UPPER LEATHERS 77 



account of the tanning of kips (light hide and heavy 

 calf), and outlining the best known types of finish for butt, 

 shoulder and belly. 



The goods receive usually a long and mellow liming of 

 14-16 days, using only lime as a rule. In some factories 

 lime liquors are used repeatedly for successive packs to an 

 almost indefinite extent. Dissolved hide substance, ammonia, 

 mud and dust, and bacteria accumulate for months and 

 sometimes for years. It is obvious that in such liquors 

 "putrefaction" is a more correct term than "liming" for 

 the depilation. Such methods have been used even in recent 

 years, but there has now been a tendency for some time to 

 make the liming more methodical. Such old limes make a 

 leather which is empty, loose, and dull grained, but the 

 defects are minimized by the system of stuffing heavily and 

 finishing the flesh, and hence the ancient lime remained 

 with surprising tenacity. Even so late as 1903 we find that 

 Procter with characteristic caution could write, " Probably 

 no lime ought to be allowed to go for more than three months 

 at the outside limit without at least a partial change of 

 liquor." It is within the writer's experience to find an upper 

 leather factory with limes which had never been emptied 

 for over three years. In other factories, however, there 

 has been a revulsion of feeling with regard to such processes, 

 and it has been found advantageous to adopt a more scientific 

 routine, in which the lime pits are cleaned out at regular 

 intervals. There is little doubt that a mellow liming is 

 desirable, but this can be secured by blending some old 

 lime liquors with fresh lime liquor in a systematic manner. 

 Similar considerations apply to the question of working the 

 various packs through the limes. It is clear that with a 

 mellow liming a one-pit system is quite possibly satis- 

 factory, but the revulsion of feeling against a lack of method 

 produced a method of liming more elaborate than usual, and 

 it is now not uncommon to find kips limed in a " round " 

 of 6-8 pits, the goods passing through each pit. They 

 remain in one pit about two days, and are shifted forward. 

 In the green or old limes the goods are handled up and 



