286 THE WORLD'S LUMBER ROOM. 



used, not only as fur, dyed or undyed, but are made into 

 a sort of velvet, which has a very good appearance, and 

 cat- and rabbit-skins are also converted into felt hats. The 

 fashion of fur-tippets has in all likelihood considerably 

 raised the value of skins. Hare- and rabbit-skins do not 

 usually find their way into the dust-bin, but are bought 

 up by dealers in this particular kind of refuse. People 

 in England do not make nearly as much use of them as 

 their neighbours, and export two-thirds of them that is 

 eight or nine million a year to Germany, France, and 

 Belgium. 



Hare-skins are much valued as chest-preservers, and 

 fetch from i8s. 6d. to 285. the hundred. 



Dust-sifting is necessarily a very rough and dirty occu- 

 pation, but the wages are not bad, being from 8s. to IDS. 

 a week in money, besides the perquisites, and the health 

 of the dust-women is said to be exceptionally good. In one 

 large yard during the prevalence of cholera and smallpox 

 not a single person engaged there was even attacked. The 

 constant living in the open air, and the fact that they are 

 obliged to use a good deal of soap and water no doubt has 

 much to do with their good health. 



Corks are re-cut or used in the making of kamptulicon 

 floor-cloth. In Paris old corks are collected from the 

 Seine, washed, re-cut, and sold at a few sous the hundred. 

 Waste cork, that which is too rough for cork-making, finds its 

 use as floats for fishermen and the stuffing of horse-collars. 



Old boots and shoes go first to the " translators," who 

 patch them till they can be patched no more, and then 

 they are boiled down into glue. 



