50 FUR DYEING. 



accomplished by shaving a layer off the under side of the 

 pelt when these stiff hairs, which come further through 

 the leather than the under fur, are loosened so they can 

 easily be plucked from the fur side with blunt knives. 

 Many short hairs however elude this plucking process, 

 and these are removed by a machine which divides the soft 

 fur by a current of air, and leaves the stiff hairs standing 

 alone so they can be sheared off close to the skin without 

 injury to the under fur. 



English dyes are celebrated for their brilliancy, 

 but are said to reduce the quality of the skin. 

 The French dyers plunge the skins into a large vat 

 filled with logwood dyes. Owing to the vegetable nature 

 of their dye they do not reduce the quality of the skins 

 as much as the English dyes, but they are not as perma- 

 nent. Belgian dyed skins are not as desirable as the 

 French as cheap madder dyes are used in coloring them. 

 Strange as it may seem, the Chinaman, with all his 

 ingenuity, is a very poor dyer of furs. 



SKINNING AND CASING. 



The commercial value of a skin depends as much upon 

 the way it is removed from the animal and stretched by 

 the trapper, as upon the skill of the dresser. Otters, foxes, 

 martens, minks, opossums, civets and skunks should be 

 cased ; that is, taken off whole. Beavers and raccoons should 

 be skinned open ; that is, ripped up the belly from the vent 

 to the chin, and the skin removed by flaying. 



Where skins are to be cased a cut should be made up the 

 center of one hind leg and around the vent and down the 

 other leg; then if the tail is worth preserving, the skin 

 should be carefully stripped from the caudal bone without 

 cutting the skin, except in the case of skunks and otters, 

 whose tails should be split, spread and tacked on a board. 

 The skin should then be drawn back over the body, pelt 

 side out and fur in, the same as in skinning an eel or draw- 

 ing off a glove. It will peel off easily if a few ligaments 

 are cut. Care should be taken not to cut too closely around 

 the nose, ears and lips. 



