Connecticut western news., 1896-11-05
SOME QUEER INDUSTRIES.
Odd Ways of Making Living Disclosed
 by the Latest Census.

by the Latest Census
 Occupations open to the thrifty indi viduals of both sexes have greatly in creased during the last two decades. or even since the taking of the last decen- nial census, in 1890.
 The extraordinary progress of science during the time specified and the appli- cation of its principles to the practical problems of human life have not only had the effect of greatly increasing the capacity for production in the trades already firmly established, but have opened hundreds of queer side alleys which lead direct to the avenues of trade.
 There are, of course, dozens of these new and remarkable occupations with which science does not deal even in the remotest sense. In this class we find the rat catcher, the skunk farmer, the man who makes his living by picking up lost things in depots, theaters, hotels, etc, and returning them to their owners with the expectation of being rewarded, the clock winder, the man who collects orange and lemon peels and the Lake Michigan syndicate which is now en- gagged in raising black cats for their fur. They are not raising these cats on water, as might be inferred from the title, but have leased an island in the great lake which is now plentifully stocked with both sexes of screeching felines
 There are still others in the nonscien- tific category of queer occupations, but it will only be necessary to mention a few. One is a rattlesnake farmer" who lives in the Ozark mountains and makes the products of his farm" bring money from three different directions The oil he disposes of to druggists, who have regular customers that believe it to be panacea for hundred different ills. The skins he sells to would be cow boys, who use them as hat bands, and the skeletons are always ready sale, the purchasers being the curators of the natural history departments of the diff ferent college and society museums The man who wakes people up in the morning, the old cork collectors and the dog catchers are we'll known char acters ill every large city.
 The individuals who gain a liveli- hood in pursuits that are strictly scien- tific are equally as numerous as those who follow the more humble callings In the list of occupations that are strictly scientific is the manufacture of artificial eggs, artificial coffee and false diamonds; also the industry of making buttons, combs, penholders and other articles of a similar nature from blood collected at the slaughter houses. The man who makes billiard balls, buttons and rings from potatoes which have been treated to a solution of nitric and sulphuric acids is also the proprietor of an "in- dustry" wherein the fundamental prin- ciples are strictly scientific.
 But the queerest of all is carried on by two young Pennsylvanians, who are making a regular business of extracting the poison from honeybees. According to the accounts, they have two different ways of collecting their crop of venom. In the first the bees are caught and held with their abdomens in small glass tubes until the poison sacs have been emptied. In the second they are placed ill a bottle on wire netting and enraged until the tiny drops of venom fall into the alcohol which fills the lower third of the bottle. This venom is said to be a sovereign remedy for cancer, rheuma- tism, snake bite and a hundred others of the more terrible ills of humanity St. Louis Republic.