212 ANIMAL RESOURCES AND FISHERIES OF UNITED STATES. 



Leather prepared from mammal skins. 



Series of different leathers illustrating the manufacture of gloves. 



The following account of the glove trade in North America is from the 

 pen of Mr. S. G. Hutchinson : 



"The manufacture of gloves and mittens from leather was started in 

 Fulton County, New York (according to best information), in the year 

 1809, by people from Connecticut, who first engaged in the manufacture 

 of tinware and in exchanging their tinware for the products of the coun- 

 try. They thus obtained deer-pelts^ which they learned to tan according 

 to the Indian process, and, using paper patterns, cut and made them into 

 rough mittens and gloves. Subsequently they learned a better process 

 of tanning, and also have made great improvements in manufacturing * 

 gloves; and from apparently insignificant and accidental beginnings has 

 originated an industry which is estimated to produce over $4,000,000 

 worth of manufactured goods, and which business has never as yet been 

 successfully transplanted elsewhere. 



"The skins used in the manufacture of gloves and mittens are the dif- 

 ferent varieties of deer-skins and sheep and lamb skins. The deer-skins 

 are gleaned from the entire United States, Mexico, Central and South 

 America, and Africa, and there is as much difference in the quality of the 

 skins from the different countries as in the climate of the countries or 

 localities from which they come. The heaviest and most valuable skins 

 come from under the equator. 



"Sheep-skins are extensively used in the manufacture of gloves as 

 well as deer-skins. It is estimated that over 100,000 dozen are used an- 

 nually. The quality of these varies as much as deer-skins, and depends 

 as much upon the section of country from which they come, the coarse- 

 wool skins making the best leather. A part of the sheep-skins are 

 dressed in a similar manner to the deer-skins, and are finished to resem- 

 ble buckskin. Many sheep and lamb skins are by a very different pro- 

 cess made into what is called kid leather, the lamb-skins, especially, 

 making a very nice glove ; in fact, some of tke lined fur-trimmed gloves 

 made from this kid leather excel any of foreign manufacture. 



" To give a more definite idea of where the deer-skins come from, I will 

 give a little item of statistics of arrivals of deer-skins at the port of 

 New York in the years 1868 to 1872, inclusive : 



" And to give you something of an idea of how these deer-skins are con- 

 verted into leather ready for cutting into gloves, I will copy a poem 

 written by Horace Sprague in 1859. However, the operation has been 

 somewhat changed and much improved since : 



" 'And be it mine in brief to comprehend, 

 From the inception to the final end, 

 Through every process, how the routine moves 

 From unwrought hides to manufactured gloves. 



