Rural Economy in New England 261 



A tannery or two seem to have been uniformly a part of the eco- 

 nomic outfit of the inland town.^ The working dress of the people 

 was largely composed of leathern garments, not only their shoes 

 and leggings, but shirts, breeches and coats as well. A large part 

 of the material came from the» hides of animals slaughtered on the 

 farms and prepared at the village tannery. This was a primitive 

 affair, quite on a par with the mills in the size of its plant and in the 

 scope of its operations.2 Cider mills and cider and grain distilleries 

 were numerous, but were for the most part owned by farmers and 

 located on their premises.^ 



The manufacture of potash and pearl ash was a by-industry of 

 the farmers in many towns, especially in newly settled regions in 

 Vermont and New Hampshire, and in Worcester and Berkshire 

 counties in Massachusetts. La Rochefoucauld described the proc- 

 ess of preparing potash ''which is generally observed in the United 

 States," as follows: "Large tubs, with a double bottom, are filled 

 with ashes; the uppermost bottom which contains several holes, 

 is covered with ashes, about ten or eleven inches deep, while the 

 under part of the tub is filled with straw or hay. Water, being poured 

 over the ashes, extracts the particles of salt, and discharges all the 

 heterogeneous matter which it may contain in the layer of hay or 

 straw. The lie is drawn off by means of a cock, and if it should not 

 yet have attained a sufficient degree of strength, poured again over 

 the ashes. The lie is deemed sufficiently strong when an egg swims 

 on it. This lie is afterward boiled in large iron cauldrons, which are 

 constantly filled out of other cauldrons, in which lie is likewise boil- 

 ing .... This salt is of a black colour, and called hlack potash. 

 Some manufacturers leave the potash in this state in the cauldron, 



' In the state of Connecticut, for instance, according to the Digest of Manu- 

 factures prepared by Tench Coxe from the facts collected in the Census of 1810, 

 there were 408 tanneries. An examination of Pease and Niles' Gazetteer shows 

 that these establishments were scattered fairly evenly among the 119 towns. 



2 An early tannery in the town of Quincy, Mass., is described by Mr. Adams 

 as follows: "The earher tanneries were strange primitive establishments. The 

 vats were oblong boxes sunk in the ground close to the edge of the town brook at 

 the point where it crossed the main street. They were without either covers or 

 outlets. The beam-house was an open shed, within which old, worn-out, horses 

 circulated round while the bark was crushed at the rate of half a cord or so a day 

 by alternate wooden and stone wheels, movmg in a circular trough fifteen feet 

 in diameter." Episodes, II. 929. 



« Coxe, Tench. A View of the United States of America. London. 1794. 

 p. 269. The manufacture of cider brandy was an important by-industry of the 

 farmers of Woodbury, Conn. Pease and Niles, Gazetteer, p. 267. 



