112 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION B. 



the leather and strength of the grain, a name given to the remains of 

 the epidermal layer, which is liable to crack with the best of these 

 leathers, and, lastly, the weight and colour of the leather speaks volumes 

 to the practical man, who judges his leather largely by the above tests. 



The greatest factor for the production of good leather is the raw 

 material. Hides and skins are not by any means constant factors. 

 The usual method for manufacturing leather is to take packs approxi- 

 mately about 50 hides which will just fill a pit. All the hides in any 

 single pack receive exactly the same treatment, and if hides were a 

 constant factor the resulting leather would be uniform throughout, 

 with the exception of branded hides or those showing a want of skill 

 in the mechanical work ; but it is found that there is a wide difference, 

 and the leather is culled out to several grades. Experience has taught 

 the tanner that the value of hides for leather production varies con- 

 siderably with the breed of cattle, climatic conditions, and food supplies. 

 There are leathers produced from European calfskins which cannot 

 be manufactured from the Australasian calfskins. One big difference 

 between these skins is owing to the general treatment of cows and calves 

 in Europe being superior to the methods of treating these animals in 

 Australasia. European farmers keep up the condition of their cattle, 

 and the calves receive plenty of fresh milk, while the majority of 

 colonial farmers feed their calves on skimmed milk. It can be taken 

 as a general rule that the skins of healthy and well-nourished animals 

 will always give less trouble to the tanner during the process of 

 manufacturing, and the resulting leather will always be superior to 

 that obtained from the skins of badly-nourished animals. During dry 

 seasons, when food supplies are short, the tanners have to be content 

 with a low percentage of first-grade hides and sldns, and consequently 

 the quality of the leather is affected considerably. The detection of 

 leather produced from an ill-nourished hide presents no great obstacle 

 to the practical tanner ; but there are a large number of men without 

 practical experience that play an active part in the controlling of 

 tanneries, and the buying of raw material, with results which often 

 cause considerable confusion, simply because these men do not know 

 if certain low grades of leather which they are producing are caused by 

 a want of skill in the manufacturing department, or the buying of 

 poor-conditioned hides. Many good practical tanners have had their 

 reputation adversely afiected by men who supphed them with raw 

 material which was quite unsuited for the production of the required 

 leather. 



Dealing with quantitative analysis as a guide to the quality of 

 leather, it would appear that while the results obtained are useful to 

 persons who can also make use of factors obtained from a practical 

 experience, the same results may be very misleading to persons who 

 depend only on a quantitative aiaalysis. 



