Books:

Discovered! 505
Odd Enterprises

Hidden Dollars

How to Make
Money at Home

Small Business
of Your Own

You Can Own
a Business

Thousands of these forms are used daily. One man conducted a literal "blank gold mine" selling blank forms for Mortgages, Contractor Bonds, Chattel Mortgages, Real Estate Contracts, Warranty Deeds, Contracts for Hiring a Farm Hand, Conditional Sale Contracts, Power of Attorney, Quit Claim Deeds, Bills of Sale, Personal Property Farm Leases, Satisfaction of Mortgage Forms, Contract of Sale Proposition Forms, Last Will and Testament Forms, Real Estate Leases, Ten Day Notice to Quit Forms, Rent Contracts, and many others.

In large cities these forms can be bought without any trouble, nevertheless, attorneys, real estate offices, banks, etc. pay a standard price for these blank legal forms.

An inspired individual secured a reliable printer and proceeded to have these forms made up in quantity. Next he secured a mailing list of the sources who have use for these blanks and circularized them with an attractive post card. The "savings" he mentioned in his special offer of 144 Legal Blanks for $1 was a bona-fide statement. He had to under-sell the regular source of supply in order to make a go of this business.

The "how" to under-sell the local printer where the supply of legal blanks is available, is the correct financial answer to this business. If a person were to order a printing of legal blanks in quantity, they could be sold at a profit to the sources mentioned above.

As the business progresses it would pay to have special plates made to order for your own private use. Your own plates would mean you could take them to almost any printer and get legal forms printed up at a trifling price.

Mailings could be made to a list of lawyers and other suitable prospects in the smaller towns throughout the country. It goes without saying that the price should be attractive enough to compete with the local printer, if any. That's where private plates, or a reliable low-cost printer, come in handy. For herein lie the profits and the success of a venture that certainly has an unlimited clientele. They can be circularized year after year-with success.

Along the same lines is the booklet being sold by mail by a spare time operator. He offers a small booklet that outlines certain facts about preparing wills, standard will forms and other data. Everyone is interested in Wills, but few make one out. There would be a large market awaiting this type of treatise.

THE AUTOGRAPH BUREAU—417-419
Enterprising individuals find ready markets for the autographs of literary greats, historical figures, political figures, political powers and last but not least…the autographs of movie stars. The autographs, depending on the individual, sell from 10 cents to $10 each.

The outlet or "market" for these autographs, according to a conservative estimate, is 50,000 "professional" collectors who would like to add to their collection of famous names. This doesn't include the amateur collectors who are reported to be several million strong.

Some have started autograph collecting as a hobby and eventually turned it into a paying business when they found out the names can be sold for as high as $10. The collectors easily sell their accumulated stock of famous names by advertising in Collectors Magazines and Movie Fan Magazines, or in Sunday classified personal sections.

Of course this particular field is limited geographically. That is, a collector can't get famous names unless he or she lives in New York or Hollywood, where the famous names congregate. However, this can be worked around by contacting "agents" in these cities to act as Collectors. The latter would agree to send all autographs secured each week to any part of the country. The names, of course, would have to be secured at a low price in order to insure a profit on the re-sale to professional collectors who want famous names for a hobby and not for use as a profitable venture.

Agents could be secured by advertising in the personal columns of New York and Los Angeles newspapers. Hundreds of youths could bring in thousands of famous names each year right to the door of the person who intends to make autograph collecting a profitable business instead of a hobby. The hobbyist is the person who is willing to pay for the autographs.

The professional collector, hobbyist, or movie fan, in turn could be induced to purchase Movie Packets for 25 cents each. These packets, 9 x 12 envelopes, could be filled with photographs, life stories, movie reviews, brief notes, etc., clipped from back issues of used movie magazines, in reference to one individual star. The idea behind this is that many people have one particular movie person as a "favorite". One ingenious chap found this plan to be exceedingly lucrative. He placed the packets in stores near the vicinity of theaters on consignment at 15 cents each. From the large and constant reorders that he received from such shops, there was no doubt as to the popularity of these "movie clipping" packets. Packets were also made up for the radio fans. Variety packets dealing with old silent day movie stars and photoplays, costing about 5 cents each to put up, would also be popular.

Scrapbooks, replete with the life and times of an individual movie star, are found to be fast sellers when neatly put up in leather scrapbooks. They can be sold by mail or placed in stores on consignment. One woman sells a scrapbook of any star (1916-1944) for $2.50. There are lists of thousands of movie fans that can be secured from responsible list brokers in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

When one complete clipping is secured from back numbers of old Movie magazines, the set can be put through the photolith process and turn out hundreds of exact reproductions for re-sale.

BOTTLE TRADE-INS—420-423
Oftentimes a business that is moving slowly can be stimulated by a change in methods or adopting a new idea. This statement is borne out in the case of one salesman who was selling household specialties door to door, but the time came when he found sales difficult to make. Pondering over the situation, his waned enthusiasm perked up when his brain gave birth to an idea. It is said he netted $600 a month from the very start!

