THE MUSSEL FISHERY AND PEARL-RUTTON INDUSTRY. 
311 
considerable, and at least one factory has introduced a special machine for reducing 
llie shells to small fragments of uniform size, with rounded edges. 
In sawing, grinding, and drilling the blanks, a fine white powder results. Much 
of this has been saved by the button manufacturers in the hope that some use may 
be found for it. Small quantities have from time to time been given to farmers to 
experiment with as a fertilizer, but no demand for it has been created, and its value 
iu this respect has ouly been conjectural. In order to obtain an authoritative opinion 
us to the feasibility of employing this powder as a fertilizer, the U. S. Commissioner of 
Fish and Fisheries submitted a sample to the Secretary of Agriculture, who reported 
as follows 
The fiiie-gromul powder, whicli is the refuse of the pearl-button industry, transmittod to me iu 
connection with your letter, has been examined by the chemist of the Department and found to he 
almost pure carbonate of lime. It will prove a valuable fertilizing material for stiff clay soils and 
i'or other soils deficient in lime. In the fine state of subdivision in which it exists, it could be 
applied directly to the soil without further preparation. I should advise persons engaging in this 
industry to communicate with the directors of the agricultural experiment stations of their respective 
States iu regard to the utilization of this waste material for fertilizing purposes. 
This powder without further preparatiou is undoubtedly excellent Ibr polishing 
coarse metalware, and, if screened to remove auy larger particles, might even be used 
for cleauiug aud polishing silverware, cutlery, etc. 
The use of the powder in stucco work has also been suggested. 
AVOIDABLE WASTE OP RAW MATERIAL. 
Although, under the most favorable circumstances, there is a very large loss of 
material that can not be avoided, at the same time there is a certain amount of pre- 
ventable waste that iu the aggregate must represent many thousand gross of buttons 
annually. This waste consists iu the failure of the sawers to utilize all the available 
shell, and naturally varies greatly with different men and different factories. 
The accomiiauyiug illustrations of shells that were picked almost at random from 
the discarded heaps of certain Muscatine factories clearly indicate, even to a person 
not versed in the button business, the unnecessary waste of material, and render 
scarcely needful the presentation of contrast illustrations, showing the buttons that 
may be cut from such shells. 
From the waste heap of one manufacturer Id “niggerhead” shells were picked at 
random; from these 2fi rough blanks had been cut, of which 19 were capable of being 
made into salable buttons. The same shells were taken to another factory where 48 
additional good blanks were cut. Here was an avoidable loss of 65 per cent. 
Another example of waste, and probably an extreme one, was recorded in a Musca- 
tine paper in August, 1898: A button manufacturer picked up 16 shells from a pile 
that was being spread on a road. From these 31 blanks had been cut. He took the 
discarded shells to his factory and sawed out 152 merchantable blanks. In other 
words, 83 per cent of the raw material had been wasted. 
It is not to be supposed that the manufacturers sanction the waste of material in 
cutting blanks. The trouble is that the cutters are often careless or inexperienced, 
and can not always be kept under the supervision of the foreman or manager. As 
the cutters are paid for the blanks they cut, it is decidedly to their personal advantage 
to get as many blanks as possible out of each shell they handle, as there is loss of 
time in throwing one shell away, taking a new one, and fitting it to the saw. 
