Provo Daily Enquirer | 1892-01-28 | Page 4 | Vegetable Ivory Buttons

vegetable ivory buttoff Butto nf the principal use of vegetable ivory now said broker who deals in the article incidentally is in the tare of buttons A good many people probably think that the buttons on their spring clothes are made of rebber or bone and so they used to be now however vegetable ivory is the principal material used the nut in its green state is filled with a milky substance which hardens upon ripening into a fine even grain and a tough substance in this state it is sawed into slabs of the necessary thickness and turned into buttons by machinery unlike rebber and bone ivory Is not affected by heat or cold and is not liable to break in the eye the manufacturers are located in a number of eastern cities though the raw material that cornea to this country is usually landed at this port the cost of manufacturing is the principal item of expense about 80 per cent of the cost of the manufactured article is in the labor the greatest production in this country waa in 1880 and 1890 but the germans are now able to successfully compete with american manufactures new york telegram