The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1897-06-24
Elder DOW IS -cosTLY J
Dut LEGO Pounds 4 Year USE .Il
Cheapest Costs $40. . I'd


Dut Loco Pounds Year Use<4
Cheapest Costs $40 2 I'd I.
There are only abotlS ] Q|
pounds Of elder down used in
country in year." said vete
down importer of this city v1,1I
asked about the quality of eid5
down used in quilts sold for 81
IS. There are three gra6e and
the srange in price is $40, ls and
SIS pound.
The down is imp0 Ned chiefly
from Greenland and Iceland, where
it is gathered by the natives. When
the ducks build their nests, they
line them with down plucked from
their own breasts. This first lining
is the finest quality of down. After
a nest is robbed the ducks line ne.
second and third times, eaQ1
The grade of down becopa1l
as there are a gTs
small feathers nj Il -
third robbing e
nest and do not =
the next season.
Elder down, n aboJ
bulky as the finest goose
that is, one pound of elder az
serve as a filling wheE . Z
best goose down wolll +
Owing to it's scarcitl
it is used only in
expensive cushions
can be used to CREATE
and is really the onI3
filling for elegant snon
muff beds, women's sKIFi ia
bies' clothing.
"The next quality of dow ID
goose down, which is produced iii
the United States, the larger part
coming from the western and south-
ern states. There are three grades
of it-$3, So and $50 pound.
The first grade is the pure down,
plucked from the breast of the live
goose. The other two grades are ex-
Eracted by machinery FROM the
|feathers of poultry plucked for the
markets The feathers are sold in
bulk, unsorted, and have tosbesep
arated by special machines. The on
ly goose down imported comes from
China. 1t is white, but not SO fluffy
as the American, and consequently
used only for cheaper filling.
duck down is imported almost
exclusively from China in feathers.
There are about three grades. The
best or pure down sells for $1.25
and is used in making a fair quality
of quilts, Innings, pillows, etc. The
other two grades, bringing 81 and
Is cents a pound, are made by leav-
ing a certain per cent of feathers in
the down. These feathers, as i'm
ported from China, are exceedingly
dirty, and the cleaning and separat-
ing, which are done by machinery,
are very expensive. The yield of
down as about 10 or ~ per cent; of
dirt, 80 to 40 per cent; tho rest is
feathers. These feathers are little
better, when thoroughly steamed
and cleaned, than our native chick
en- feathers, which, as all house
keepers should know, are the cheap
est feathers.
"This Chinese down is from the
ducks which the Chinese consume
in great quantities. AS rice is their
chief breadstuff, ducks are their
chief meat. One duck will furnish q
meal for 20 Cinnamon. The fowl is
boiled until the flesh drops from the
bones. 1t is then hashed very fine,
and with it's gravy used to season
boiled rice enough for about 90 men.
OF course a number of these ducks
are reared and consumed in China,
and as the Chinaman makes no par
ticular Use of the feathers these are
shipped to this country and Europe.
ThA~wfe about 1000, 900 pounds of
feathers imported to tho United
States each year from China, while
from Austria and Germany come
several hundred thousand pounds of
down, extracted from Chinese feath-
ers.
Chicken feathers, which have no
life in them, are chiefly used in
cheapening. down., and cheaper
grades are made by mixing in cat
tails, light cotton or rabbit hair.
These last three may always be de-
tected by beating the article, as the
cattails and rabbit hair will inva-
riably sift through and the cotton
will lump. Good down may always
be judged by it's feeling and its pow
er to rebound. A cushion well filled
with elder or the next best thing,