LEATHER 137 



been made to domesticate foxes and raise them on fox farms. 

 The undertaking is still young, but so far it has been success- 

 ful, Persian lamb and astrakhan are also highly prized ; they 

 are the fur of very young lambs and goats. Fur is the warmest 

 of all known coverings, and its warmth together with its beauty 

 and its softness has made it popular with all people living in 

 cold climates. 



Furs are sometimes felted ; that is, the fibers torn from the 

 skin are entangled and intertwined to form felt. The glossy silk 

 hats worn by men are made from woven beaver fibers, and or- 

 dinary felt hats are made from fibers of more common furs. 



Leather. On animals like the horse and cow, the fur is stiff 

 and coarse, and useless for clothing, but the skin is valuable 

 and furnishes leather for shoes, boots, belts, and hat bands. 

 Skins or hides that are used for leather are soaked in slaked 

 lime until the hairs are loosened and are easily pulled out ; after 

 all hairs have been removed, the skins are thoroughly washed 

 and softened by sour bran and dough ; they are then soaked for 

 months in an extract of oak or hemlock bark. The extract 

 contains tannin, a substance which slowly unites with the skin 

 and changes it to leather. After the tannin has done its work 

 on the hide, the leather is removed from the tannin bath and is 

 washed, dried, and oiled ; it is then ready for use, and is soft, 

 pliable, and durable. Leather that is properly tanned is not 

 injured by water, and shoes made of good leather remain soft and 

 pliable after a wetting. Leather that is poorly tanned dries off hard 

 and stiff and makes shoes that have been wet uncomfortable. 



The hides of some animals, the cow for example, are thick, 

 and must be split into three or four layers for most purposes. 

 But split leather is not as durable and soft as leather of equal 

 thickness made from naturally thin skins, like those of the sheep 

 and goat. Kid leather, used for kid gloves, is one of the finest 

 leathers and is the skin of young goats or sheep. 