He had some circulars printed in large letters and at the top "Bottles Wanted" appeared. Underneath that, a message read: "Don't discard your bottles. They are worth money and I will buy them, all kinds, large and small. Daily household items can be bought with the credit I will give you for old, empty bottles. Just phone—and we will call for your bottles". He had boys distribute the circulars throughout the town. Soon folks started to call his house and in response to questions, his wife told them that empty pint bottles were worth 5 cents, quart bottles 10 cents and half-gallon and gallon jugs 15 cents. It was explained, however, that these amounts would be allowed as credit on the fine household items her husband sold. Or—if too many bottles were on hand, credit on future orders would be given. The housewife was naturally curious. Her sense of thrift was aroused and she took advantage of the "bargain." Many of the products were bought in bulk quantities and put up under the operator's label.

When there were not sufficient telephone calls to justify trips, the salesman would follow the boys around and immediately call on his prospects after they had received the circulars. He was welcome now because in addition to selling things he was also buying. The bottles he received to apply on purchases of his articles were sold at a profit to junk yards or were used as containers for his own home mixed products—and labeled accordingly.

Another man in Canada noticed the piles of waste bottles in all the alleyways in the town where he lived, and thought it was a shame for all these useful bottles to go to waste. He decided to do something about it by opening a small office and storeroom. He inserted some ads in the local papers to get boys to collect bottles and jars at home and thus make themselves a little extra spending money. The ads got results considering the number of youngster who applied for the work. He paid them 10 cents a dozen for pint bottles, 20 cents a dozen for small glass jam jars, 30 cents a dozen for quart jam jars and also for quart vinegar jars. Different districts were allotted to the lads to work in. When they didn't see any bottles around the homes they called on they would inquire of the owner. They didn't buy the bottles, but were rendering a "service" to home-owners by taking the "junk" away and explained that they were earning a little money by doing it.

The boys were able to collect several sacks of bottles every day and as soon as owner of this new business had a fair stock on hand he contacted purchasers of bottles and offered them clean bottles at less than they were paying manufacturers of bottles. He experienced no difficulty in getting business and within four months the business prospered so well he took on a partner.

There are other waste products besides bottles and jars that may payoff equally as well. Take for instance the vast amount of waste paper that the average good size office building throws away each day. One go-getter purchased ten small paper baling machines at a cost of $140 each. His down payment for all ten was only $290. This amount together with a $200 down payment for a used truck comprised his total investment.

The balers were placed in the basements of some ten different buildings. They were electrically operated and so it was quite simple to turn out a large number of wire-tied bales of paper ready for shipment to the large paper mills. There is a ready market for such paper and the mills will accept it if it is properly baled and shipped to them by freight.

Of course each of the buildings had a janitor and their "cut" had to be approximately 20 per cent of the total amount received for the paper. It is said that this operator never made less than $180 a week!

While we are thinking about bottles, jars and waste paper, it would be appropriate to mention a true case history that deals with the use of tin cans. In this instance the operator was a woman and she is said to have met with considerable success with a small manufacturing enterprise.

She collected large amounts of tin cans from the dump yards; sanded them to a shining brightness, and then converted them into candle holders, trays, handmade lamps, toys, lighting fixtures and many other novel items. She did a thriving mail-order business to every state and operated the business on her own home premises.

Used or discarded items have been the start of many successful businesses, and it is well for the reader to give some thought to possibilities along this line. For instance there is a western concern that has developed a thriving business on used burlap bags of all kinds. By specializing in some used products that still have value you may be able to build an enormous business in time just as others have.

SERVING 100 OFFICE BUILDING TENANTS—424
Everyone who has an office does not have a secretary, and that leaves thousands of businessmen with no-one to answer their telephones when they are out. The answer to their prayers would be a setup similar to the switchboards used in hotels. Their system is to leave a note in the guest's special box near the switchboard, if he is not in his room to receive his call.

Let's see how a similar set-up would help the situation of many businessmen in office buildings: Individual telephone numbers would not be necessary for participants of this plan as they could all use the switchboard number, having just their own extensions. One floor of a large office building could be used for the switchboard arrangement. Payment could be made to the promoter by either adding a small charge to each tenant's rent or charging separately about $5 monthly over and above expenses. If one secured 100 tenants in one building he could show excellent profits, especially if he branched out to other buildings. This would be a welcomed service to those in one-man offices in industrial centers.

ROASTED MEALS DELIVERED—425
When a restaurant business is merely getting by, it's time for an injection that's going to start the cash register ringing. A Pennsylvania restaurant owner installed a battery of 18 electric roaster ovens, much on the order of roasters used at home.

It wasn't so much the novelty of the idea as the fact that delicious and piping hot food was served right from the roaster to the table. If the customer wanted to watch his meal being prepared, the roaster was wheeled right up to his table.

A service of this type could prepare an entire meal in a single roaster and then deliver, roaster and all, to the purchaser. Large apartment houses would readily subscribe to these hot meals.

THE BANANA TREE ODDITY—426
What started out as a hobby proved to be the means of a successful business for a grocery store proprietor in the East. His banana experiment proved that this tropical fruit could, with a little care, be grown in non-tropical climes.

