Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1904-06-30
eurroNs MADE OF MILK.
Fluid Of Palm Fruit Reeoms. Aara
With Ace,

Fluid Of Palm Fruit Becomes AarG
With Age.
.rDown in South America there Is q
ruit-producing palm that has quite met
a~morphosed the button business, and
formed the nucleus for one of the most
important industries in the United States,
said ii. i. Rawlins, a New York
at the Raleigh. i
1.-The seed of this fruit contains a milk
that is sweet to the taste and relished by
the natives. The milk, when allowed to
remain In the nut long enough. becomes.
indurated and turns into a substance as
brittle and hard as the ivory plant. Most
of the buttons now used IN Ameflca,s
whether termed ivory, pearl, Ihppcr, norm
or bone, come from this ivory plant. mus
the probabilities are that your buttons aiei
made from a vegetable milk, and theS
grow on bushes.
The ivory plant is one of the mlarvels'
of the age, and Is rewarding Its growerss
with vast fortunes. The nuts are brought
to the United States by shiploads, and are
shipped across the continent to the ois
button factories, from which they issue
forth In every conceivable design. coior'
grade and classification of button.
The ivory plant has recently been dis
covered in California, but the nut 1t pro-
duces in its wild state Is of inferior quail
lily ana VIII IOI pIOQuCe Boou puSeoiS -
is believed, though, with the proper Gull
tivation the fruit would be as valuable as.
the Central American. If so, the growing
OF buttons in America would become an
industry of Importance second only TO the
growing of corn, wheat and cotton, lot
everybody wears buttons.
The best ivory nut for commercial pur-
poses is found on the banks of the river
Magdalena, in the United States OF Co
lombia, where by some 1T is callea the
Tagua palm. The fruit forms a globdAar
head about twice the size of a mans heahS
and weighs from 20 to rs pounds. me
head is a kind of cluster of bulbs and In
alt contains from 80 to 60 seeds. 4 he seeds
are allowed to dry, and are harvested sew
eral times a year by the natives.
The ivory nut is used almost solely in
! the manufacture OF buttons, though some
factories also make poker chips from
them. The nut, however, has superseded
the archaic mud, rubber and bone buttons
in vogue formerly. 1t admits of wider
and more varied treatment for this pur-
pose than any other known substance and
Is easily worked. Tho United States con-
s,mes more than one-half of the worlds
| product of ivory nuts, and pine-tenths OF
the vegetable ivory is manufactured into.
buttons.
"Wriion the nut reaches the button fac
| tory 1t is cut Into three slabs. in the pro-
cess of cutting the button is partially
shaped. Afterward the thread holes are
drilled and cointersuIlS. The button is
| then sent to the polisher. who uses tho
snavinEs and powder made in the drilling
| to polish them. Afterward they are sent
to the designer, who traces OH the buttons.
In iEdelible dye the designs needed. After
| receiving these outlines, If the buttons are
to remain smooth and receive another
coat. they are put into the dye, then they
are put into q pressing machine fitted With
/ dies of the pattern desired"