awarding the person who finds the article, a certain prize. You would be surprised at the amount of interest this attracts to a display window, and it often brings many sales. At least, it has the effect of making the windows far better advertising mediums.

PLAN No. 742. HE DREW PICTURES

If you wanted to illustrate certain subject matter in your book, this man would with his camera take an exact picture, so as to give you an idea of what his art work would be like. After taking these pictures, he would send them to a Chicago company which would put them through a process of enlarging to the desired size, leaving only the dim lines on the print, so from these he could make his drawing. This man understood art work and could lay in the lines with pen and ink in an excellent manner and was sure to meet with the satisfaction of the man with whom he was dealing. From this plan alone he was able to make a living.

PLAN No. 743. THE WAY A YOUNG BOY PAID HIS EXPENSES WHILE GOING THROUGH THE GRADE AND HIGH SCHOOL

This young man lived in the Northwest country about twenty miles from a large city. At a very early age his mother died, leaving his father with seven or eight children. His father was very cruel, and he can remember how each child, when they became old enough to think for themselves, ran away. He had three sisters, and because of the cruel treatment they had to leave. His father refused to use any farm implements other than was made by his own hands. When it came to putting the wood up in the winter, he would make all of the children go out and work with large saws until they almost dropped from exhaustion. He made a wagon to which he hitched these children and compelled them to draw the wood to the house. This kind of work continued until he was unable to stand it any longer, and he left for the city, not knowing where he was going to make his home.

He got a job working in a home, doing odd chores. He had a desire to go to school, and this privilege was allowed him, and for his keep he rendered service to the family. He was an exceptionally good boy and did his best to please the people for whom he was working, with the result that this was spoken of to others in the neighborhood. Finally a doctor’s wife became interested in him and made it possible for him to continue and devote his spare time to his school work. He realized this advantage and worked hard and made a good showing in his grade school work.

When it came to the high school, he was doubtful as to whether or not he could continue, but the good woman encouraged him further, and believing in his fidelity to his work and the great interest he manifested in his education, she decided to assist him through a high school course, in which he won an enviable reputation. He was made the president of his class and won unusual honors through his ability as a debater.

This is a good illustration of what a boy, alone in the world, can do for himself. This young man made it a point to please the persons for whom he was working, and always had in mind the giving of more service than was asked of him, and in this way he won their appreciation and their good will, and naturally made them ambitious for his future welfare.

PLAN No. 744. ELEVATOR BOY BECOMES ENGINEER

When I was in high school I knew a boy there who was engaged in the elevator work. His dress was very ordinary; he had no parents and had to look out for himself.

One day he had a conversation with one boy in the class who was planning on becoming an engineer. This boy made it clear to him how important it was to know all about algebra, geometry, etc., and do his daily work in the best possible manner. He was much impressed with this conversation and made up his mind that he would become an engineer. He continued his work at the elevator, and in this way defrayed his entire high school expenses. He was allowed the privilege of sleeping in one of the rooms in the large building, which was his only home, and his elevator work paid for his board and gave him a little extra money.

High school was not enough. He must go to college, and he felt that he must go to one of the best engineering schools, which he did. He found employment during the summer, worked in the various mines, where he followed the mining engineer’s work and in this way not only made a good salary but gained beneficial experience as well.

Not many years ago I met him and learned he was engaged in railroad work in Alaska, held a very responsible position.

PLAN No. 745. HE DEVELOPED AN AMUSEMENT PLACE AT THE LAKE

This lake lay about seventeen miles outside of a city of some 125,000 population. About three years prior to the time to which I refer, a real estate campaign was put on and a car line was built to this place, and advertisements were displayed showing the advantage of this lake as a future summer resort. After the real estate boom subsided the place did not materialize as a summer resort.

One day a young fellow from an eastern city came to this place and noticed the great opportunity for an amusement resort during the summer months. He made a lease for a number of years and began to build up a summer resort. He took the old restaurant building and turned it into an up-to-date place. All people who took lunches at this restaurant, paid a good price, but those who brought their lunches and desired to use the hall, paid 25 cents for the privilege. He opened bathing houses and made the usual charges, and pointed out to the people of the city the great opportunity of visiting this lake Friday afternoon or Saturday night and remaining until Monday. He made arrangements to supply them with tents. He arranged with large stores to have picnics at this lake, and he offered special inducements to the people to visit his resort. He was very successful, and after a couple of years of this kind of work he had made this one of the most popular places of amusement.

PLAN No. 746. RIDING TO COLLEGE ON BROOMS—HOME WORKERS IN SOUTH DOING IT

Broom-making in some of the southern states is being encouraged by home demonstration agents of the United States Department of Agriculture and the state colleges. The home clubs in Alabama rank first in this work, and the past year some especially good records have been made in the state. The crowd which attends one of these broom-making demonstrations is such as to make the passer-by think an auction is being held.

Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, grows broomcorn, and brush and broom-making has become so popular in that section that all the members of clubs who didn’t grow a patch last year are planning to do so the coming season. A broom-making machine has been bought by one community in the county, and other localities have ordered machines for use next summer. With a machine, twenty-five brooms can be made in one day. Each member makes her own brooms and gives one-fourth of her output for use of the machine.

The cost of making a broom in that part of the state is estimated to be 20 cents, with the wire, thread, tacks, and handle costing about 12¹⁄₂ cents. Good hickory handles cost 8 cents apiece, while those of other woods cost 6 cents. Tuscaloosa County plans soon to manufacture the broom handles instead of buying them.

The community that possesses a broom-making machine has a source of steady income. While the broom work is planned primarily for the young people, the older members of the family, on cold rainy days and in winter, find making these necessary household articles an easy way to add to the family income. At the present price of brooms, fair wages can be made.