This man raises his own crops of bananas in a curious vertical greenhouse. He planted a twelve-inch sprout of the tropical tree, kept it in his store during the winter, and transferred it to open ground in the spring.

In the fall he built a greenhouse to protect it from the ravages of frost. The tree actually yielded six hands of bananas.

The result of this was that hundreds of new customers flocked to his store to view the banana oddity. Eastern storekeepers should go to the library and read up on other tropical fruits, the orange, etc., and start raising them. The free publicity is worth the extra time put into the raising of the tropical fruit.

PEACH PIT "COAL"—427
A California trucker had a monotonous as well as low-paying job. He trucked peach pits from local canneries and dumped them into the San Francisco bay.

How the idea came about is of no consequence, but the man turned the peach pits into fuel. Every load was now taken to an open field where the sun dried them. When they were thoroughly dried he sold the pits as fuel. Many people purchased the pits for use in home furnaces, stoves and grates.

So-called "waste" can often times be turned into something of use to others. Readers should look around for things that are being thrown away. They may be of real value.

THE DEBT CANCELLING SERVICE—428
There are many "debt collection" services, but a Texas young man founded a unique debt cancelling service that worked like a charm for him.

Business men in his vicinity owed various sums of money to other business men. The young man obtained a confidential list of their creditors and debtors and made an agreement with the business men for 10 per cent on every dollar he cleared from their books. The plan was ingenious, but it worked! And here's how:

A plumber owed a $25 grocery bill. The grocer in turn owed the wholesale house a large sum of money. The latter owed an automobile dealer for a truck. The auto seller owed the plumber. All of these debts were past due. The plumber's debt being the smallest, the young man had him make out a check of $25 to the grocer. The grocer endorsed the check. From here the young man took it to the wholesaler and applied the amount on the grocery man's account. The wholesaler signed the check to pay on his truck. The car dealer added his name to pay $25 on his plumbing bill. The plumber destroyed the check and gave the man with the bright idea his $2.50 commission. The others paid the same amount.

Business men owe money to other business men in many towns and cities all over the United States. This same plan could be worked in almost any town in the country.

FLOWERS GROWING FROM HENS' BACKS—429-430
In a Connecticut town there is the most amazing chicken coop in the world. An old man works there turning out beautiful roses, tulips, carnations, lilies, violets and gardenias. They are all made from chicken feathers! So realistic are these feather-flowers they have been in demand from coast to coast for boutonnieres, corsages, party favors. They are also used to decorate banquet halls and churches. These feathers-flowers find their way into hospitals and are even used at cemeteries. They can also be used for dressing up advertising displays.

The creator of these distinctive feather-flowers has been called as far away as Pennsylvania and Ohio to arrange special displays of his products. At one poultry show he sold $1500.00 worth of the "chicken-yard blooms". Gardenias, the petals of which once grew on the back of a Connecticut hen, were worn by an American visitor at the coronation of King George VI in London.

This is not a new business because the owner started it almost a half century ago at which time he was employed in a greenhouse. When he was a youngster, however, he lived on his grandfather's poultry farm. One day as he looked at waving carnations in the greenhouse, he was reminded of the tails of hens, at feeding time. It was then he started wondering if artificial carnations couldn't be made from feathers. He surprised himself with the results on his initial experiment.

A nearby milliner saw some of the imitation blooms and bought them as a novelty for use in trimming hats. Well, that started our feather-flower-maker on the road to success. During the years he added many new creations to his list. The number of flowers he successfully imitated are too numerous to mention herein. His prices ranged from 25 cents a piece to as high as $1.50 for such flowers as water lilies and roses of the largest kind. He has perhaps sold nearly 100,000 of his clever barn-yard-blooms.

Before the feathers are used, they are washed, ironed, sterilized and mothproofed. Sometimes a half bushel will be sorted, to get the right selection to make a flower. A carnation, for instance, requires about sixty small feathers, whereas a large rose may require more than 100. Tulips take only 16. Although relatively small, gardenias requires 50 feathers, carefully selected for size and shape. One small feather out of place will spoil a whole flower. Carnations have been his best seller, with roses following. Both are supplied in various shades. If the customer wishes, the artificial feather flowers are given a touch of perfume to increase the effect.

So realistic are these artificial flowers, honeybees have been known to alight on the feather petals and crawl thereon evidently in quest of nectar. In making his flowers, only two tools are used—a pair of scissors and a pair of tweezers. From fifteen minutes to a half hour is required to make a flower. The feathers are treated with waterproof dyes for coloring before they are bound in place. As the dyes are supposed to be permanent the flowers can be left outdoors in rain and sunshine for weeks at a time without fading or changing the hues.

When feather-flowers get dusty or dirty they can be washed in benzine, gasoline or soapsuds. Many of the flowers sold some twelve years ago are reported to be still in good condition. When one large sewing-machine concern dresses up their displays with these artificial flowers (purchased fifteen years ago) it is evident the flowers will last and that they have important advertising value.

