THE MUSKEAT. 



29 



Caring" for the Skins. 



Miiskrats taken for the fur should be trapped — not shot or speared. 

 If taken alive in a trap they should be killed by a sharp blow across 

 the back of the head. Trappers usually carry a short club for this 

 purpose. 



Muskrat skins intended for the market should be " cased," not 

 opened along the belly. In skinning, trappers begin at the heel and 

 slit up the middle of the hind leg to the tail, around it, and then 

 down the other leg to the heel in the same w^ay. No other cuts in the 

 skin are needed, though many trappers pass the knife around the 

 feet, where the long fur ends. The skin is then turned back over the 

 body, leaving the fur side inward. The skin peels off easily to the 

 front feet. The trapper cuts closely around nose, ears, and lips, so as 

 not to tear the skin. If bits of flesh adhere to the skin about the head, 

 they may be scraped off, but this is usually left for the fur dresser. 

 The skin, inside out, is 

 stretched over a thin board 

 or a shingle of the proper 

 shape (fig. 5), and a tack 

 or two is inserted to keep 

 it in position until dry. 

 Skins should be dried in 

 the open air — not before a 

 fire or in the sun. They should not be exposed to rain. Books on 

 trapping usually give full directions for caring for raw furs. 



Home Dressing" of Furs. 



Former^ many muskrat skins were home tanned and made into 

 caps, collars, and other articles. At present the home utilization of 

 skins is much less extensive, but knoAvledge of a good method of 

 dressing the fur is still desirable. Most of the methods employed by 

 amateurs involve the use of alum to fix the hair ; but satisfactory re- 

 sults, so far as pliability of the pelts goes, depend largely upon the 

 amount of labor bestow^ed on them. 



A method in common use is the following: The skins are thor- 

 oughly cleaned in warm, not hot, water and all flesh and fat scraped 

 off. They are then stretched on a board with the fur side down and 

 covered with a mixture of two ounces each of salt and alum, 3 gills 

 of water, and a drachm of sulphuric acid. Thicken this with wheat 

 bran or flour arid allow it to dry on the skin. A¥lien dry, the flour or 

 bran should be scraped off, the skin removed from the board and 

 rolled with the fur side in. The folded skin is then drawn quickly 



396 



Fig. 5. — Stretcher for muskrat skins. 



