Books:

Discovered! 505
Odd Enterprises

Hidden Dollars

How to Make
Money at Home

Small Business
of Your Own

You Can Own
a Business

Fertilizer causes a development of algae, the sunfish eat the algae and the bass eat the sunfish. About all that has to be done is to keep refertilizing the pond at regular intervals. Remember too that as your fish business prospers you can take some of the profits and enlarge the pond so that it will have a definite appeal to sportsmen, picnicers, etc. Then you can add to your income by renting rowboats, canoes, charge admission to your swimming beach, also make a charge for ice skating in the winter. You might also supplement your income by experimenting with some turtles, ducks and geese.

A spring, well, or perhaps just the run off will build up a good size lake. Think about this idea. There are many sections of the country that need a good pond or small lake for picnicers and sportsmen. And then there are the profits from wholesale fish farming too!

A couple of Michigan fellows have started a flourishing business raising corn-fed carp. They learned that the carp becomes more firm and palatable when fed corn. Carp are caught in nets, I suppose, from the Mississippi and then placed in spring-fed ponds that these two brothers have prepared for the fish. Carp are generally scorned by sportsmen and consumer, but after a stay at this "fish resort" the carp are rehabilitated, or glamorized, to such an extent that housewives snap them up in the nearby cities, where they are shipped via special live-fish tank trucks. At the moment these operators are planning to smoke some of their corn-fed carp and see if this new delicacy will appeal to the public.

In Europe carp are frequently kept in ponds and fed with HAY which is dumped into the ponds. Europeans have known about it for some time.

It pays, all right, to raise pond fish and anything else that goes with it, such as frogs. A young fellow in a very small Texas town raises bullfrogs and sells them to the awaiting market.

He gathers them from nearby creeks, keeps them awhile in a specially prepared pond until they fatten up. To aid this fattening process, he has installed a system of electric lights, strung across the pond. All of this light naturally attracts the thousands and thousands of night bugs. They tire themselves out around the lights and fall into the pond. It isn't long before his bullfrogs are bulging with insects, and the feed bill hasn't cost him a cent, except a few cents a month for the electricity. There were so many bugs, in fact, that he had to put in a stock of ducks to eat the surplus. Every eight to ten weeks he has a nice batch of bullfrogs and ducks, both weighing much more than when they first arrived at his pond. #185-186

I received same information from a successful businessman recently that should be interesting to anyone who is in the nursery business or intends going into it.

He operates the service in Canada and it is the renting, believe it or not, of hedges, trees, flowers, etc. by the year. When the customer gets tired of the trees or flowers and wants something different, everything is removed and replaced with different varieties. Flowers are rented and changed according to season. When one flower goes out of season, others are planted in the same plot…and so on.

Unusual house plants can also be raised and rented out to people for special parties or occasions. Or they can be rented out by the month with fresh new varieties supplied and the old ones taken away at intervals. Ideal for "shut-ins". Such an exchange service could keep going with the aid of a hot house where the plants could rest under special care in between rentings. #187

U.S.A. . . . . PHOTOS
A "photomobile" is being operated by an ingenious man in Missouri. Seems that he bought a truck, worked it over into a darkroom with all the necessary equipment.

He specializes, brings his truck to all parties and dances. Takes pictures right on the spot and develops them while you wait. He guarantees to deliver the finished large size photograph within thirty minutes. This is completely mounted in attractive folders. By selling at the low price of $1.25 he is able to do a volume business and realize around $50 or $60 gross it he has a good night.

That accounts for his night work. During the daytime he isn't asleep either. He takes his photomobile along the country highways, stopping at many gas stations and country stores. The truck is odd looking and his sign interesting, so the folks usually flock to him.

During the summer time he takes the photomobile out west to dude ranches and other resorts. In this way he is able to enjoy a pleasant summer time, mixing his work with a sort of vacation, you might say.

