ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF DEEK. 15 



Except in a few species like the caribou, only male deer have 

 antlers. Although these horns are deciduous, they are solid processes 

 produced from the frontal bone, and have the physical as well as the 

 chemical properties of true bone. They are of two general types — 

 those more or less broad and flat and those rounded in shape. Those 

 of the flattened type are usually the more massive, but the rounded 

 antlers of the wapiti are exceptionally heavy. 



Deerhorn has several uses. It produces much gelatin by decoction, 

 the product being like that from most animal substances. The rasp- 

 ings and waste pieces of the horns used in manufacturing knife 

 handles are either made into gelatin or boiled down into size used in 

 cloth manufacture. At one time deerhorn was a prominent source of 

 ammonia. 



The principal use of deerhorn is in the manufacture of handles for 

 • knives, forks, and other instruments. In Sheffield, England, some 

 thirty years ago, about 500 tons of deerhorn were used annually in 

 manufacture. India and Ceylon furnished about four-fifths of this 

 material, while about 100 tons came from European and English deer 

 forests. The 500 tons represented the antlers of fully 350,000 deer of 

 various species. In Europe buckhorn is worked up into many useful 

 articles, as umbrella stands, chandeliers, and ornaments for personal 

 wear. 



The use of deerskins is well known. As tanned and dressed by 

 the American Indians they are manufactured into a variety of useful 

 and ornamental articles. The inhabitants of some of the Indian 

 villages of the North derive a good income from their manufactures 

 of deerskins into moccasins, rackets, toboggans, and other things 

 for sale. Deer hide makes an excellent leather, its value depending 

 upon the size as well as upon the species from which it comes. The 

 skins of wapiti, for instance, are porous, and the leather does not 

 wear well, while those of the moose and European elk are so thick 

 and hard that the leather is said to have resisted musket balls. In 

 Sweden in former times a pair of elk-hide breeches went as a legacy 

 through several generations of peasants. Formerly about 200,000 

 deerskins from North America were sold annually in the London 

 market. Half of these were skins of the wapiti. Many were bought 

 for Germany and there manufactured into leggings, but the heavier 

 skins were tanned and manufactured in England. In recent years 

 the export of deerskins from America has fallen off greatly. 



Deer hair has a peculiar cellular structure, and is used in some 

 parts of the world for stuffing saddles, for which purpose it is espe- 

 cially suited. 



a Siinmonds, P. L., Animal Products, p. 182 (not dated). 