According to reports from physicians, flowers that do not wilt have a psychological benefit in hospital-rooms of convalescent patients. Feather-flowers do not wilt or die. Sometimes purchasers of these artificial flowers put them to unusual uses. For instance, one customer ordered a dozen pond lilies attached to corks. Why? Well, he was having a garden party on his estate and desired to make his lily pond look like it was blooming out of season. Another customer every year gets out his feather tulips as soon as the first green leaves appear above the soil in the spring. By placing these gayly colored blooms in the ground, he has an attractive display long before the plants of his neighbors bud. Then there is the account of a New York jeweler who buys the carnation feather-flowers not to wear and not for display purposes but for dusting out fine watches. He orders the smallest carnations the Connecticut "manufacturer" makes.

If you haven't the talent for making feather-flowers, perhaps you know of someone else who does. If so, why not pass along the idea to him or her? Chances are there will be a market for such artificial flowers for a long time to come. They are different and serve many useful purposes. It has been reported that one lady made tiger lilies, dahlias, hyacinths, daisies and other flowers out of—imagine—human hair! They were used as corsages worn in the hair.

WEEDS FOR SALE—431
A Hollywood man grosses $5,000 annually gathering weeds and spraying them with silver paint. The decorative weeds are sold to department stores, night clubs, museums and movie studios.

The workshop employs 25 people. Those who do not paint and spray the weeds go scouting all over the country looking for weeds that would make attractive decorations. The man in the shop uses approximately 1500 gallons of paint, five tons of mica "snow" and a ton of salt every year.

The forest contains many natural wonders that can be turned into a business. Nature's gifts and man's ingenuity can be a team of financial independence. One has only to think a little. What has the forest to offer that can be turned into something profitable?

COOKIE JAR REFILLER—432
Grandma's old-time Cookie Jar started a clever packaging idea for an Illinois woman. She started a cookie route by delivering the cookies in these old fashioned but very attractive cookie jars.

The jar was left with the first order and then picked up when the customer re-ordered. Too, the customers were given to understand the jars would be their personal possessions if they ordered these cookies three times or more. The first three times the jar was refilled.

Glass containers can be used to spurt sales upward. A New York woman put up her delicious strawberry jam in a huge beer goblet instead of preserve glasses. The plan worked very well for her. Sales doubled immediately.

AFTERNOON GUESTS—433-434
Metropolitan hotels usually find themselves with an almost vacant hotel from the hours of 10 in the morning to 5, in the evening. At 10 A.M. the regular patrons usually check out. At 5 P.M. other patrons check in.

What to do with these vacant rooms between 10 A.M. and 5 P.M.? Well, one metropolitan hotel had the answer to that question. They rented their rooms for DAY USE to women shoppers at a special low-cost rate. Women from the suburbs who usually come to the city on an all-day shopping binge welcomed this innovation. It gave them a chance to freshen up at the start, middle or ending of their shopping trip. The comfortable rooms and bath were really worth-while.

This plan did no harm to the hotel either. The suburbanites were given the chance to view the comforts of this particular hotel and became regular patrons.

Then there's the baby-carriage rental idea instituted by another hotel. This clever service could be operated apart from a hotel. Resorts and cities all over the country ought to give baby-carriage rentals a good think!

SELLING TO BAKERS BY MAIL—435
The hardest thing in the world to sell, according to certain advertising men, would be formulas to Bakers. They wouldn't be interested, the ad men said. Interest or no interest one man proceeded to sell Master Formulas to Bakers. He did it entirely by mail. A complete set of 16 formulas cost the bakers $25…and despite the price there were many bakers who bought the 16 formulas.

The success of this venture was due probably to the way the mail sale campaign was promoted. First of all there was the sample bottle of one flavor that was made from a formula. The sample extract flavor was sent to the bakers if they asked for it. If they found it to be as good as any they ever used, and if they were convinced of the savings, they were to remit the proper amount for the 16 formulas.

As if this weren't enough to show the bakers they were getting something that was strictly on the level, the man used a final clinching convincer of his own! If still in doubt, the baker was told he could send the $25 to a certain bank in the promoter's town, with instructions that the bank was to hold the $25 for 30 days. At the end of 30 days, if the customer didn't send in a request for returning his money, the promoter assumed the baker was satisfied with the formulas and the money was his.

This mail promotion was highly successful, and no doubt the two "selling plans" mentioned here had much to do with the success of this venture.

The extracts or formulas were designed so that the baker could turn out his own flavoring extracts right in his own bake shop. The promoter claimed his flavoring extracts would result in a savings of from 50 per cent to 75 per cent.

All in all everything about the promotional literature was a deciding factor when it came for the bakers to send in that order. Believability is an asset to any man's business.

HOW FLORISTS INCREASE THEIR BUSINESS—436-438
A "just getting by" florist became the leading florist in his city because he thought of a personalized service plan for the benefit of his prospective customers.

He took a list of his customers and secured data on the husband's, wife's, mother's or sweetheart's birthday, wedding anniversary. If there were any children, he took their ages down in anticipation of weddings, graduations, etc.