If your hobby is photography, consider the possibilities of turning it into a business. #188

U.S.A. . . . . COLOR ORDERS
Painted Perfume bottles. You've seen these fancy deluxe type bottles. They really cost more than the contents, and it is a shame to throw them away eventually. Margaret collects them in various ways and then paints the bottles. She decorates them with tiny hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades…with miniature candies such as bonbons, lollipops, marshmallows and kisses…with lucky symbols and numbers…with flowers…with the customer's name…and so on. Much of this work could be done with the aid of design stencils, placing the stencil on the bottle and painting through the cut out design in the stencil. An amateur could turn out a fair looking job in this manner.

Margaret found that if she also painted some with "happy birthday", others in honor of St. Patrick's Day, Valentine's Day and the like, she could work her project into a full time business!

She sells them at $1.50 for a box of three different bottles. Empty of course. And $1 for a box of two. Makes $1.10 profit on the box of three.

Uses oil paints and in some cases buys the ten cent store bottles of popular brand perfumes for a dime a bottle. These can be sold, painted, for about the same price even though they are full of perfume. However, the size of the bottle is smaller in this case.

Here is another man and wife project. If you can land a few buyers for the large department stores, you have a success on your hands because you can go on to other painted items. There is no end to the waste items that can be painted and sold. #189

U.S.A. . . . . NUTS
Two veterans in an eastern state have opened up a "Nut House" where they sell some 120 varieties of nuts. Perhaps the shop would never have been the success it is if they hadn't used their imaginations.

Seems that they decided to install on the outside grounds a lot of stuffed life-like animals such as giraffes, zebras, elephants and many others. All are placed in interesting array and this seems to get the parents to stop. Usually the kids make the folks stop. It is just another step to get the prospects inside the "Nut House" and there these two enterprising chaps have placed a life-size Old Woman in a Shoe, a straw thatched native African cart, and other tropical novelties. More animals on the inside, too.

Of course the nuts are artfully arranged amongst all of this tropical setting and they are bound to sell nuts and more nuts!

They figured that selling nuts was a business where folks would kid them about their nutty product, and so they decided to capitalize on this and really make the place "nutty". It stops three or four cars out of every five that pass by, so say these two Ex-G.I.'s.

If you go into business and start to figure ways on how to up the gross, think about this bit of showmanship. It can be applied, in altered form, to most any enterprise. #190

U.S.A. . . . . FARMING
Because he is able to pick his lilacs one morning out here in California and then have them sold in the flower shops of Chicago the next morning, a full month earlier than they can be commercially grown anywhere else, is the secret of Kenneth's success with his 21 acre lilac farm.

Today he is called the "Lilac King". Yet, you well realize that there is never room in this country for "kings". The very nature of our democracy makes it possible for free enterprise to know no limits.

There is always room for other operators, for other "kings". Competition sees to that. Someday someone else will duplicate or even surpass Kenneth's success because the people as a whole seem to like the old-fashioned lilac and there are an awful lot of folks in this country of ours!

Kenneth is growing the lilacs up in the mountains of southern California at an altitude of 4,000 feet. It seems that the lilac needs a winter climate and yet, at the same time, reacts favorably to the warm coastal breezes of Southern Californian. It is because of these highly favorable conditions that Kenneth is able to steal the march on the eastern growers. Only in California is it possible to mix winter and summer together and it can be done at certain elevations in the mountain country.

He purchased his acreage, formerly a run down fruit farm, many years ago. Imported the lilac shrubs from New Jersey and babied them for quite a number of years before he really had a full 21 acres of the blooms. Until the lilac farm started to show a profit, Kenneth and his family operated the farm as a "Dude Ranch". Now the family and several helpers work like mad during the harvesting period which starts around March 7th and lasts until Easter. During that time they all cut and tie at least 1,000 bunches daily.

Every afternoon a truck and trailer are loaded with the flowers and taken to the flower market in the nearest city where they are shipped by fast express by plane to the midwestern and eastern markets. 35,000 fragrant bunches go out during the three week period each spring.

