i?2 THE SHEEP AND WOOL INDUSTRY 



on. In packing in parcels for forwarding, place hair to hair, 

 and pelt to pelt, to keep the hair from becoming in any way 

 damaged by grease. Good silver fox-skins are very valuable, 

 selling at present up as high as 1205. to 1303. per dozen. 



RABBIT-SKINS. 



Most country boys take an interest in attending to furred skins 

 such as rabbits, foxes, etc. A large number of men are also 

 employed in Australia trapping rabbits, and as the skins are 

 very valuable, a little information as to the best methods of 

 preparing them for market and how to distinguish the different 

 sorts will be found useful. The best way for a trapper to 

 take the skin off is to slit the pelt down the inside of the hind 

 legs and pull the skin back over the head just as if you were 

 turning your coat-sleeve inside out. Skins taken off in this manner 

 are called sleeve skins and they are worth more than those 

 taken off in other ways. 



When drying rabbit-skins a wire should be bent, so that it 

 resembles a large hairpin. The wire is held together at the 

 ends and inserted up the inside of the skin ; one wire running 

 up the centre of the back, the other along the centre of the belly. 

 Skins dried in this way do not expose any of their fur to the 

 grease and dust of the other skins. " Slipper " skins is the 

 name given to those skins with the pelt cut in the centre of the 

 belly portion of the skin ; most skins from freezing works are 

 taken off in this manner. Fur on these skins is exposed to 

 dirty and greasy pelts of the other skins. When the carcase 

 of the rabbit is of commercial value the skin has to be out, so 

 that the inside can be removed. Slipper skins, so named because 

 of their resemblance to a slipper, are worth from 3d. to 4d. 

 per Ib. less than sleeve skins of the same class. Rabbit-skins 

 vary in price according to the quality. A few of them are used 

 by the furriers, but the bulk of them are used by the hat 

 manufacturers, who buy the skin solely for the fur it contains, 

 the pelt being cut into pieces by the machinery during the 



