ANIMAL RESOURCES AND FISHERIES OF UNITED STATES. 213 



Leather prepared from mammal skins. 



Scries of different leathers illustrating the manufacture of gloves : 



First into vats, low sunken in the ground, 



Tlie rattling skins are thrown with husky sound, 



And there for days are suffered to remain, 



Until the water permeates the grain, 



And their whole yielding form and texture make 



Pliant and supple, fitting them to break. 



Prone o'er the slanting beam the breaker plies, 



With long two-handled knife, his energies 



All the adhering flesh to clean away. 



His is the hardest work and poorest pay. 



Flesh-liming, or the hairing process called, 



Is next in order and is next installed. 



Upon the flesh-side of the broken skin 



Quick-liine is spread and safely folded in; 



Then in the soak or water vat with care 



'T is placed ten days for loosening the hair, 



And when the beam and knife again are proved 



The hairy coat is easily removed! 



In lime- vats next the skins are put to lime ; 



From one to six weeks is the allotted time. 



This process, perfected by low degrees, 



Thickens the skins and smooths the surfaces. 



Frizing requires the beam and knife again, 



To shave clean off the cuticle or grain. 



Parching is used for heavy skins alone. 



The meaning of the term is drying down ; 



Not in th-e fervors of the scorching sun, 



But in the shade alone, 't is safely done. 



A soaking then ensues until 



They 're softer made and fitted for the milL 



Milling in ord<er next succeeds, of course. 



Placed in the stock, by steam or water foree 



The skins are briskly run six hours or more 



To supple them and open every pore, 



Then taken out to air. With oil imbued, 



Replaced again, and milling is renewed. 



Each half hour afterward alternately 



They 're in the stocks or out to air and dry, 



Until throughout the substance of the skin 



The oil commingles with the gelatine 



Or glue, and leaves the other parts together 



The true and genuine product we call leather. 



The beam and scuddiug-knife again are plied 



For scudding on the grain or facial side. 



The mucous substance or reticular 



Tissue of the skin is shaved off bare. 



The process then, to perfect and to crown, 



Requires a day at most for drying" down. 



Next in lye-liquor vats they 're placed awhile, 



In vulgar parlance, 'for to cut the ile'; 



But by the chymie law affinity 



The oil gelatinous and alkali 



Combine, without a figure or a trope, 



And form the useful product we call soap. 



A half hour in the stocks the skins being run, 



The soap washed out, and thus the scouring 's done. 



To soften, to give shape, and natural size, 



Duly the stacking process next applies. 



Fast in the perch the pendent skin being placed, 



Grasped by the hand and firmly shoulder-braced, 



The arm-stake then is vigorously applied 



To supple and extend the leathery hide, 



While the knee-stake is more suitably found 



Fitted to stretch and smooth the edges round. 



Ocher with water mixed, when dried enough 



And into square blocks fashioned, is called buff, 