It costs him about 50¢ a bunch to get them to the flower shops in the east and there they may be sold for as much as $3.50 a bunch!

The work is divided up into irrigating the shrubs during the summer, pruning in the autumn months and finally harvesting the blossoms during the spring. #191

U.S.A. . . . . PHOTO PROFITS
Don, who has a hobby of photography, uses it to advantage in a way, that I am sure can be duplicated successfully by others who are interested in photography as a business.

He creates miniature scenes, using tiny cardboard furniture, settings, scenery, Lilliputian people, dolls, figurines, etc. These scenes are then photographed and the photographs pasted on to greeting cards of various kinds, such as Mother's Day cards, Christmas cards, Valentine cards, Birthday cards, Birth announcements, Invitation cards and the like.

The scenes are clever and made up to illustrate the thought behind the greeting, the holiday, or occasion itself.

For instance, here is a typical setting used by Don on one of his Christmas cards. It showed a large fireplace filled with firewood. Stockings were hanging from the mantel. A tiny Christmas tree decorated with miniature ornaments. Packages were placed under the tree along with tiny toys. A Santa Claus, red suit and sack, stood to one side of the tree. A little padded cardboard chair forms a hiding place for a little figure made up to represent a little boy in his nightshirt who is apparently spying upon good ol' Santa.

Such cards showing photographed scenes in miniature brought in the orders for more and more of the original cards. And you can bet that it is now keeping Don mighty busy.

Dolls can also be used to represent people in these cute photographs, which can be shot with plain or color film…or retouched with colors afterwards. Don once used two dolls for a scene in which one doll is handing the other a birthday gift. A tiny baby doll in a toy cradle was all that was necessary for the photo scene needed for a birth announcement card. A Mother Doll with grey hair sits in a Mother's Day scene next to tiny photographs of her children and a bunch of flowers. This was pasted on to a Mother's Day card and attracted much attention.

Seems to be an ideal man and wife partnership. The husband handling the photographic end of the business and perhaps the promotion and the wife handling the artistic end of the business such as the selection of all toys and dolls and the purchasing of miniature settings or the making of them. Once the photograph has been taken for any particular miniature setting you can go ahead and have thousands of copies made from the original. Home workers in their homes could be hired to paste the photographs on to suitable printed or designed cards.

Speaking of Santa Claus why wouldn't it be possible to take pictures of the children sitting on Santa's lap in all the department stores and then sell the parents the picture or as many duplicates as they would want. In fact, these too could be pasted into a specially printed Christmas card and sold for so much a dozen. #192

SCOTLAND
Flying Officer James Weir, of Glasgow, Scotland, was discharged from the Armed Forces after the war and like many other ex-G.I.'s went back to his former job and found that it had lost its appeal. So he started to look around for something else.

He decided that the people of Newlands were badly off for library services and at the same time he had an idea to provide a new kind of book-delivery service.

He spent 120 Pounds of savings and gratuity on nearly a thousand books bought from a private owner in a nearby town. He had circulars and self-addressed stamped postcards printed. He spring cleaned the empty garage at his home and made wooden shelves to hold his stock. He bought a three-wheeled motorcycle carrier for 115 pounds. He finally sent out his first 200 printed circulars advertising his home services library. Twenty people replied. In six weeks his list of customers jumped to more than two hundred. They are delighted at having their library books delivered.

Each family who joins gets a booklet listing more than eleven hundred books. James asks them to choose those they wish to read for as many weeks in advance as they like. He delivers on the day of the week which suits the housewife. In a little aver three months James hopes to be supplying 1,000 families from a stock of nearly 4,000 books.

At this writing he is engaging an assistant to do the bulk of the outside work. In "Discovered—505 Odd Enterprises" I give the story of a similar enterprise where the originator rebuilt a house trailer into a traveling library, visiting a regular clientele and bringing the latest books to their doorstep so to speak. There are many angles to this plan and there seems to be a waiting market for this sort of thing, not only in Scotland but right here at home! #193

HOLLAND
Speaking of house trailers, how would you like to operate this "project"? In Holland today there is a fellow who has converted his house trailer into a sort of riding Toilet-Service. He has equipped his trailer with half a dozen chemical toilets and visits country fairs, open air exhibitions and such where often such facilities are missing. He has worked up a good business so our Holland correspondent tells us!