Armed with this information, he instituted a "telephone service," having a young women with a pleasing voice call the customer to remind him of his wife's birthday, their anniversary, and so on. Naturally, the young lady calling would start out by saying…"this is Brown's florist shop calling…" and then she proceeded to explain the call. This thoughtful reminder was really appreciated by the person called, who invariably sent flowers for the wife, husband, mother or sweetheart.

A New York florist variated this plan. He ran an advertisement in shorthand in one of the New York newspapers. Business men with secretaries were curious and asked them what the ad read. They were told the ad reminded all secretaries to keep this florist in mind when the boss wanted flowers for his wife! A clever idea.

A Hollywood florist does more business than other florists because people thinking of buying flowers for some occasion can't help but think of the florist with the shop that's shaped in the form of a giant flower pot. It can be seen from a mile around. Even two giant artificial posies seem to be growing out of the pot!

FRAGRANCE REFILLS—439-441
Flowers, even a small bouquet, enhance the appearance of an office or a reception room. A Philadelphia school girl got the idea that many offices would be willing to subscribe to a fresh bouquet once or twice a week. Anyhow, the idea was worth a try.

Knowing her flowers, she had little trouble convincing business and professional men that her "flower service" would add greatly to the appearance of a particular room or rooms. Her knowledge of flowers and short "sales talk" brought a long list of steady customers. And she gets the flowers at a discount from the florist she deals with. The latter in turn pays her a commission on business he otherwise would not have.

The valuable contacts she made with the business and professional world would serve her in good stead when she was ready to apply for a regular job upon graduation.

Another girl started a flower-a-day service. She secured her customers by mailing a simple announcement telling about her service. The prospective customers were given the choice to pay her by the week or month for one flower a day for which she charged 10¢.

The "side-line" grew so rapidly the girl had to hire messenger boys to deliver the flowers at 8 o'clock in the morning. Girls prepared the boutonnieres. Customers had the right to choose any flower on any day. A carnation on Monday, a rosebud on Tuesday, and so on. Her list of customers soon totalled 1,000.

A Cleveland woman worked her flower project by mail. Her own garden supplied most of the flowers. In the winter she secured them from the local wholesale market. Her mailing list included mostly professional people, to whom printed folders were mailed. Delivery was made daily by her two boys.

GLASS EYES FOR FISH—442
A young woman in a western city manufactures glass eyes of all kinds for stuffed animals and birds. That's one item a taxidermist has to rely on someone else to supply. And the "supply" business is said to reap tremendous financial gains for this woman.

Then there's the woman in New York who specializes in making glass eyes for stuffed fish. Different types of fish need different eyes. The work is a specialty and commands nice prices from taxidermists.

A little investigation will prove that many specialists in their own line rely on a certain item to finish the work they are doing. And that item must be purchased from "someone." Why not you?

SELLING OLD SHOES WITH NEW SOLES—443
One man made $5000 in a year's time selling the old shoes left at the cobblers' shops after the 30-day time limit usually given customers.

He made arrangements to pick up all the uncalled for shoes at the many shoe repair shops in his city. He rented a store and conducted huge weekly bargain sales. The shoes were sold for 25¢ a pair and up. People gladly bought the shoes that had new soles on them and were in very good condition.

This plan could be worked extensively. Cobblers in several towns and cities could be contacted. The shoes could be purchased outright or the cobbler given a percentage of the sales. There's no trouble selling re-soled shoes. Children who are hard on shoes and men who need them for work purposes would put a store like this on their shopping list.

REDUCING POST AGE EXPENSES FOR LOCAL STOREKEEPERS—444
A Michigan housewife earns $25 a week working a spare-time Cooperative Mailing Bureau. Her idea is merely a twist of the many small mailing services conducted by the mail order trade dealers called, "circular mailers."

Locally the merchants did not use the co-operative system of saving postage. They always mailed their sales messages separately. This of course ran into an expensive item every year until the woman induced two or three merchants, with non-competitive merchandise, to mail their literature in the same envelope. She would take care of all the details. In fact her service included typing, stuffing and stamping the mail. The latter services brought her an additional income.

Pretty soon she had 15 such groups as her customers and averaged around 10,000 letters every month.

Local merchants would be eager to listen to a plan to mail their Literature in this inexpensive manner. They'd much rather send the circulars, bills etc. by mail instead of from door-to-door or high-cost separate mailings. Readers should talk to a few merchants. Nine out of ten would be in accord with this postage-saving plan…providing the other circulars were of a non-competitive nature.

THE PHEASANT FARM—445-449
A little land can be the means of a large income as one Iowa farmer can attest to. He converted his farm into a game-breeding preserve raising ring-necked pheasants.

He sold the birds for $2.50 each and received 20¢ each for their eggs. He reported selling 1800 birds and 28,000 eggs in one season! Experiments with wild turkeys have also been carried out.

The only "expense" was the care and feeding of the birds, much on the order of chickens, and a $2 license fee for a game breeder's permit. There are countless number of books in the public library on this subject. A little study on their habits should prove to be worthwhile to a person who owns as little as 8 acres of land.

