III. CURING SKINS. 



HOWEVER successful a trapper may be in taking animals, 

 he will not secure a full reward for his labor unless he knows 

 how to take care of their skins, and prepare them for market 

 in such a manner that they will command the highest prices. 

 As skins that have been riddled with shot find little favor with 

 fur-dealers, so skins that have been cut in stripping off, or that 

 are encumbered with remnants of flesh, or that have passed 

 into a state of incipient putrefaction before drying, or that 

 have not been properly stretched, or that have been dried too 

 fast, or that have been neglected and exposed after being 

 cured, are very sure to be thrown out by the fur-inspector as 

 second or third rate skins, deserving only poor prices. Great 

 quantities of valuable furs, taken by boys and inexperienced 

 trappers, are rendered almost worthless by bad treatment in 

 some of the processes of preservation. I shall give such in- 

 formation on this part of the trapper's business as I have ob- 

 tained, both from my own experience and from conversation 

 with fur-dealers. 



GENERAL RULES. 



1. Be careful to visit your traps often enough, so that the 

 skins will not have time to get tainted. 



2. As soon as possible after an animal is dead and dry, 

 attend to the skinning and curing. 



3. Scrape off all superfluous flesh and fat, but be careful 

 not to go so deep as to cut the fibre of the skin. 



4. Never dry a skin by the fire or in the sun, but in a cool, 

 shady place, sheltered from rain. If you use a barn door for 

 a stretcher (as boys sometimes do), nail the skin on the inside 

 of the door. 



5. Never use " preparations " of any kind in curing skins, 

 nor even wash them in water, but simply stretch and dry 

 them as they are taken from the animal. 



