310 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
prices were less tliaii the figures representing tlie sizes of the blanks, being 1 to 3 cents 
“ under the line.” The average size of the rough blanks was 18 or 20 lines, and the 
average value i)er gross was IG or 18 cents. 
The wholesale prices received for the finished buttons have been a little over 
double those of the rough blanks of the same sizes. The average prices for complete 
buttons in 1897 and 1898 were 35 to 40 cents a gross. The following were the ruling 
])riees for buttons of the stated sizes and qualities during the past year as furnished 
by one of the leading firms: 
First grade. 
[ Second grade. | 
Tliird grade. 
Size. 
Per gross. 
Size. 
Per "TOSS. 
Size. 
Per gross. 
1 le iine 
Gents. 
.55 
(JO 
65 
75 
IG-lnio 
Gents. 
50 
55 
C(( 
65 
70 
Gents. 1 
40 
45 
50 
55 
60 
1 18-liDe 
IR-linP! 
1 K . 1 i I ) 
1 20-liiie 
2J.liiie 
1 22-liiie . .. - 
22'liiie 
9.2 I i n Pi 
1 24-liiie 
24-line 
In addition to the foregoing, a superfine button is manufactured which sells for 
about 15 cents per gross more than the first grade, and a cheai) button, used chiefly 
by shirt makers, which brings from 25 to 30 cents a gross. 
There was naturally some difficulty at first in putting on the market buttons 
made from our native fresh water shells, but the demand was rapidly developed, as 
the quality and price of the buttons became known, and at present Mississippi River 
buttons are sold in every State and Territory and in Canada. It is reported that 
orders have recently (1899) come from England. 
UTILIZATION OF M^ASTE. 
In sawing the blanks a large part of the shell can not be used, as it is incapable 
of being made into merchantable buttons. The relatively thin margin of the valves 
and the thick beak or umbo furnish the principal waste. The amount of unserviceable 
raw material is extraordinarily large, although it varies with the different species and 
to some extent with the different factories. In the aggregate it probably represents 
over 75 per cent of the weight of shells handled, and, according to the testimony of 
the manufacturers, with the principal mussel employed, the ‘‘niggerhead,” from 85 
to 93 per cent, by weight, is discarded in sawing blanks, the average loss of material 
being about 90 per cent. In facing, grinding, drilling, and polishing the blanks, and 
in defective blanks, there is a further waste, estimated at 20 to 50 per cent of the 
original weight of the blaid^s. With “sand shells,” “deerhorns,” and some other 
species, the waste is much less, amounting to probably only 50 per cent, all told. 
As the accumulation of waste soon proves a nuisance, the factory owners are 
naturally desirous of finding some uses to which it can be put. If a market could be 
found for it, even at a very low price, it would be a decided boon to the industry. 
Many of the manufacturers feel that it has a value, but they have not been able to 
discover a way in which to dispose of it for any financial consideration, and piac- 
tically the only use to which it has been put has been in making roads, the municipal 
authorities hauling it from the factories. As a rule, the manufacturers are glad to get 
rid of it in this way, and some of them have even paid to have it taken away. 
Farmers occasionally call for small quantities of finely broken shells for use as 
food for chickens and turkeys, but the demand is very limited. In the opinion of the 
United States Department of Agriculture, the value of the shells for such a purpose is 