A Nebraska man made $5000 per year raising pheasants and partridges on his 8 acres of land. There's a ready market for them in nearby clubs, hotels and restaurants.

One can also add quails to his game farm. In Virginia a "little fellow" operated a farm with a great deal of success. Claims that he raised up to 10,000 quail each year. They sell for about $2.25 apiece. Has his own incubators and hatches the eggs for the quail hens. Mechanical brooders take over after the chicks are hatched.

It is not easy to raise the quail in captivity. A very few have been successful, and even these operators don't know why they were successful. Some operators enclose several acres of wooded land with closely woven fencing. The birds are harmlessly trapped, their wings clipped, and given their freedom within the enclosure. Another man completely enclosed a smaller section of land, including overhead, with woven wire fencing. He divided the enclosure by running a fence through the center, transferring the birds to the opposite side when he wanted to clean the place. In this manner he did not disturb the birds. The enterprise is said to have brought him about $400 a month!

If the operator could only discover a method of raising these birds on the same scale as chickens, he would probably be able to retire on his earnings! It is said that the quail raiser could dispose of any amount of the birds—even a million of them—if he had them to sell!

Farming of this type might mean pleasant recreation and a better-than-average yearly income to persons who have enough money to purchase some farm-land.

THE SLEEP PRODUCING SHOP—450
This story, concerning the strangest business ever founded, may even seem foolish to some, but there are many people right in your locality who would give almost anything if they could fall asleep nights. Insomnia isn't foolish!

That's what one chap thought about his own case of insomnia. He thought about it so much he made up his mind he was going to do something about it immediately. That was the birth of his unique "sleep shop"…a shop producing over 600 gadgets designed to help the mind triumph over insomnia.

He made a study of insomnia first, from practical viewpoints and from data secured from books on the subject in his public library. Fortified with this knowledge he proceeded to produce the gadgets that would induce sleep. For instance, for the person who lived in the city and couldn't sleep because of the blinking electric sign outside, this man sold a special type eyeshade. He had remedies for all. Those who couldn't sleep because of rattling street cars, mates who tossed and rolled in bed, chronic worriers whose worries kept them from sleeping, etc.

Earstoppers of sanitary wax were sold to shut out annoying noises. For the cigarette smoker who must have his smoke before falling off to sleep he designed a special contrivance which made the bed safe for smoking. It was an elongated tube attached to a cigarette firmly fixed to an ashtray. Other "gadgets" were, radios fitted into pillows which automatically shut themselves off, air filters for hay fever victims, head coolers for chronic headache sufferers, V-shaped pillows for those who like to sleep on their stomachs, and even a mechanical canary bird whose soft twitterings (for 15 minutes) are supposed to send one off to sleep. His bundling bed, with its hump in the middle, is designed to keep light weight bed partners from rolling into the heavyweight's self-made declivity. For the toe wiggler, whose style is hampered by even lightweight blankets, there is an ingenious blanket lift.

Here indeed is an ideal mail order item, besides selling to the large number of people locally. There are millions of people in the market for any little gadget that will produce sleep. A booklet could be prepared on this subject and find thousands of sales annually. The information could be garnered from a number of books on the subject.

BLUE CORNMEAL—451
Living out in the country but working a considerable distance away, as in a city, is a situation that many people find themselves in Such was the case with Joe who worked in one of the large towns in New Mexico, but he and his family lived out in the country and he tired of the long drives to work each day.

As necessity is often the mother of invention, Joe decided to remain in the country and develop a mail order business by featuring the food products peculiar to his locality, and the first product he started with was blue cornmeal purchased from the Indians. He ground it himself. Designing a pasteboard can, printed to resemble an Indian drum, it became a kind of trademark for his blue cornmeal. It was something different, a novelty. The public took to it. At first, Joe started to write personal letters to his friends throughout the country, and then later began to advertise it extensively via mail-order methods.

After, and along with the blue cornmeal, came ten different kinds of wild herbs that the Indians use for seasoning and flavoring. To the Indians, it might be noted, this blue cornmeal assumes much importance, even to being blessed by the Medicine Men and used in their rituals as "Sacred Meal". One of the best known ceremonies is the "Corn Dance" in which both the drum (which the package is fashioned after) and the "sacred" blue cornmeal is used. The strange blue corn comes from the sun-drenched mountain valleys of northern New Mexico. It is hand processed, unaffected by modern machine methods or chemical treatments. The primitive corn is shelled, washed and sun dried; roasted in great outdoor adobe ovens and then ground. And so all its native goodness is retained.

With the sale of the blue cornmeal, Joe offers various recipes to his customers: Breakfast Cereal, Santa Fe Spoon Bread, Atole (native hot beverage), Southwest Griddle Cakes, Indian Fried Mush, etc.

MANNA FROM HEAVEN!—452
Readers often hear the expression "manna from heaven", unexpected good-luck or, in most cases, money that literally "came from the skies."

