Leather Tanned with Bark 



THE wood of the chestnut tree and the bark 

 of the chestnut, chestnut oak, black oak, white 

 oak, and hemlock are used to make fine, hard 

 leather from the soft, green hides of animals. 

 The barks are more in use than the wood, and 

 of these the white oak bark is used in making the 

 best leather. 



The tanbark trees are cut during the growing 

 season of early summer. The work is always 

 done at this time of the year, for then the bark 

 peels easiest from the tree. It is stripped from 

 the trunk in pieces four feet long with a "spud" 

 or barking iron. The strips of bark are then 

 stacked up against the fallen tree-trunk to dry. 

 In a week, or perhaps sooner, the bark is cured, 

 and ready to be drawn on sleds to the wagon 

 roads running through the forest. It is after- 

 wards hauled to the railroad whence it is ship- 

 ped to different parts of the country. 



On reaching the tannery, it is unloaded from 



STORY CF THE FOREST- 13 193 



