Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1881-10-19
The Value of Scraps.
From the Cincinnati Commercial

From the Cincinnati Commercial
Few people appreciate the value of
Little and apparently insignificant things.
In some countries the litter of domestic
animals is carefully collected and sold to
farmers. Not few people make living
gathering fertilizers in this way. In the
shops Of jewelers. and others where arti-
cles are manufactured of gold and silver,
great care is taken to prevent the waste
OF the precious metals. Every particle
OF filing, scraping or grinding is pre-
served 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
precious 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. It
is calculated that when jewelers. shop
floor is to be renewed the dirt accumu-
lated 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 run at a loss. The paper
sc trimmings" of large printing office
like the Harper's or Appleton's, are worth
thousands of dollars a year. Lumber
men have found uses for nearly every
part of tree, and scraps that few
years ago accumulated so rapidly as to
be a source of III convenience and conse-
quently expense, are now sold at a good
price and are in great demand. There
are in nearly every branch of business
"scraps of various kinds that, if care
fully collected, could be sold at a pecu-
mary advantage, but this is particularly
so in the tobacco business. The value
of the tobacco scraps is more highly ap-
preciated in Europe than America, but
even here in the manufacture of cigars
very little is allowed to go to waste.
Tobacco costs too much to be wasted by
the manufacturer.
The stems and ribs of tobacco leaves
that are rejected by the cigarmaker are
sold to farmers for manure. The cut
tings and odd scraps are sent to the
cigarette manufacturer, or to Europe for
pipe smoking. Even the floor dust has
its price and is used as an insect destroy
er in lighthouses and gardens. The great
waste in tobacco is with the consumer
1t is estimated that about one-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 attributed 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 Maubert there
is a regular market for them. The
stumps are collected by boys and girls
and beggars, and are bought in large
lots by wholesale dealers, who manufac-
ture them into low grade of smoking
tobacco that is either sold to the poorer
classes or exported. Scores of New
York bootblacks and italian rag -pickers
may be seen every morning gathering
from the cutters, for their private con-
sumption, a harvest of cigar stumps
which had been swept into them.