Vol. V. No. 11-t. 



THE AGRICULTUEAL NEWS. 



2S.3 



CURING SKINS. 

 In reply to inquiries from correspondents, the 

 editor of the Journal of the Jamaica Agricultural 

 Society publishes the follo^Ying directions for the curing 

 of skins : — ' 



(JURINt.i goats' skins. 



The following recipe is for curing rabbit and goat skins. 

 First soak the skins in cold water until soft (if just taken off 

 they will not need soaking), then scrape the tiesh and grease 

 off. This can be done over a half-round post. Set one end 

 on the ground, and have the other as high as the hips. Place 

 the skin over the post so as to lean against the end of the 

 post, and hold the neck of the skin. In place of a bream 

 knife a long carving knife can be used by winding a cloth on 

 the point, so that both ends can be held to scrape the skin 

 with the middle of the knife. Next make a liquor by 

 dissolving 1 !h. of alum and 1 lb. of salt together in 

 2 or 3 gallons of water. Set the liquor to cool and put the 

 skins in. Stir them so that the liquor reaches all parts of 

 the skins, and let them remain in the liquor from six to ten 

 days, or longer, if in no hurry for the skins. Then dry them 

 in a cool place. Dampen them by hanging up in a cellar 

 overnight, and then stretch them out. This can be done over 

 & spade turned handle down. (Or a .stretcher can be made by 

 nailing a piece of li-inch plank, 2i inches long by S inches 

 wide, in the centre of a 2-inch plank, 10 inches wide by 3 feet 

 long, in the form of a ' T,' and sawing a slit in the top of the 

 upright piece, and fitting in a piece of iron or an old hoe 

 Talade.) To clean the fur, put 6 or 8 inches of hard- wood 

 saw-dust (the finer the better) into the bottom of a barrel, and 

 put the skins in, putting more .saw-dust among and over them : 

 then stand in the barrel and tread them until the fur is clean. 

 The li(]uor will keep a long time, and as used can be renewed 

 "by adding alum and salt. Take of saltpetre, 1 part ; salt, 

 2 parts ; alum, 2 parts : pulverize finely and mix thoroughly. 

 From the skins remove all flesh parts ; if they have been dried, 

 you must soak them in water to soften them. Then give 

 the skins a thin coating of the mixture, turn the sides in, roll 

 them up, and lay them aside for a few days. The thicker the 

 skins the longer they must lie. A little practice will be the 

 ■better teacher in this. Now take them and rinse thoroughly, 

 remove all the mixture ; wring them out, well rubbing them 

 between the hands, and pulling them in every direction until 

 perfectly dry. By following the above directions you will 

 have skins as soft as velvet. The more you rub and pull 

 them the softer they will be. 



PEEPAEING SHEEP SKINS. 



The fresh skin should be laid out, skin up, on the floor 

 for a few hours to set, and then be hung up to be painted. 

 The preservative recommended is 1 ft. of common soda, 

 •27! ft. of arsenic, boiled gently for four hours in 31 gallons of 

 water, stirred frequently. To treat a skin, use 1 pint of this 

 mixture and add 3 iiints of water, which would be enough for 

 '350 skins. This mixture keeps indefinitely in an earthenware 

 or gla.ss jar. A few days after painting, the skins .should be 

 ■examined, and any parts missed should be painted. A skin 

 treated thus would keep for twelve months free of weevils. 

 To dry a skin, hang it from neck to tail, and in baling, turn 

 the wool side out, folding in half. In tying bales there should 

 be strips of wood, top and bottom, to prevent the pressure of 

 the wire or rope chafing the skin and reducing the value of 

 the bale. 



RUBBER IN PERU. 



An article entitled ' Peru in Transition,' by 

 Mr. C. Reginald Enock, F.R.G.S., in Tlie Times (July 

 30), has the following on rubber : — 



India rubber is one of the most valuable of the vegetable 

 products of Peru; and, in fact, a great deal of the rubber 

 shipped from Para, in Brazil, actually comes from the 

 Peruvian forests of the Upper Amazon and its tributaries. 

 The cheapest outlet for this product is not necessarily down 

 the Amazon to Para ; much is now being shipped over the 

 Andes by means of the Arequipa railway to the Pacific coast 

 port of Mollendo, and thence to Europe or the United States. 

 By this means duties and costs of transport through Brazil 

 are avoided. If Peruvian rubber forests have not yet 

 attracted much foreign capital, this has been from lack of 

 knowledge abroad of the conditions. Concessions for rubber 

 lands are given by the Peruvian Government on more 

 favourable terms than those of Brazil, while the export 

 duties from Peruvian ports are much less than those charged 

 by both Brazil and Bolivia. There is an unlimited field in 

 Peru for enterprise in rubber production, a field certainly no 

 less attractive or profitable than tho.se which are at present 

 .so largely occupying the attention of capitalists in other 

 parts of the world. 



SUPPLY OF RUBBER. 



In his address as President of the chemical section 

 of the British Association at York, Professor Wyndham 

 Dunstan made the following reference to the production 

 of rubber: — 



There is no more important group of questions demand- 

 ing attention from the chemist at the present time than those 

 connected with the production of India rubber or caoutchouc. 

 An enormous increase in the demand for India rubber has 

 taken place in the last few years, and last year the production 

 was not less than 60,000 tons. Until recently the supply of 

 rubber came chiefly from two sources — the forests of Brazil, 

 which contain the tree known as Hevea bi-asiliensis, furnishing 

 the Para rubber of commerce, which commands the highest 

 price, and the forests of Africa, where climbing plants, 

 generally of the Landoh)hia class, also furnish rubber. The 

 increased demand for caoutchouc has led to the exten.sive 

 planting of the Para rubber tree, especially in Ceylon and in 

 the Federated Malay States. Systematic cultivation and 

 improved methods of preparation are responsible for the fact 

 that the product of the cultivated tree, which begins to furnish 

 satisfactory rubber when six or seven years old, is now 

 commanding a higher price than the product of the wild tree 

 in Brazil. It is estimated that within the next seven years 

 the exports of cultivated India rubber from Ceylon and the 

 Federated Malay States will reach betvpeen £10,000,000 and 

 £15,000,000 annually, and that after fifteen years they may 

 exceed the exports of the so-called wild rubber from Brazil. 



The Litchi {N'epheUma Litchi), introduced from 

 Guadeloupe and presented to the gardens during 1898 by 

 the Hon. S. R. Pemberton, flowered and fruited for the 

 first time in Dominica. Seed of the Litchi was received 

 from Trinidad during 1904, from which plants were raised 

 and distributed about the island. A few plants were also 

 obtained from the established tree by propagation by 

 circumposition. If the tree can be well established in 

 Dominica and be got to fruit regularly, it would prove a 

 desirable addition to our list of fruits. (Annual Report on 

 the Botanic Station, Dominica.) 



