Country Hides and Shins. 
31 
trim off any ragged edges, and split the ears twice. Then allow the 
hide to lose its animal heat, in a cool, dark, dry place. Six hours is 
usually long enough for this, although overnight is permissible in 
cool weather. 
For curing select a cool, clean place, preferably a cellar, or a barn 
floor free from drafts and out of the direct sunlight. A floor with 
a slight slope and a drain is the best. Sprinkle on the selected space 
a thin layer of clean crystal salt (about the size of a pea) or ordinary 
salt of the kind used 
for salting meat. 
"When the hide has 
cooled sufficiently 
spread it, hair side 
down, over the salted 
floor, being sure to 
straighten out all 
folds and laps. 
Sprinkle fresh, clean 
salt all over the flesh 
side of the hide, using 
about 1 pound of salt 
for every pound of 
hide. See that all 
parts of the flesh side 
receive a sprinkling 
of the salt. Be sure 
to use plenty of salt 
and rub it in well 
along the cut edges, 
head, neck, legs, 
wrinkles, and the 
heavy portions. 
If several hides are 
to be cured, pile them 
one on top of the 
other, always hair 
side down, with their 
heads at one end, and salt each one on the flesh side as directed. In 
piling the hides, do not drag them across the stack of salted ones, 
as this disturbs the salt on those underneath, causing unsalted spots 
and spoiled hides. The liquor from the pile of hides must be drained 
away to prevent damage to the bottom ones. 
In curing, the hides if properly salted will become firm and stiff, 
when they are known as " salt firm " or " salt hard." This requires 
some time, generally 6 to 14 days, after which the hides are ready for 
bundling and shipping. They should rarely be bundled immediately 
after salting. 