Going on to other types of conversion, this same correspondent gives us the success tale of another odd enterprise where a railroad car was transferred into a motion picture house seating about 50 people. This is similar to the "Traveling Playhouse" dealt with elsewhere in this book. The Holland businessman usually stations the old railroad car on a siding near a railroad station and it forms a convenient and entertaining waiting room for the traveler. It runs films continuously and charges an admission fee of 25¢ for a show lasting an hour. #194

ECUADOR
In Quito, Ecuador an imaginative man has created an unusual balsa-wood postcard. Made from the lightest wood in the world, there is an abundance of the stuff in Ecuador. Artistically painted by natives, each card bearing a picturesque landscape scene of Ecuador, the cards can actually be mailed just as any other postcard. It is quite possible to write a message and address on this unique wood.

I have a sample card on hand and the item is really a novelty of sufficient merit to make a hit in this country. Such cards could be imported, I'm sure, from Ecuador, for resale purposes here in the U.S.A. #195

FRANCE
"Hat Libraries" for women may be the coming thing in the United States. This story may be the first news you have read about them and perhaps it will be instrumental in getting a few of my readers to actually start such profitable enterprises and get some of that "ground floor" gold! The idea comes from Paris and was forwarded on to me by a correspondent in Scotland.

For three Pounds (English Currency) a year, a woman can exchange her hat for a smart new model as often as she likes. Thirty-six year old Miss Moussoniere of Paris is responsible for the plan.

Four months prior to this writing she collected a library of 5,000 hats and opened her novel service. The plan allowed her women customers or "subscribers" to take out hats as often as they please. In the first three days she had exactly eight customers. It looked as if she would have to shut up shop and dismiss her five assistants.

Then the tide turned and swept into a flood that astonished Paris. Women, overcoming their shyness lined up in hundreds to pay the subscription fee. Stocks were not big enough. Miss Moussoniere got another 4,000 hats; another—and yet another 4,000 batch. The five assistants grew to 60.

Even during the Communist strikes and riots women would not be deterred. They walked in from the suburbs and stormed a barricade that kept them from the "library", marching back triumphantly with now-famous "hat-library" models perched on their heads.

A woman can tryout a fresh model every day until she hits on one that delights husband, friends and herself. If she's very much in love with that particular model she can buy it outright at wholesale price…and still carry on with borrowed ones in addition.

As for the hygienic objection that some critics had raised, Miss Moussoniere employs a special squad of eight "hat cleaners and rejuvenators". Every hat that comes in for exchange is cleaned, sterilized, feathers curled, trimmings replaced if necessary…and made to look as new again.

More than 4,000 men paid in the 1500 francs (approximately $12) for Christmas presents for their wives. Actual subscribers now approach the 14,000 mark…and show no sign of slackening down. She is now opening branches at Lyons, Marseilles and Lille.

Can you just picture the success and resulting profits from the operation of a similar library here in the States? The women in this country are no different than they are in France when it comes to hats and more hats! They can't get enough of them, can't afford the many, many hats they'd like to buy, long to have and wear.

So…the idea is a perfect NATURAL! I think it is bound to succeed and that the women will receive it, welcome it to such an extent here in the U.S.A. that it will not only be the rage of France, but also the rage of the United States! The facts speak for themselves if you don't believe ME. #196

AUSTRALIA
Here is a clever idea that any small business can use to advantage. It comes all the way from Melbourne, Australia.

Seems that a Mr. Pollard, the owner of a butcher shop, decided to try out a clever scheme for selling different pieces of slow selling meat. He wrote a horse's name on a slip of paper and placed the slip on a cut of meat. This was repeated on many other cuts of meat, each slip bearing the name of a different horse, all of these horses taking part in the horse races around Melbourne. Up to fifty entries are in such Australian races so the butcher's contest was interesting and exciting. If the customer held the slip bearing the name of the winning horse he received a cash prize. The idea, according to Mr. Pollard, "was definitely worth while and very good from a business point of view".

