USEFUL INFORMATION. 349 



THE TREATMENT OF FURS AND PELTRIES. Inasmuch as the 

 readers of this book may sometime desire to preserve a few 

 mammal skins as furs, or to be made up as rugs, I will quote 

 entire, verbatim et literatim, a circular of instructions lately 

 issued by one of the largest fur houses in this country, Messrs. 

 William Macnaughtaii's Sons, of New York City. Observe par- 

 ticularly, however, that skins prepared thus are utterly worth- 

 less to the taxidermist and tlie scientific museum. They are good 

 for furs only : 



" Directions for Fur Collectors and Trappers, to Insure High 

 /'rices, Heady Sales, and Save from Losses through Ignorance. 

 ' Cased : ' Ermine, fisher, fox, lynx, martin, mink, opossum, 

 otter, skunk, must be ' cased,' that is, not cut open. In skin- 

 ning, cut at the rump, and turn the skin inside out (like a 

 glove) over the body of the animal, leaving the pelt side out. 

 Then after scraping, cleaning, and drying, turn the skin back 

 again while it is soft and easily managed, leaving the fur side 

 out. Then put a thin board inside the skin, cut the natural 

 shape of it, stretching the skin to its fullest extent, but not so 

 much as to make the fur thin. Too much stretching spreads 

 the fur over a large surface, and makes it thin and lacking in 

 richness. A liberal supply of good boards should be kept on 

 hand. Never use bent sticks, bows, or anything irregular in 

 shape or that yields. "When the above are ' opened ' they have 

 a Southern appearance that lessens the value greatly. 



" ' Open : ' badger, bear, beaver, cats, raccoon, wolves, wol- 

 verine, must be ' open ;' that is, cut open, up the belly from 

 rump to head. After scraping, cleaning, and drying, stretch a 

 uniformly oblong shape, to the fullest extent of the skin, but 

 not so much as to make the fur thin. AVhen thoroughly dry, 

 trim off legs, shanks, nippers, and any little pieces that spoil 

 the appearance of skin. 



" E;r<r}>iioiix : Skunk, long stripe, such as come from the Ter- 

 ritories and sections of California, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and 

 Iowa, cut open and stretch oblong, as explained. Skunk, with 

 the white stripe (or any portion) shaved out, blackened, or tam- 

 pered with, must be collected at half price. Opossum from 

 Indian Territory, cut open, and stretch oblong as explained. 

 Chop off the tails where the fur ends, as they make opossum 



