FELLMONGERING 157 



ventilators which can be opened or closed at will. In winter-time 

 the sweat-houses are warmed by steam-pipes. In summer-time 

 this is not necessary. It is advisable on very hot days to reduce 

 the temperature of the chamber by letting cold water run down 

 the walls and over the floors. In summer-time skins require from 

 eighteen to twenty hours in the sweat-house before they will be in 

 a fit state for pulling. A skin is in good pulling condition when 

 the wool on the neck of the skin can be pulled with ease, as this 

 part is the hardest to sweat. After leaving the sweat-house the 

 skins are taken to the pullers, who remove the wool and sort it 

 at the same time. 



PAINTING PROCESS. If the skins are to be painted they are 

 taken, after going through the burring machine, and broken over 

 on beams. This is done to soften the pelt and take all the fatty 

 pieces off it. The skin is next trimmed or pieced, which is the 

 removal of all the straggly ends and legs from the skin, as these 

 extremities cannot be painted very well. The skins are now taken 

 to the painters, who place them in stacks full length on the ground, 

 flesh side up. Ten full wool skins or twenty pelts constitute a 

 stack. The skins are next painted on the flesh side with a solution 

 of sulphide of sodium and lime, painting the neck and the britch 

 a little heavier, as these portions of the pelt are thicker than the 

 other parts. After painting the skins are stacked flesh to flesh in 

 heaps of ten or more, so that the paint will not get on the woolly 

 side of the skin. The skins will be ready for pulling in about 

 three hours, but it is better to leave them as long as possible say, 

 twenty-four hours. The reason for this is that the sulphide of 

 sodium solution loses most of its strength in twenty-four hours and 

 will not burn or hurt the hands of the puller very much. It would 

 be necessary to wear gloves if the skins were pulled soon after 

 painting. Care should be taken when painting so that the paint 

 does not get on the wool, as it discolours it. Wool with paint on 

 it should be washed in cold water immediately it is pulled from 

 the skin. It will then scour fairly white, but if the paint is allowed 

 to dry on it it is impossible to scour it a good colour. 



The next process is the removal of the wool from the pelt. 