When a pupil learns to make perfect brooms, if she wishes to put them on the market, she is permitted to label them as “Tuscaloosa Grown” and “Home-Demonstration-Club Brooms.” Some of the girls in the clubs are planning to earn money for normal school and college by broom work. Will they be termed witches if they ride to school on a broom?

The boys as well as the girls in the broom-corn sections are interested in the industry. One boy in Cherokee County, Alabama, has been enabled to enter high school by the money he earned in making brooms. He has sold sixty at $1 each and has 200 more to make.

PLAN No. 747. GIRLS RAISING MORE CHICKENS THAN BOYS IN FLORIDA CLUBS

Thousands of chickens were added to Florida’s supply of fowls last year by the efforts of the boys and girls under the supervision of the home-demonstration agents of the United States Department of Agriculture and the state colleges. The bronze medal for the best individual record made by a girl went to one in St. Johns County. She set 179 eggs and raised 152 chickens, valued at $264.24. The expenses for raising the flock were $56.95, leaving a net profit of $207.29. A boy in Baker County, won the state bronze medal given for the boy who made the best individual report in the state. He raised eighty-three chickens, valued at $116.15, at a cost of $47.64. His net profit was $68.51. The girls in Florida apparently are outstripping the boys in the poultry-club work.

PLAN No. 748. POULTRY YIELDS $1.14 AN HOUR

A side line for the farmer’s wife which yields $1.14 for every hour she puts into it is worth the consideration of every farm woman. A Wabash County, Indiana, woman has demonstrated that this amount can be made by keeping chickens. Last year the local county agent interested this woman in keeping a farm poultry flock, and as a result she produced a net profit of $172.24. She kept an accurate account of her work and found at the end of the season that she had received $1.14 an hour for the time she actually devoted to caring for her flock.

PLAN No. 749. GIRLS HERD THEIR OWN SHEEP

“After paying all expenses, I cleared $1,240 from my sheep last year,” reports a girl member of a sheep club organized in Fremont County, Wyoming. Several years ago she bought the first of a flock and she has handled her sheep so successfully that they number 108 ewes. In 1918 her flock produced seventy-nine lambs, seventy-six of which she raised. These, with seven orphan lambs abandoned by sheep herders, constituted the year’s increase. All the care the sheep require is given them by their girl owner. She next plans with part of her profits to buy twenty-five pure-bred Cotswold ewes in Nebraska and to use them to start a pure-bred flock.

A girl in Sheridan County, Wyoming, in 1918 cleared $928 with a flock of forty-eight ewes. During the coming season these two girls plan to throw their sheep together and to herd them themselves over the Big Horn Mountains. Orphan lambs discarded by other camps are also to be collected and cared for by the youthful herders. Members of the boys’ and girls’ sheep clubs in some of the western states find the salvaging of “bum” or stray lambs an economical way of obtaining a start in the sheep-club work.

PLAN No. 750. CHAMPION DRAWS 80 CENTS AN HOUR FOR GARDEN WORK

Eighty cents an hour for working in his garden is what a man of Fillmore County, Minnesota, earned in his one-tenth-acre plot. He was awarded the state championship in garden work in Minnesota last year, and in his report to the state club leader of the boys’ and girls’ club work, he says:

“For several seasons I had grown a garden with some success, and in 1919 I determined to secure even better results. I started my garden on three plots (all together comprising one-tenth-acre) differing widely in soil, slope and surroundings. Two had been, until the year before, waste land, and sprouted a healthy crop of bones and rusty cans in the wake of the plow. I made my plans according to conditions and adhered to them throughout the season to save time and confusion when there was real work to do. Desk-farming is one of the most interesting features of the work.

“Tomatoes, cabbages, eggplant, and everything that needed an early start were planted about the first of April in four hotbeds of ordinary size. All surplus plants were easily sold.

“In May, twelve dozen tomato plants were transplanted, and were coming along splendidly until one day I found a thrifty plant nearly cut off. This rather pleased me, as I had never seen a cutworm outside of a picture, and I was glad to make his acquaintance. When the seedlings fell, one by one, however, I decided I had seen enough of the pest. Happily, their depredations were stopped in time and there were plenty of plants to fill in.

“I raised about two-dozen kinds of vegetables to provide a variety for the table, and for marketing, large crops of tomatoes, peas, cucumbers and celery were planted.

“Canning was a big factor in making the garden a success. What we couldn’t eat I sold, what I couldn’t sell we canned; and what we couldn’t can, I fed to the chickens, so none were wasted. Our summer kitchen was our cannery and the wash boiler our canner. For nearly everything we used the one-period, cold-pack method and followed the directions sent out by the government, with excellent results. We put up 221 quarts of tomatoes, beans, peas, carrots, beets, chard, sweet pickles, kohlrabi, tomato jelly and sauce, carrot conserve, dill pickles, limes, cabbages, tomato jam, mincemeat, eggplant, celery and others. Since we desired a pleasing variety we canned thirty-seven kinds from our garden and purchased some others.

“In all my work with the plants I kept this in mind—that the earliness, quality and quantity of the product is dependent on the seed, environment (including weather, fertility, and shade) and the care given them. So I purchased the best seed obtainable, planted it when natural conditions were best, and cared for each kind as its peculiarity required. Where there is a deficiency in any of these requirements, it can in part be made up in the others.

“The total receipts from the one-tenth acre were $150.48; subtracting $35.42 for expenses, a profit of $115.06 was left, or the equivalent of 80 cents per hour net for every hour spent working in the garden. Home-gardeners will not have to strike for higher wages for some time yet. In addition, I had the good fortune to win a $45 prize for an exhibit of canned goods at the state fair. So I feel well repaid financially for my efforts.”