TAN 



TAN 



To this may be added the 



Sicilian sumach 78 lbs. 



Nut gaUs 197 



Catechu 201 



TANNING ON THE PLANTA- 

 TION. The advantages of li;iving a 

 means of preparing hides on tlie plan- 

 tation, in the South and .Southwest, 

 need not be enharged upon ; the fol- 

 lowing simple process is by Mr. Af- 

 fleck, and from the American Agri- 

 culturist : 



" Tanning leather for the use of 

 the plantation is an item of good 

 management that should not be over- 

 looked by any planter ; nor would it 

 be as much overlooked as it is, if the 

 simplicity of the process was gener- 

 ally known — that process, I mean, 

 that will suffice for making leather 

 for home use. The tanner by profes- 

 sion, in order to prepare an article 

 that will command a good price in 

 market, and have a merchantable ap- 

 pearance, puts the hides and skins 

 through a greater number of manip- 

 ulations ; and, that he may work to 

 better advantage, has his arrange- 

 ments on a more extensive scale. 



" The vats, tools, and implements 

 really needed are few and simple. 

 Four rats will generally be found all- 

 sufficient : one for a pool of fresh wa- 

 ter, and for bailing ; one for limincr ; 

 another for colouring-; and a fourth 

 for tanning. The best size, in the 

 clear, is seven feet long, four and a 

 half feet wide, and five feet deep. 

 They should be placed so as to be 

 easily and conveniently filled with 

 water from a spring, running stream, 

 or cistern. Dig the holes nine feet 

 by six and a half and six ; if the found- 

 ation is clay, the depth need not be 

 over five feet. Form a stifT bed of 

 clay mortar in the bottom, on which 

 to lay the floor, and on it erect the 

 sides and ends of the vat, of plank of 

 almost any kind, siifTiciently thick to 

 resist tiie i)re.ssure from without : 

 two incites will be thick enough. 

 When tliis is done, and the wiiole 

 nailed fast, fill in the vacant space all 

 round witb n-dl /cm/icrcrf clay mortar, 

 ramming it effectually ; it is on this, 

 and not the planks, that dependance 



is placed for rendering the vat per- 

 fect. When well made, a vat will 

 be good for a long lifetime, the ooze 

 preventing the decay of any but the 

 top round of plank. Sucii a vat will 

 hold fifteen large beef hides (thirty 

 sides), besides a number of small 

 skins. 



"The material used for tanning is 

 the bark of the red or black oak, 

 stripped when the sap flows in the 

 spring, stacked and dried, of which 

 about four pounds are supposed to be 

 necessary to [iroduce one pound of 

 leather. There is an article occa- 

 sionally used, called ' catechu,' which 

 is an extract made from the wood of 

 a mimosa-tree, a native of India, half 

 a pound of which answers the same 

 purpose. Galls, willow bark, the bark 

 of the Spanish chestnut, and common 

 elm, as also sumach, are all used by 

 the tanner. It has been recently 

 found that the root of the palmetto 

 answers an equally good purpose with 

 the best oak bark. 



" Bark has to be ground as wanted ; 

 or if the quantity needed is small, and 

 it is not thought advisable to incur 

 the expense of a hark null (from ten 

 to eighteen dollars), it may be pound- 

 ed in a large mortar, or beat up on a 

 block. It will require one third more 

 of pounded than of ground bark to af- 

 fiird equally strong ooze, which is the 

 infusion of bark. 



" The principal tools requisite are 

 ajlcshing-knifc, currier'' s knife, a brush 

 like a stiff horse-brush, and ajleshing- 

 bcam. The fleshing-beam is made by 

 splitting in two a hard- wood stick of 

 about a foot in diameter, inserting 

 two stout legs, some thirty inches 

 long, in one end, on the split side, so 

 that the other end rests on the ground, 

 witb the round side up, the elevateil 

 end being high enough to reach the 

 workman's waist. A fleshing-knife 

 may be made by bending an old draw 

 knife to suit the round of the fleshing- 

 beam. 



" The skins of bulls, oxen, cows, 

 and horses, are called hides ; those 

 of calves, deer, sheep, &c., are known 

 as skins. 



" Fresh and dried hides receive the 



777 



