118 [Assembly 



to know that the great bulk of the supply is produced by our own 

 people, at prices which set foreign competition at defiance. In 

 1851 the importation of leather in a manufactured and unmanu- 

 factured state amounted to $2,815,669 in value, of which sum 

 $1,314,706 was for men's, women's and children's gloves, the 

 balance was made up by the importation of articles of fancy ra- 

 ther than necessity. The trade in the United States gives employ- 

 ment to an immense number of hands, and we believe the manu- 

 facturers are improving in the production of the finer and fancy 

 descriptions of leather. 



At our late Fair there was fifteen exhibitors from various de- 

 partments of this manfacture. The competition was not very 

 spirited,' though the exhibition was satisfactory, consisting of oak 

 and hemlock-tanned sole leather, black Morocco, calf-skins, 

 colored and bronze Morocco, black and russet bridle, leather, 

 bark-tanned skivers, &c. The calf-skins from M. Crawford, Phil- 

 adelphia, were reported superior, and received the gold medal. 

 David Moffat, 5 Jacob street, exhibited the best black and russet 

 bridle leather. The Waterbury Leather Manufacturing Co. ex- 

 hibited the best colored and bronze Morocco and calf skins for 

 suspenders. a. c. 



STRAW HATS AND BONNETS. 



Specimens in this department of manufacture from five exhi- 

 bitors were shown at the Fair. We did not notice any advance 

 beyond former exhibitions. The fine split straw bonnets and fancy 

 bonnets from D. Thayer, Jr., Franklin, Mass., were reported as 

 of superior workmanship, for which a silver medal was awarded^ 



A. c. 



HATS, CAPS AND FURS. 



The display in this department consisted of men's moleskin 

 hats, ladies' silk riding hats, ladies' soft pearl hats, misses and 

 children's Angola and fancy hats ; navy, army and fancy caps ; 

 Russian and Hudson Bay sable muffs and victorines, and other 