This scheme could be used, with some alterations of course, here in this country in just about every type of business, using other events, if necessary, besides horses. There are a lot of horse races going on every day all over the country. Other kinds of races and sporting events going on daily too. Therefore it would be possible to have hundreds of slips mimeographed each day with a different name on each one. Cash prizes could be regulated as to size according to the volume of business and amount of winning customers each day. The expense of it all can be chalked up to advertising and a type of advertising that you just couldn't buy! #197

NEW ZEALAND
The story about an unusual outdoor enterprise being operated successfully in one of our eastern states came to us in a round about way from New Zealand, which is one way of getting a valuable success tale.

Located in a small town, George operates the nation's only "swans down" powder puff farm. Here on the 13 acre farm we find an average of 3,000 geese at all times. George buys the white feathered geese from farmers in New York, Illinois and Missouri. Fattens them up a bit and then transforms them swiftly from poultry to powder Puffs. Nothing is left over and a cannery, operated as a sideline, cans the goose meat. Canned boned goose meat, canned goose meat canape spread and canned goose liver pate. Luxury food stores in New York, Washington and Philadelphia order these unusual goose meat products. A canned goose fat is popular with people of Scandinavian, French and Jewish heritage and is used as a spread for bread. Jewish people, particularly can eat it with meat in place of butter to conform to their dietary laws.

The odd farm sells the feathers to makers of quill pens, hat plumes, pillows and dart games. Intestinal fat is sold to a pharmaceutical concern.

Powder puffs are the main line and sell at retail for anywhere from 15¢ to $5 each. Some thirty men and women from neighboring farms and villages are busy helping George to turn out ten differently colored kinds of puffs.

You've heard of the goose that laid the golden egg. If you are in the farming or poultry business at this time, or have had some experience, think about the golden fortune that might develop from their feathers and their fat.

If you haven't had much experience with poultry raising, but think that you could promote the manufacturing of puffs, remember that George is really a broker, in a way, buying up his geese from farmers who have already done all of the work!

The down from the goose is light and fluffy, just right for powder puffs. Swans down puffs are always made of goose down and much of it had been imported until George created one of the largest goose farms in the country. There should be a demand for goose down at this time and there certainly must be room for another powder puff farm in this vast country of ours! Think about the commercial possibilities, especially the combination of "farming" with the "assembling" end of the enterprise. #198

U.S.A. . . . . SELLING
If you went into the business that is being operated by a family recently in this country from Java, you could call your product either "Kroepoek", "Sultan's Bread", "Shrimp Wings" or "Shrimp Chips". Take your choice. That's what the Chong family are making and selling today and doing right well at it too.

They call the delicacy by the name it usually bears in Java, or "Kroepoek". However, this mixture of pulverized fresh shrimp, flour, sugar and spice, fried in hot oil, could be sold under a trade name, such as Shrimp Chips or the like.

Everybody in Java loved the stuff so the Chongs assumed that it would meet with an equally kind reception in this country. They were right. The storekeepers and the customers went nuts about the Shrimp Chips so the orders rolled in. Seems that "Kroepoeks" are nice for nibbling, especially with cocktails.

There is a delicate shrimp flavor that the folks seem to like, and we are told that these chips dissolve in your mouth and that one wants to keep right on eating them.

I'd say that there is room for several operators in each state and that the success should be on the same scale as that realized by the Chongs. This is something that I figure will sell as well as potato chips! Anyone who went in at the start when potato chips were originated made a killing! #199

U.S.A. . . . . WHOLESALE AND TIP
Recently Grocer Karl claims that he has been able to double his business by marking his merchandise at wholesale cost and letting his customers add whatever pennies, dimes or dollars they think he deserves as profit.

