232 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



LEATHER AND TANNING. 



Farmers' Bulletin 1055, " Country Hides and Skins," has been pre- 

 pared in cooperation with the Bureau of Animal Industry and Bureau 

 of Markets. Plans have been made to disseminate the information 

 contained in this bulletin widely through the county agents of the 

 States Eelations Service, the distribution of posters, and the like, 

 in the hope that the very great waste of valuable raw materials that 

 now occurs because of lack of knowledge may be stopped. Papers 

 on the waterproofing of leather, on the relative absorption of oils 

 and greases by wet and dry leather, on the testing of materials for 

 increasing water resistance of sole leather, and on the suitability 

 of various solvents for the extraction of oils and greases from 

 leather were presented at various meetings of technical societies. A 

 farmers' bulletin on the care of shoes and harness is in preparation. 

 Assistance has been rendered the War Department and the War 

 Industries Board in regard to the waterproofing of leather and the 

 preparation of specifications for various kinds of leather, the Post 

 Office Department on specifications for bag leather, and the U. S. 

 Shipping Board. Methods for the tanning of alligator skins have 

 been furnished the Indian Commission of the Interior Department, 

 which contemplates the establishment of the industry among the 

 Indians of Florida. 



NAVAL STORES. 



The final report on the production of naval stores, including gum 

 rosin and gum turpentine, wood rosin and Avood turpentine, and 

 rosin reclaimed from batting dross, has been published, and put into 

 the hands of producers, factors, dealers, and consumers of naval 

 stores. This report shows the total production for the last season, 

 stocks on hand at stills on March 1, 1919. and total shipments from 

 stills during the period from April 1, 1918, to March 1, 1919. Re- 

 ports have also been made of the stocks of rosin and turpentine in 

 the hands of the consumers of naval stores and of the stocks in the 

 storage yards at the principal points of distribution in the country. 

 Assistance was given the Bureau of the Census in the preparation of 

 the schedule for naval-stores statistics and of the lists of naval-stores 

 producers. 



Specifications on the properties, the sampling, and the laboratory 

 examination of turpentine have been prepared and submitted to the 

 Interdepartmental Committee on Paint Specifications for Govern- 

 ment Bureaus. Much investigational work was required in this con- 

 nection, because fresh virgin turpentine may not reach the minimum 

 limits formerly set for specific gravity and refractive index, while 

 turpentine taken from storage tanks in the South which have re- 

 mained partly filled for a year or more may exceed the limits previ- 

 ously set for these constants. 



In accordance with the practice of the past to place glass types for 

 grading rosin at convenient points, a set of types has been deposited 

 on loan with the secretary of the Chamber of Commerce of Cleve- 

 land, Ohio, for the use of consumers and dealers in that vicinity. 



