MONEY-MAKING PLANS FOR WOMEN

A lady living in a small western town was the mother of two boys to whom she wished to give a good start in life. She had very little money, but many original yet practical ideas, and from these she formulated some excellent plans for earning the money she needed for her boys and herself.

One after another she adopted a number of good plans, made a success of them, and was thus enabled to bring up her boys in the manner she desired. Her plans are here given in separate detail, and it should be noted that each and every one of these plans could be used with great profit by any other woman who wishes to use either one or all of them, as she chooses.

PLAN No. 100. HOME-MADE STICK CANDY

Well knowing the predilection of most people for sweet things, her first efforts were directed toward making and selling a very superior grade of stick candy, according to the following formula: Over a hot fire place a kettle containing a quart of water, ten pounds of white sugar and one teaspoonful cream tartar. Let it boil until it will snap, then put it into cold water and pour out on marble slab or tin cooler, well greased. As it cools, turn outer edge to center, and when cool enough to handle, pull it until it is white as snow. Leave a small piece unpulled, and color this red by adding a few drops of cochineal. Now roll your batch of candy into a ball, pull the red candy into a long strip, cut in three or four pieces, lay them on top of the white and roll it out, commencing at one end, pulling and rolling it at the same time, which throws the stripes in a twist around the stick. Keep rolling until hard enough to prevent sticks from flattening out, then tap the sticks lightly with the edge of a knife, and break them into any lengths desired.

In making this, as in all her products, she used only the purest ingredients, so that the candy was perfectly safe for children, and she sold great quantities of it, because it was “so good.”

PLAN No. 101. HOME-MADE TAFFY CANDY

This taffy candy, which proved an excellent seller, yielding large profits, she made as follows:

White sugar, 10 pounds; water, 3 pints; cream tartar, one teaspoonful, and when nearly cooked add one-fourth pound of butter. Add any kind of flavor preferred, by pouring it on while rolling. This candy should be cooked to the snapping point, but do not stir while cooking, or the sugar will granulate.

PLAN No. 102. HOME-MADE MAPLE CREAM CANDY

This was one of her most popular products, and was made as follows: white sugar, 5 pounds; best maple syrup, one pint; water, one pint; butter, 1 tablespoonful; cream tartar, ¹⁄₄ teaspoonful. Cook same as in making above described taffy candy, and put in one teaspoonful extract of vanilla while pulling.

PLAN No. 103. HOME-MADE PEANUT CRISP

This was also a great favorite with the children, and she sold a great deal of it, as well as her other candies, by visiting the different schools during the noon hour or at recess, on certain days of each week. The peanut crisp she made as follows: White sugar, 5 pounds; water, 1¹⁄₂ pints; cream tartar, one-half teaspoonful. When nearly cooked, add one pound parched, hulled peanuts and one tablespoonful soda. Cook until it will snap.

She employed many ways of selling the above and other specialties. She took pains to learn of approaching anniversaries, such as birthday, wedding, etc., and a few days preceding the event she would send an attractive letter of congratulation, incidentally suggesting a box of her home-made candies for the occasion. This made many sales.

PLAN No. 104. EXTRACTING ATTAR OF ROSES, ETC.

In addition to her candy-making enterprise, this lady likewise engaged in the making of perfumes, and so well did she succeed that her income was more than doubled. She developed a method of extracting the attar of roses and other flowers, which enabled her to make a great variety of the most delightful as well as lasting perfumes, and the ladies soon came to know of their exquisite fragrance.

To extract the attar of any flower she procured a quantity of the petals, which she placed on thin layers of cotton, afterwards dipping them into the finest Florence or Lucca oil, then sprinkled a small quantity of fine salt on the flowers alternately, until an earthen vessel or wide-mouthed bottle was filled with them. Then she tied the top of the vessel closely with a piece of parchment or rubber cloth, and laid it in the heat of the sun for fifteen days, when a fragrant oil, equal to the highest-priced essences, and very valuable in the making of various kinds of perfumes, could be squeezed from the contents thus treated.

PLAN No. 105. A CHEAP HOME-MADE COLOGNE

Many people who cannot afford the high-priced perfumes are very well satisfied with some cheaper kind, and to meet this demand, the lady put up a home-made cologne that gave very good satisfaction. This she made as follows:

To one gallon spirits of wine, add a teaspoonful each of the oils of lemon, orange and bergamot; with 40 drops of extract of vanilla. Shake until the oils are well cut, then add one and one-half pints of soft water.

This made a very fair grade of perfume, and, though it could be sold at a low price, it yielded a fair profit to the lady who produced it.

PLAN No. 106. MAKING ROSE JARS

Very few are the boudoir accessories that are dearer to the feminine heart than a rose jar, properly made, and most women will pay almost any price for one of that kind. This lady knew exactly how to make a perfect rose jar, and added this to the already long list of her profitable industries.

She dried rose petals in salt for two weeks, then cleansed the salt from the petals and put them in a jar. She would leave the jar open for a few days, then put in 2 tablespoonfuls each of cloves, allspice and cinnamon, and added 10 grains of powdered musk, letting it stand a few hours. She then added 5 cents worth of oil of lemon verbena, and 5 cents worth of oil of lavender. This she let stand three days, added 15 cents worth of oil of rose geranium, and had a rose jar that would sell for just about any price she had the temerity to ask.

PLAN No. 107. MAKING ALMOND PASTE

This preparation she found in great demand by the ladies, as it proved a wonderful beautifier of the complexion, and a fine remedy for chapped hands, rough skin, etc. This is the formula she used for preparing it:

To 4 ounces of blanched almonds she added the white of one egg, after beating the almonds to a smooth paste in a mortar, then add enough rose water, mixed with its weight in alcohol, to give it the proper consistency. She put it up in 2-ounce jars, pasted on a fancy label, and sold it at 25 cents a jar. Its actual cost to her, jar, label and all, was less than 7 cents.