Country Hides and Skins. 20 
Defects. 
1. Head skinned out bag fashion or nil 
In one pli>«'t>. 
2. Check meat not trimmed out, usually 
left on hide. 
3. Hide from legs Irregular in shape. 
4. Poor pattern : nide from belly skinned 
so as to come in the shoulder sec- 
tion. 
5. Poor pattern : Hide from the butt 
' skinned so as to come in the belly 
section at the bag. 
fi. Poor knife work around the butt and 
rump, leaving bad scores. 
7. Bad scores on belly and side of hide, 
due to short, choppy strokes. 
8. Bad scores on neck and shoulders. 
9. Failure to remove tail bone. 
10. Pewclaws left on hide 
91. Ears not split. 
Remedies. 
Cut across head at base of horns and down 
left side of face into or Just beside left 
i ye, then down through left nostril. (See 
tigs. 10, 20, and 21.) 
Easily avoided by careful knife work. 
Cut bide at back of hoof, then rip up buck 
of leg to knee joint, skinning out both 
sides of leg. (See llgs. 11, 12, 20, and 21.) 
Start from the ripping open cut down the 
belly well forward at the brisket and cut 
slantingly back to the back of knuckle 
joint of the fore leg. (Sec figs. 18, 20, 
and 21.) 
Start from the ripping open cut down the 
the belly at a point about midway be- 
tween the tail and bag, but nearer to the 
latter by a few inches, and cut upward 
to the back of the hind leg at the knee 
joint. (Sec figs. 10, 20, and 21.) 
Sharp knife carefully and sparingly used. 
Beat and pull off the hide as much as 
possible. Avoid at all times cutting or 
digging into the surface of the hide. (See 
tigs. 26 and 27.) 
Sharp knife used in long sweeping strokes. 
Hold the knife flat against the hide where 
it joins the flesh. With other hand draw 
hide taut, thus removing wrinkles and 
permitting clean, sure knife work. (SjSe 
figs. 2, 3, 16, 17, 19, and 32.) 
Sharp knife. Pull hide against knife edge 
instead of making short blind cuts, (aeo 
figs. 1, 2, 14, 15, 17, and 30.) 
Hip down underside of tail to tip and re- 
move entire bone. 
Cut off dewclaws hefore starting to skin the 
legs. 
Spread hide on floor and split ears length- 
wise twice. This will permit the hides to 
lie flat in the pack while being cured. 
SALTING AND CURING. 
The next important operation after the hides and skins have been 
correctly removed is that of curing or preserving them in a sound 
condition, which is accomplished by thorough salting. 
In cold weather hides and skins may be safely kept for some time 
without salting, though care should be taken to prevent them from 
freezing. In spring, summer, and fall, however, they must be salted 
promptly if they are to be made into good leather and pay for the 
work of saving them. 