Money does come from the skies—for some people. Universities, laboratories, museums and scientists will pay high prices for "fallen stars" which are really meteorites that have come crashing to the earth. Meteorites are valuable to the scientific world for what knowledge they may pass on about "life" in the skies. A farmer finding a meteorite on his farm sold it to a museum and got enough from it to pay all of his debts—and they were many.

The best way to invade this field is to watch newspaper reports for falling stars. Find out just about what section they landed. An advertisement could be inserted in several small-town newspapers asking for the location of the meteorite. Information should come soon and one could ride out to the spot where the star fell. Some may want a price for it. One would have to be careful in buying, so as to make a good profit when re-selling to the scientific field.

Rings are known to be made from meteorites. The idea back of this is that a ring like this was "made in Heaven." Here too is a splendid mail order seller. The Hayden Planetarium of the American Museum of Natural History sells a fragment for $2.50. A home craftsman could make beautiful rings from this. In fact, beauty would be secondary as long as buyers knew they were getting a "ring from Heaven." T'would make an ideal wedding ring, and could be sold at a tremendous price. One could sell several each year thus making his market "the select few", or the rich! The home-craftsman will find that such a ring will take a considerable amount of time to make and many blades will be used because of the material's hardness.

SELLING STUMPS BY MAIL—453
Tree stumps don't look very impressive. To most people they are nothing but a blotch on nature. But to a man living in the mountains of the west the many old pine stumps in his district were the means of a very lucrative mail order business.

He reasoned that ordinary firewood wasn't liked by the folks who had fire places or those who held outdoor barbecues, and picnics in the Summer. Why then shouldn't he interest them in pine-scented kindling that lights with one match! The rosin content in the pine stumps was excellent wood for kindling.

Anyhow, the story goes that this man wrote a homey sales letter, devoid of the usual cold business phrases, and proceeded to sell the wood by mail. It was sawed in blocks and chopped into kindling splinters.

Later on he added pine cones to his stock of kindling strips. These were soaked in chemical solutions and packed in corrugated boxes the same size as the kindling wood boxes. A fancy name was added, "Cones of the Gnomes," and a business began flourishing from nature's "eye sore." The pine cones, by the way, gave out with bright yellow, red, blue and green fires as the result of dipping them into the chemical.

One of the most famous (and useless!) novelties, a silly looking bird called "The Worry Bird," has a pine cone body. The sale of this wood creature is phenomenal, hundreds of thousands of them having been sold for $1. "The Worry Bird" is used only as a decorative doodad in tile home, yet it's unusual pine cone body and silly-looking face has brought a fortune to its originator. Money in the mountain waste-lands!

SELLING "LUCK" IS PROFITABLE—454-459
The fact that one firm has sold over two million lucky charms in just four months should make many readers stop and think. There is a huge market for anything that has to do with "luck." Here are some instances that will bear us out on this statement:

A Massachusetts man sells his good luck articles all over the United States, and entirely by mail. His ads feature such things as horseshoes used as doorstops, flower pot holders, footscrapers, etc. The doorstop is a real horseshoe welded to a spring steel strip that slips under the door and holds securely. The Good Luck Flower potholder can hold a fair-sized flowerpot and is made of two horseshoes, one flat to hold the pot, one upright for the hangings. The footscraper has a wrought iron base drilled for screws. Every item he sells is useful. This makes it appealing from both angles, "luck" and usefulness.

Still another man developed a pure four leaf clover seed and now has the largest clover farm in the country. The four leaf clover is hard to find and therefore prized by anyone who thinks he's had some darn good "luck" when finding a four leaf clover. Imagine, however, 95,000 four leaf clovers produced in one week. That's the weekly production rate at this man's clover "farm," which is nothing but an over-sized back yard! He's made his "farm" into a big business, employing 16 people who sort and press the four leaf clovers. Some of them are mounted between sheets of transparent plastic and used on greeting cards, calendars, jewelry, money clips, place cards, in good luck charms, etc. He deals with wholesalers, jobbers and individuals. Thousand write in for a four leaf clover.

Then there is the New York state man who makes bells from two horseshoes. The horseshoes are welded together in a bell-shape, with a clapper hung by a rawhide thong, and a musical chord that carries quite a distance. This unique good luck bell is found in many gardens.

A man from Australia had quite a story built around the two good luck charms he started selling in this country. The "history" back of the charms was so appealing that he netted himself $75 a week without any trouble. Anyone who is thinking of entering this field should be careful not to claim the luck charm or trinket WILL bring good luck. Federal Trade Commission laws will not allow any such claims. However, a "story" behind the charms is permissable.

On the other hand, BAD LUCK can be capitalized on also. This idea has already been tried with an ugly breakable little image or statue called "The Jinx." The idea back of this is to break the jinx of a person who has suffered continued misfortune. The image is advertised as such and finds thousands of ready buyer, especially amongst the superstitious people in horse racing and the likes.

"Good Luck" or "Bad Luck," the promoter of either one of these ideas certainly isn't going to bump into misfortune. Indeed, "fortune" should be the proper word to use.

