292 REPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



usually with a small quantity of sawdust. A workman with bared feet 

 enters the tub, with a heavy cloth or piece of bagging tied about his 

 waist and to the chimb of the tub to prevent the sawdust from flying 

 out and to retain the heat. By treading and twisting movements he 

 works the skin over and over for two or three hours or more until the 

 pelt is thoroughl}' softened or leathered. It is a strange and interest- 

 ing sight to see 10 or 12 men working in an equal number of tubs 

 placed in a row, each person monotonoush^ treading and swaying from 

 side to side in solemn manner. 



Tubbing is gradually giving way in a greater or less extent to the 

 "tramping machine," whenever anything less than the very best work 

 will suffice. This machine is adapted from the French apparatus for 

 fulling wool stock. It consists of two wooden hammers, which are 

 moved alternately back and forth or up and down in a suitable recep- 

 tacle, agitating the skins slowly and constantly, turning them over and 

 over each other, and developing by friction the necessary heat, thus 

 rendering the pelts soft and pliable. This process is far more eco- 

 nomical than tubbing, costing only 10 or 20 per cent as much. The 

 result, however, is not always so satisfactory, and for the choicest 

 skins tubbing is yet generally used. 



At this stage of the dressing process comes the fleshing or skiving, 

 the former being applied to small skins and the latter to large ones. 

 Fleshing consists in removing all particles of flesh and fat by means of 

 a fleshing knife, formed with a broad blade having a sharp edge, fas- 

 tened in an upright position on a bench. The workman sits astraddle 

 the bench immediatel}' behind the knife, with the edge turned from 

 him, and proceeds to flesh each pelt by grasping it with both hands and 

 drawing it repeatedly across the sharp edge of the knife, cutting off 

 the superfluous flesh. Only small skins, such as mink and muskrat, 

 are fleshed in this manner. Large skins, as those of beaver, otter, 

 etc., are shaved on a beam with a skiving knife, in much the same 

 manner as before the leathering process, except that the operation is 

 performed much more carefully. 



After fleshing or skiving, the skins are usually put through the tubs 

 or tramping machines a second time, and on removal therefrom are 

 cleaned of grease. In this operation two forms of revolving drums 

 are used, one known as the cleaning drum and the other as the beating 

 drum. The purpose of the former is to extract the grease by means 

 of dry sawdust, and of the latter to remove the sawdust. The drums 

 are usually about 4 feet wide and 6 or 8 feet in diameter, but the size 

 is entirely a matter of convenience and desired capacit}'. 



The cleaning drum is made of wood, and upon its interior circumfer- 

 ence are four or five wooden shelves about 6 inches wide and at suitable 

 distances apart. Instead of these shelves some drums are provided 

 with rows of wooden pins or pegs 6 or 8 inches in length and similarly 

 situated. Sometimes each cleaning drum is inclosed in a wooden 



