MONEY IN CAT TAILS.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2293, 5 January 1900, Page 6

MONEY IN CAT TAILS.

Very few people, probably, are aware that the fur, or vegetable down, of the cat-tail is a marketable article, superior to feathers or cotton for many purposes. It iB not quite so valuable or useful as eiderdown, but it approaches it very closely and is cheaper than any of the three. As a matter of fact, a great many people are to-day using articles covered with cat-tail products who have no idea where the material comes from.

It is a vast extent of country,comparatively speaking, from which the cat-tail is gathered. It comes from the swamps along the numerous creeks that pot in from Delaware Bay, from Morris river to Cape May. The average amount gathered in the seasoo is a ton a day. The work of gathering and transporting it, and then weaving it into the many forms which it must take before becoming saleable, constitutes a considerable industry. One of the most elaborate uses to which this materia] is put is that of covering sofas. Very many of the supposed plush-covered divans are really covered with a fabric of cat-tail. It wears better than the plush and is infinitely cheaper. It 18 becoming a prevalent custom to use cat-tail fur on the back of hand mirrors and brushes, which have heretofore been backed with plußh. Same say that the substitute is really proving Better than the original. The head rest, too, seen on the easy chair, is often cat-tail—and it is none the lees comfortable for that. ...