thp: leather. 403 



THE QUALITY OF LEATHER. 



There can be given no very definite rules for judging of 

 the quality of leather, but the following hints are not with- 

 out value : — 



All harness-leather of good quality is made from the 

 hides of neat cattle, and is tanned either with oak or hem- 

 lock bark ; that tanned with oak bark being very much, 

 the best. 



Leather which has been tanned with oak bark alone, 

 lias, when cut, a yellowish drab color, without the least 

 tinge of red, while that tanned entirely, or in part, with 

 hemlock bark, has a reddish tinge, more or less decided in 

 proportion to the quantity of hemlock bark which has 

 been used. This reddish tinge is sometimes visible on the 

 " wrong " or flesh side of the leather, though it is often 

 disguised by subsequent coloring. By cutting a piece so 

 as to show the inside of the leather, the red hue may be 

 distinguished. If it has this appearance in an}^ consider- 

 able degree, it should be discarded as not of the best 

 quality. Leather which has been sufficiently tanned, is of 

 the same color throughout its entire thickness ; while, if it 

 has been only imperfectly tanned, the middle will appear 

 darker than the part near the outside. Hence if leather, 

 on being cut across and having its newly cut surface 

 moistened by the tongue, shows a dark streak in the 

 centre, it may be fairly assumed that it has net been prop- 

 erly tanned. 



Kearly all harness-leather has, on its black side, a 

 wrinkled appearance. These wrinkles run from the back 

 of the animal around to the belly ; and, in this direction, 

 the leather is weaker and more liable to stretch, than in 

 the direction of the length of the animal's body, or across 

 the wrinkles. The purchaser should, therefore, see that 



