The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1881-10-23
The Value of Scraps.

Few people appreciate the value OF little
and apparently insignificant things. In
some foreign countries the litter of domos-
tic animals is carefully collected and sold to
farmers. Not few people make living
gathering fertilizers in this way In the
shops of jewellers and others where articles
are manufactured of gold and silver, care is
taken to prevent the waste of the precious
metals Every particle of filing, scraping
or grinding is preserved for the assayer
The wheels upon which gold and silver have
been polished, when worn out, are burned,
and the fire develops particles of the pre-
Cious metals which could not be seen by
the naked eye. Even the sweepings, after
great care has been taken to pick up every
bit of metal that may have fallen on
the floor, are preserved, and in New
York city sell for $40 barrel. 1t is
calculated that when u jewelers.
shop floor is to be removed the dirt
accumulated in the crevices will more than
pay the cost Of the new floor. 1t is said
that the receipts from the sale of the refuse
of starch mills, which is used by farmers as
feed for hogs and other stock, constitute
large part of the profits, and that if this
refuse could not be sold some mills would
be compelled to stop or be run at loss.
The paper trimmings ola large printing
office like Harpers or Appletons' are worth
thousands of dollars u year. Lumbermen
have found uses for nearly every part OF q
tree, and scraps that few years ago
accumulated so rapidly rs to become a
source of inconvenience and consequently
expense, are now sold for good price and
are in great demand There are in nearly
every branch of business scraps of vari-
nm m NIL tal
be sold alta pecuniary advantage, but this is
particularly so in the tobacco business. The
value OF the tobacco scraps is more highly
appreciated in Europe than in America,
but even here in the manufacture
of cigars very little is allowed to 20 TO
waste, Tobacco costs 100 much to be wasted
by the manufacturer. The stems and ribs
ottobacco leaves that are rejected by the
Cigar-maker are sold To farmers for manure
The cuttings and odd scraps are sent 90 the
cigarette manufacturer, or TO Europe for
pipe smoking. Even the floor dust has It's
price and is used as an insect destroyer in
lighthouses and gardens. The great waste
in tobacco is with the consumer. II Is osti-
mated that about onc-third the tobacco
made into cigars is thrown away in stumps
and that the smokers of the best cigars
throw away the biggest stumps, This
enormous waste in this country Is attrib.
uted largely to the very limited use Of
cigar-holders, which are more popular in
Europe. In Paris the gathering of cigar
stumps is recognized industry, and In the
Place Muubcrt there is u regular market for
them. The stumps are collected by boys
and girls and bcggars, and are bought In
large lots by wholesale dealers, who manu-.
facture them into low grade Of smoking
tobacco that is either sold to the poorer
classes or exported Scores of New York
bootblnoks and Italian .rag-piotcrs may be
tiers, for their private consumption, har.
vest OF cigar stumps which had been swept
into them Cincinnati Commercial.