Ivory for Buttons.

Fair Play, Volume I, Issue 3, 18 November 1893, Page 11

Ivory for Buttons.

Aoout4,ooo tors of tho ivory nut tiro brought from South America to this country annually. Owing to the cheapness of the raw material there is uot more than $150,000 per unnura involved in the traffic. Perhaps 1,500 persons in New York are employed iu the handling and manufacturing of the nut andxta products. The nuts when scraped with a knife emit a rich odor similar to what is known as the Brazil or cream not. Lying stacked up on the pier they are interesting if only as illustrative of the great variety of extraordinary things brought to New York from various parts of the world and the ingenuity of those who have cleverly adapted them to the uses of mankind. ’