88 THE FUR TRADE OF AMERICA 



Such hand methods were feasible for a few hundred thousand 

 skins; but there are firms to-day handling 4,000,000 skins yearly; 

 and this demanded newer machine processes by which dyeing 

 plates to the number of 400,000 could each treat 10 skins ; and here, 

 what applies to muskrat handled in bulk quantities, also applies 

 to rabbit handled in millions yearly. It was the handling of muskrat 

 and rabbit in bulk quantities that put both furs on the market as 

 imitation seals — muskrat as Hudson seal, rabbit or coney as near 

 and electric seal ; and as told in another section, while muskrat 

 seal will outwear Alaska seal, rabbit seal will not, and ought never 

 to be sold as "just as good" at a lower price. Neither rabbit, nor 

 cat, the oily furs, will ever wear well as the crisp furs. 



Modern dressing of these furs is by machine. Fleshing is by 

 machine ; and if too much flesh is taken off the skin, the fur falls 

 out. The cleaning is done in vats with mahogany sawdust fine 

 as flour and some gasoline. The finer furs are still tramped in the 

 vats by naked feet to soften the harshness of the pelt; but a re- 

 volving drum kicks the fur soft and flexible ; and the human feet 

 do with bodily warmth what air and machinery cannot do. Auto- 

 matic blowers fan the sawdust out. Shearing machines operated 

 by electric power even the fur down to equal length ; and all dis- 

 card is used for hatting and felting. The machine cuts more evenly 

 than any human hand. Ground dye gets the golden tint on the 

 skin by which all dyed skins can be detected. Over 40,000 skins 

 go into these dye vats at a time, which are whirled round and 

 round with a sort of windmill motion. This gets the groundwork 

 dyeing below the pelage. The skins then go in pure water and the 

 damp skin is thinned over a rope or chain to get the moisture out 

 with blasts of warm air as dryers. This air is kept at just exactly 

 summer heat — 90. 



The unhairing machine is used on the muskrat, but not the 

 rabbit. An absolutely even stub must be left. The stretching 

 to give flexibility is done over a rope by hand. Comes next the 

 dyeing work proper for the pelage. The top dye is black. This 



