Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 October 1874 — Take Care of the Feathers. [ARTICLE]

Take Care of the Feathers.

‘ Accobcing to statistics very carefully compiled,” says a writer in La Nature, “we throw away yearly a quantity of chicken feathers the intrinsic value of which is equal to the money we pay out for cotton. A startling stafement, but the author considers it true, and he proceeds to explain how the feathers are prepared to render them valuable: The operation is to cut the plume portion of the feathers from the stem by means of ordinary hand scissors. The former are placed in a b&g, which, when full, is closed and subjected to a thorough kneading with the hands. At the end of five minutes the feathers, it is stated, become disaggregated and felted together, forming a down perfectly homogeneous and of great lightness. It is even lighter than natural eider down, .because the latter contains the ribs of the feathers, which give extra weight. The material thus prepared is worth and readily sells in Paris for two dollars a pound. About one and one-sixth Troy ounces of this' down can be obtained from feathers of an ordinary pullet; and this, on the above valuation, is worth about twenty cents. It is suggested that, through the winter, children might collect all the feathers about a farm, and cut the ribs out as We have stated. By the spring time a large quantity of down would be prepared, which could be disposed of to upholsterers, or employed for domestic uses. Godd feathers may be treated in a similar manner, and thus two-thirds Of the product of the bird utilized, instead of only about one-fifth, as is at present the case, ..,1 . :/- — rT --\ ;■'