A "lucky Four Leaf Clover plant that is said to bring luck to the owners, should prove to be a lucky find for a businessman dealing in such novelties. This plant will grow in the house or in the garden. A novelty because of its four leaf clover, attractive because of the lovely rose colored blossoms it produces. Comes in a package that contains bulbs with directions for care of plants.

DESERT FURNITURE—460
Cactus would definitely be classed as a parasite of the desert by the average person, yet a fellow in Arizona is profiting highly because he thought otherwise.

Several years ago he came out into this desert country with his wife, five children and very little money. He saw the possibility of making novelty furniture from cactus wood. Today he has developed his hobby into an industry of odd furniture and high profit. His tables, chairs, ashtrays and lamps, which he makes from "cured" Cactus wood, of which there are two kinds, seguaro and cholla, are much in demand. Most of his work is done in intricate inlaid designs and he has developed a secret wood filler.

As would be expected in the desert, cactus wood is full of small particles of sand. Much of it is as hard to saw as a piece of iron, and a special metal cutting saw must be used in much of his work. The giant seguaro skeletons, much larger than the fellow himself, are cured in the sun.

The man's unusual desert home has attracted hundreds of world-famous celebrities. His finely built furniture is found in homes throughout the United States. The timber for the house was gathered from special cactus hand-picked over the desert. Rocks were dragged to the site and arranged into walls of beauty. The huge fireplace is made out of rock. In one of the rooms an old wagon wheel makes an unusual chandelier. Breakfast set, lounges, desks and chairs are made of cholla cactus. In the back of his home he has built a set of outdoor furniture made of saquaro ribs. At the end of his gravel street he nailed up a sign and soon a steady stream of curiosity seekers began to find their way to his desert home, to admire and buy his work.

Later, orders came in from former buyers for special sized benches, tables, china closets, coffee and dining room tables, cradles and odd chairs. Successful and proud, he is proving that much can be gained from a small beginning and stick-to-it methods of one's own particular skill.

The abundance of cactus all around his home will bring to mind to readers that something as near to them is just waiting to be developed into a novel, marketable product.

PLAYHOUSE—461
Children and toys are synonymous, yet what child is there who has ever had enough toys? There are very few parents who can provide these expensive playthings, but there are many ways other than through the parents in which this can be done. A large room can be practically made over into a children's fairyland. This playland to fairly burst with every known toy, each room to contain toys of a different type, and a type to suit each age of child.

Parents would be quite willing to pay a nominal sum so that their children might delight in this most unusual playground. Payment would be on an hourly basis. Even grown-ups are fascinated by electric trains, faithful replicas of motor launches, even including a steam driven motor, and other expensive mechanical toys. Both educational and absorbing to the restless younger set would be the supervision and instruction offered in such hobbies as woodcraft, model aircraft construction, chemistry experiments such as those provided for in the familiar children's chemistry set, etc.

It would be a boon to busy mothers to leave their children there for a few hours of an afternoon, or perhaps the early evening. The project could be furthered by hiring a supervisor for the little tots, preferably a competent nurse. At a sum of 25¢ an hour per day and several dozen little patrons daily, the hours of operation, suitable to your particular community, would bring in a tidy sum of several hundred dollars per month.

RUN-DOWN CEMETERIES WANTED—462
A man noticed a particular cemetery in a run-down shape. At best it was an eye-sore to the community. The job to keep it in splendid shape was evidently too much for one keeper. That meant only one thing. The directors of this particular cemetery didn't have the money to keep it up in the proper manner. Did this huge obstacle stop the man with an IDEA? Not him!

He contacted the key man on the board of directors and explained he would do a hundred and one little jobs around the cemetery which would improve it a great deal. Grading rough spots, planting grass seed, removing brush from various spots where lots were unsold and generally improving the cemetery.

The answer he received from the board was just what he expected . . . and wanted! Not enough money in the till. They didn't have to pay him in cash was his surprising offer. Why not pay him in cemetery lots valued at $2,000 for the work he specified? The board readily agreed to this.

Several gardeners were employed to assist this man. He also hired, on a commission basis, a sales man to expedite sale of the lots. And the right time to sell them was NOW—when the cemetery was being improved and folks noticed it. Soon the job was finished and the lots sold. The cost of labor and materials was approximately $500. Commission for the salesman came to $500. That left the promoter with $1,000 net profit! Not bad for an idea that can be worked anywhere in the country.

GAS AND WEATHER STATION—463
The proprietor of a service station in the state of Washington operates a one-man weather bureau. To farmers in the vicinity he provides a daily forecast. There is a high steel pole near his place which has wind-measuring instruments. The readings are transmitted electrically to an instrument board inside his six-sided weather station. Another tower houses instruments for measuring rainfall and snowfall automatically. Inside the hexagonal observatory, there are three barometers of different types.

With the data he is able to get from his weather bureau he predicts coming storms, waves of heat and general weather conditions, all of which is mighty useful to farmers. This weather bureau is operated without cost to the community but by reason of it, the owner receives considerable publicity which has materially increased business for his service station. Motorists entering the town are greeted by signs which read "Visit Weather Bureau" and which direct them to this service station.