ANIMAL RESOURCES AND FISHERIES OF UNITED STATES. 213 



Leather prepared from maiiiiiial skins. 



Series of different leatlieis illustrating the manufacture of gloves : 



First into vats, low sunken in the ground, 



The rattling skins arc thrown with husky sound, 



And there for days are suffered to remain, 



Until the water permeates the grain. 



And their whole yielding- form and texture make 



Pliant and supple, litting them to break. 



Prone o'er the slanting beam the breaker plies, 



With long two-handled knife, his energies 



All the adhering flesh to clean away. 



His is the hardest work and poorest pay. 



Flesh-liming, or the liairing process called, 



Is next in order and is next installed. 



Upon the flesh-side of the broken skin 



Quick-lime is spread and safely folded in ; 



Then in the ,soak or water vat with care 



'T is placed ten days for loosening the hair, 



And when the beani and knife again are proved 



The hairy coat is -easily removed, 



in lime-vats next the skins are put to lime ; 



From one to six weeks is the allotted time. 



This process, perfected by low degrees. 



Thickens the skins and smooths the si^rfaces. 



Prizing requires the beam and knife again, 



To shave clean ofl;' the cuticle or grain. 



Parching is used for heavy skins alone. 



The meaning of the term is dr>'ing down ; 



Not in the fervors of the scorching sun, 



But in the shade alone, 't is safely done. 



A soaking then ensues until 



They 're softer made and titted for the miU. • 



Milling in order next succeeds, of course. 



Placed in the stock, by steam or water fore© 



The skins are briskly run six hours or more 



To supple them and open every pore, 



Then taken otit to air. With oil imbued, 



Replaced again, and milling is renewed. 



Each half hour afterward alternately 



They 're in the stocks or out to air and dry. 



Until throughout the substance of the skm 



The oil commingles with the gelatine 



Or glue, and leaves the other parts together 



The true and genuine product we call leather. 



The beam and scudding-kuife again are jdied 



For scudding on the grain or facial side. 



The mucous substance or reticular 



Tissue of the skin is shaved off bare. 



The process then, to perfect and to crown, 



Requires a day at most for drying down. 



Next in lye-liqaor vats they're placed awhile, 



In vulgar parlance, 'for to cut the ile' ; 



But by the chymie law affinity 



The oil gelatinous and alkali 



Combine, without a figure or a trope. 



And form the useful product we call soap. 



A half hour in the stocks the skins being run. 



The soap washed, out, and thus the scouring 's done. 



To soften, to give shape, and natural size, 



Duly the stacking process next applies. 



Fast in the perch the pendent skin being placed, 



Grasped by the hand and firmly shoulder-braced, 



The arm-stake then is vigorously ai)plied 



To supple and extend the leathery hide, 



While the knee-stake is more suitably found 



Fitted to stretch and smooth the edges round. 



Ocher with water mixed, when dried enough 



And into square blocks fashioned, is called buff, 