His customers have been most generous and allowed him a profit of 20% the first week he tried out the unusual plan.

He is considering making his "wholesale and tip" plan permanent because if inflation drives his prices up too high, his customers will know that the wholesaler is the party responsible for jacking them up!

People should appreciate this type of a plan in many other retail enterprises. Think about this idea. #200

U.S.A. . . . . MAIL ORDER
If any of my readers take up the hobby of printing, perhaps purchasing a small six by nine press, let me suggest that they make their hobby pay a profit by specializing on printing for doctors and dentists.

Print their prescription blanks, note heads, bill heads and special forms of interest only to dentists and doctors. Might pay well. Another item in which an amateur printer could specialize is the printing of acknowledgement postcards or "thank you" postcards. Practically every mail-order dealer in the United States uses an acknowledgement postcard of some sort, when acknowledging receipt of an order. Yet, as far as I can determine, there are no printers specializing in this particular form of printing and nothing else!

Some mighty attractive illustrated types of cards could be created and mass production, or grouping lots of orders together, printing on huge sheets of cardboard all at one time, and then later cutting apart, would allow one to charge the lowest price in the country for this particular form. Of course, you would need a big press, or have to work the deal with a printer who has the equipment, if you went in on such a large scale. I purchase "acknowledgement" postcards in fair size quantities, but I know that a printer specializing in this form could sell me the same cards at half the price! #201-202

U.S.A. . . . . MEAL WORMS
An elderly lady who started to raise a yellow type of meal worm for the fisherman, has finally discovered a new market which takes all she can raise…and at a good price. She ships the meal worms to breeders of canaries and other cage birds.

It you are interested in some of the stories about "worm farms" to be found in the other volume, think about this particular market. It might be even more profitable than selling to fishermen. At least it will be a profitable sideline to your regular trade with the sportsmen.

A fifteen-year-old wrote letters to every summer resort within 100 miles of his home, offering to supply live worms within 12 hours if the customer orders by telephone or telegram. He had so many orders pouring in that he had to hire a couple of schoolboys to help out each night and during the week-ends.

The boy made $30 to $35 a week during the summer months! #203-204

U.S.A. . . . . FUNNY SIGNS
Sometimes the name of your new business can mean a lot to its success! When one lady started out in the bakery business, she was clever enough to specialize, realizing that there was a little too much competition among the ordinary bakeries already in her district.

So, she opened a cookie shop. That was clever in itself, but she went further and picked a good name, of "The Cookie Lady". The name was odd, and attractive too. That, coupled with the fact that she handled only cookies, but every type of cookie you could wish for…and better cookies than the bakeries could take the time to create, made the enterprise a success.

Remember, that a good idea is necessary, and in many cases also a good name for the business. The night club in Hollywood which calls itself "The Night Club With a Conscience" knew that little secret too!

A bit of humor in your business can be of value, especially if you put it into a sign or signs, as a part of your advertising program. For example, a large sign on a Detroit used-car lot reads: "Blow horn. I'll buy it". A sign in a New York repair shop reads: "We fix everything but football games". A Philadelphia garage bears a sign that reads: "Cars washed $3. Jeeps dunked $1.00". A dry goods store uses a sign in the towel department that reads: "Extra-large bath towels…just the thing to wear when answering the phone". A nut shop in Philadelphia has a sign that boasts as follows: "If our peanuts were any fresher, they'd be insulting".

You probably could do better, but at least they should give you a general idea of how humorous signs can play an important and inexpensive part in your advertising campaign. Use them both outside and inside! #205-206

U.S.A. . . . . ROVING SNACK BARS
Two Illinois veterans noticed the number of new neighborhoods in their district that had no stores. Noticed too the many housewives who were obliged to carry groceries for blocks and blocks. So, they did a bit of thinking and finally came up with a plan whereby they would take the store to the madam.

