x803» Method cf Tamnng Leather VI Lcims. lyy 



ftrength. Now, left any part of the efPefl may depend upon 

 the material of which the boiler is compofed, it may be proper 

 to mention, tliat in Lewis, and, as 1 was told, in other illands 

 "where this m.ode of tanning is pracStifed, tha only boilers, and 

 vedels for holding liquids of every kind, in common ufe, are 

 compofed of wrought clay, firfl llov/ly dried, and afterwards 

 baked. Thefe the people make for their own ufe, of furprifing 

 7ieatnefs and durability, confidering that they have no other tools 

 to work with but their hands. 



From the great, and ftill increafing demand for tanned leather, 

 n demand that feem.s now to exceed the quantity of bark that 

 can be procured to do it in the ordinary way ; and from the fuc- 

 cefs that feems to have attended the experim.ent in Ireland, I am 

 induced to trouble you with this minute account of what I could 

 learn refpe^ling the mode of tanning in the Hebrides. My ob- 

 jetl will be accompliflied^ if any of your ingenious correfpond- 

 ents who have leifure, and command of the materials, can be 

 induced to make the neceflary experiments, with a view toafcer- 

 tain, ly?, Whether tlieir pra6lice may be advantageoufly adopted 

 into common ufe ; 2r/, Whether it may not be improved upon. 



From my rgnorance of the art of tanning, and of the Gaelic 

 language, I am confcious that many ileps, highly neceiTary to 

 the fuccefs of the operation, may have efcaped m.y notice. 

 Though I had frequent opportunities of feeing the fKins in their 

 feveral flages of preparation, yet thefe were only incidental -ob- 

 jciSls of attention, and I found the people very Ihy in anfwering 

 queftions concerning them ; becaufe fuch queitions excite a fuf- 

 picion that you are conne6led with the Excife, who are very 

 fliarp in feizing all the fkins they can find, that are tanning in 

 a private way. My oral information was derived through the 

 medium of interpreters, who generally fpoke the Engliih lan- 

 guage im.perfedly. But if this mode of tanning be capable of 

 being rendered ufeful to the world at large, it is to be hoped that 

 fome inhabitant of thefe iflands, into whofe hands your work 

 may com.e, will have the goodnefs to re£lify my errors, and to 

 farnifh you with a more correcl detail of the procefs. 



J H . 



Edinburgh^ Ji'n. i. 1803. 



TO THE CONDUCTOR OF THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



On the Ra'ifir.g of Flax. 

 Sir, 



If you think the following hints to farmers on the raifmg of 

 flax worth a place in your ufeful Magazine, you will oblige me 

 by inferring them. 



The 



