516 



FUR 



CAT (Fdia domcsticus). In Holland tho cat is bred for its fur ; it is fod on fish and 

 carefully tended until tho fur arrives at perfection. 



CANADA LYNX (Felis Canadcnsis). This fur is not much used in this country, but it 

 is prepared and exported for tho American market, 



Furs, Skins, and Pelts Imported, 



The importance of tho trade in furs and skins will bo rendered evident from the 

 preceding accoimts. It would have been desirable to have separated tho furs, 

 strictly so called, from the skins, but this has not been found practicable with any- 

 thing like accuracy: the returns are therefore given under tho heads adopted by the 

 Customs, which have no been continued even in this form. 



Furs are subject to injury by several species of moths, whose instinct leads them to 

 deposit their eggs at tho roots of the fine hair of animals. 



Linnseus mentions five species that prey upon cloth and furs, of which Tinea pelli- 

 onclla, T. vestionella, and T. tapelzdla are the most destructive. No sooner is the 

 worm hatched than it eats its path through the fur, and continues increasingly des- 

 tructive until it arrives at its full growth, and forms itself a silken covering, from 

 which, in a short time, it again emerges a perfect moth. 



Another cause of the decay of fur is, tho moisture to which they are frequently 

 exposed ; the delicate structure of tho fine under-fur cannot bo preserved when any 

 dampness is allowed to remain in tho skin. This fact is well known to the leather 

 manufacturer, who, having wotted his skins, allows them to remain in a damp cellar 

 for a few days, for the purpose of removing tho hair, which is pulled out with tho 

 greatest facility, after remaining only one week in a moist condition. It follows from 

 these observations, that to preserve the furs it is necessary to keep them dry, ami to 

 protect them from moths ; if exposed to rain or damp, they must bo dried at a nmdr- 

 rato distance from tho fire : and when put by for tho summer, should bo combod and 

 beaten with a small cane, and very carefully secured in a dry brown paper or box, 

 into which moths cannot enter. During tho summer they should bo examined once 

 a month, to bo again beaten and airod, if tho situation in which they have been placed 

 be at all damp. With these precautions, tho most valuable furs may bo preserved 

 uninjured for many years. 



FUR. A deposit incrusting tho interior of boilers, kettles, and other vessels in 

 which water has been boiled. Tho fur generally consists of carbonate of lime. Ita 

 formation may bo prevented by adding either soda-ash (carbonate of soda) or sal- 