They were lucky enough to get a $1,400 G.I. loan on the idea, used $500 of the money to purchase an old sight-seeing bus, equipped it with frozen food cabinets, counters, shelves, and a refrigerator. Stocked the bus with produce, meats and groceries and started out. Was the project a success? Well they say that they now have 1,000 families as regular steady customers, so what do you think?

Two more vets started a similar enterprise out here on the coast. They purchased two old city buses and turned them into roving snack bars. These restaurants on wheels proved to be a mighty good business for the two fellows. Both buses are full size, just like the average city bus, completely equipped with lunch counter and refrigerator. Does this give you any ideas for an even better "roving" enterprise? #207-208

ENGLAND
"Water lilies for garden pools, beautiful colored blooms, strong plants, 8 shillings to 12 shillings, delivered".

There is an unusual product to sell by mail. Yet it's being accomplished by mail in England. Might be a good line to handle for there are millions of attractive gardens in this country and the owners are constantly trying to make them more attractive, trying to make them look like those glorious gardens pictured in the Home & Garden magazines.

In a small New York town, Richard started out with a tub garden and three water lilies. The idea grew and grew until he was obliged to build a seven foot concrete pool, then a larger pool and finally a five acre swamp was turned into a series of pools.

He added colored water lilies, hyacinth, sacred lotus and other water plants to his line, had a catalog printed in natural colors and his business tripled. Added goldfish to his "farm", outgrew his garage office and had to build a packing house. Now his boxed water lilies and live fish (in special containers) are mailed out to every part of the United States. Some have even been sent to Panama and to Alaska. #209

U.S.A. . . . . RENTING FERNS
I know that just about everything under the sun can be rented today in this modern age. However, I'll draw the line when it comes to renting flowers, but now I find that I am only partly right. Ferns are being rented! That's what I said. Ferns!

When a Mrs. Garrett was told by a florist one day that there was a great demand for potted ferns to be used for decorative purposes, she started to plan a rental service that would take care of this demand.

Evidently the greenhouses hadn't the time to bother with this sort of thing because the idea went over with a bang. This business was most lucrative.

Operating as a man and wife partnership, Mr. & Mrs. Garrett have been working this scheme for years, renting ferns and small palms for a charge of 50¢ an evening. Weddings, church events, banquets, special school programs, funerals, private parties and the like take advantage of their rental service.

Of course, one would probably need a small backyard greenhouse, that is, if you lived in Indiana, as this lady did. You'd need one, especially for the palms in this section of the country.

There might be a possibility of selling small potted palm plants or trees to many home owners, if you live in one of the eastern or midwestern states. Palms are unusual to folks living in this part of the U.S.A. #210

CANADA
Something new in libraries has been established in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It is a doll "library". A borrower may take out a doll for two weeks, after which she brings it back in good condition and takes another doll out for two weeks…and so on. Usually, the child will finally settle on one particular doll that she will want to KEEP and a certain portion of the past rental fees can be applied on the purchase price for this special doll. The young borrowers have so far taken the greatest of care of the borrowed dolls.

It appears to the writer that this rental service is bound to be extremely popular with little girls no matter where it is established. If conducted in a large city, the market would be huge. If worked in a small town it would be necessary to take in many of the small towns throughout the county or state and work out a mail-order plan in connection with the rental. Parcel post rates are only 1¢ to 2¢ a pound for additional pounds, in the local zone and the first and second zones. #211

IRELAND
Tom operates a swell little shop in Ireland selling books and stationery, but not in the usual manner.

He believes in giving the customers more than they pay for. One leaves his shop with a smile on his face! Tom does more than sell goods. He knows the business value of fun!

His mimeographed bulletin sheet called "The Gallowgate Gazette" contains cheery talk and business news. Nothing fancy, but written in his own style. Outside the shop there is a large blackboard and its slogans amuse and instruct the passers-by.

I've always preached the value of injecting "personality" into a business. My previous writings in "Discovered—505 Odd Enterprises" covers this particular angle throughout the book's sixteen chapters. Tom's enterprise is making use of this "personality" plan of operation. It will work in this country too, don't forget it! #212