Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-03-25
OSTRICH FEATHERS.


From the n. Y. Sun.
During the war ostrich feathers went up to
an enormous price In this country. When we
had to pay as high as $50 for gold to pay not
only for the crude feathers, bnt for the work o I
preparing them for the market and the heavy
duties exacted upon them in their finished
form, they became almost unattainable. At
that time the arts Of bleaching and dyeing
feathers was hardly known in this country.
German, Isador Cohnfeldt was the first to es-
tabsh the new industry here and already New
York has the largest establishment for feather
manufacture in the world. and is enabled to
MAINTAIN lively competitor in this line Of
products with the principal European cities.
This principal establishment employs in it's
busiest season-the spring and summer
months-525 girls and 36 men. and all the year
round finds work for from 4S5 to 400 persons
turning out 81 $4,000 worth of goods per an
num- Few people have any idea of the amount
OF rough treatment an ostrich feather will stand
and has to go throussh to make it the beautiful
thing which eventually adorns some lady's
Gainsborough hat or o Knights Templar's
chapeau. N
As it comes from Africa in its crude state. it
is plain, rough. discolOred and dirty. In that
condition it may be worth anywhere from IS to
$3.50 per pound, according to its length. fneness,
absence of color and thickness First, after
being counted and tied together by their quilts.
with long strings the feathers are vigorously
brushed, one by one, to free them frsm dirt. The
workman lays them on one brush and works
them with another. touzling. hacking aud
missing them in such a way that their destruc-
ton seems inevitable. They are then soused in
great tubs of sOapsuds. rubbed with brown soap
and washed more vigorously than laundresses
wash clothes, After that they are bleached by
process which turns even black feathers to
snowy white. From the bleaching tubs they go
to the dye watts. We DOW excel in this country
the European feather dyers in the delicacy and
durability of all our colOrs. except the coral tint;
In which the old world is still ahead. However
that tint has not yet been much In demand by
of course beat them in that too" When
thoroughly dried, beaten, redried, combed and
sorted, the feathers pass into the hands
of girls. The thick. unsightiy stem of
each feather is pared down thin on the
under side, and in place of its stiff and uglv
quill tapering substitute of wire, covered with
cotton and paper, is firmly fastened on. BY
careful sorting, clipping, selecting out and
matching pieces from different feathers a COM
posite second feather is made to underlie the
long and perfect one which constitutes the top
of each completed plume, and these various
pieces are securely sewed together. so that it
requires sharp eye to detect that the fine con-
struction, of double thickness. is not single
feather. In exceptionally valuable punes, the
lower as well as the upper feather is whole and
not made up OF pieces, but in all cases the COM
pleted plume is double. If the stem of the
upper feather is discOlored it is carefully
scraped.
After steaming. to soften the feathers. they
are next CURED and laid" In the first process
girl, by passing the fibres between her thumb
and dull knife-bade, gives them regular curl
all along both sides of the feather. and the sec
ond consists in giving them a series of dexter
Gus little twists which throw the curled ends
upon the upper side of the plume All this work
adds an average of ten per cent to the value OF
the feathers. pound Of fine ones. suitable for
plumes. will contain about $50 feathers. sufTi-
Gent for IS plumes, and costs. say, $3.50. The
finished plumes command from s. to :s15 each
according to length and quality, but the general
average is lowered by the small comparative
value of the lower grades.