204 TANNIKG. 



thoroughly dry, they are fit for sale. Butts are 

 chiefly used for the soles of stout shoes. 



The leather which goes under the denomination 

 of hides, is generally made of cow hides, or the 

 lighter ox hides, which are thus managed. After 

 the horns are taken off, and the hides washed, they 

 are put into a pit of water, saturated with lime, 

 where they remain a few days, when they are taken 

 out, and the hair scraped off on a wooden beam, as 

 before described ; they are then washed in a pit, 

 or pool of water, and the loose flesh, &c. being 

 taken off, they are removed into a pit of weak 

 ooze, where they are taken up, and put down 

 (which is technically termed handling} two or 

 three times a-day, for the first week ; every second 

 or third day they are shifted into a pit of fresh 

 ooze, somewhat stronger than the former ; till at 

 the end of a month or six weeks they are put into 

 a strong ooze, in which they are handled once or 

 twice a-week with fresh bark for two or three 

 months. They are then removed into another pit, 

 called a layer, in which they are laid smooth, with 

 bark ground very fine, strewed between each hide. 

 After remaining here two or three months, they 

 are generally taken up, when the ooze is drawn out, 

 and the hides put in again with fresh ooze and 

 fresh bark, where, after lying two or three months 

 more, they are completely tanned, except a few 

 very stout hides, which may require an extra layer: 

 they are then taken out, and hung on poles, and 

 being hammered and smoothed by a steel pin, are, 

 when dry, fit for sale. These hides are called crop 

 hides ; they are from ten to eighteen months in 

 tanning, and are used for the soles of shoes. 



Skins is the general term for the skins of 

 calves, seals, hogs, dogs, &c. These, after being 



