198 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
From ihe American Agriculturist. 
TA.NNIXG ON THE PLANTATIONS. 
Ingleside, Miss., Sept. IDih, 1843. 
Tanning leather ior tlie use oi the j lautation, 
is an item ul good management tnat ^nouU not 
be overlooked by any planter. IN'or would it be 
as much overlooked as it is, il the bimpliciiy ol 
the process was generally known — that process, 
1 mean, that will suffice tor making leather for 
home use. 'i'he tanner by proiession, in order 
to prepare an article that will command a good 
price in market, and have a merchantable ap- 
peaiance, puts the hides and skins through a 
greater number oi manipulations; and, that he 
may woik to belter advantage, has his arrange- 
ments on a more extensive scale. 
The vats, tools, and implements, really need- 
ed, are few and simple, h’ottr va's will general- 
ly be found all-sufficient; one lor a pool of fresh 
water, and lor il'u.fi/rg'; one ior Inning ; another 
ior coloring; and a iourth lor tanning. The 
best size, in the clear, is .sev'en leet long, lour and 
a half feet wide, and live feet deep, 'd ney should 
be placed so as to be easily and conveniently 
filled v/ith water from a spring, running stream, 
or cistern. Dig the holes 9 leet, by 6^ and G; il 
the loundation is clay, the depth need not be over 
5 leet. Form a stilf bed of clay rnorlar in the 
bottom, cn which to lay the floor, and on il erect 
the sides and ends of the vat, ol plank of almost 
any kind, sufficiently thick to resist the pressure- 
from without — two inches will be thick enough. 
When this is done, and the whole nailed fast, 
fill in the vacant space all round with icell-lern- 
clay-mortar, ramming it effectually; it is 
on this, and not the planks, that dependence is 
placed for rendering the vat perfect. When well 
made, a vat will be good for a long liletime — the 
ooze preventing the decay of any but the top 
round ol plank. )Such a vat will hold 15 large 
beef hides, (30 sides,) besides a number of small 
- skins. 
The material used for tanning, is the bark of 
the red or black oak, stripped when the sap flows 
in the spring, stacked and dried — of which about 
four pounds are supposed to be necessary to pro- 
duce one pound of leather. There is an article 
occasionally used, called “catechu,” which is 
an extract made from the wood of a mimosa 
tree, a native of India, half a pound of which 
answers the same purpo.se. Galls, willow bark, 
the bark of the Spanish chesnut, and. common 
elm, as also sumach, are all used by the tanner. 
It has been recently found that the root of the 
palmetto answers an equally good purpose with 
the be.st oak bark. 
Bark has to be ground as wanted; or if the 
quantify needed is small, and it is not thought 
advisable to incur the expense of a bark-mill 
(Irom 810 to $>18,) it may be pounded in a large 
mortar, or beat up on a block. It will require 
one-third more ol pounded than of ground bark, 
to afford equally strong ooze, which is the infu- 
sion of bark. 
The principal tools requisite are a fimshing- 
knife, currier’s knife, a brush like a stiff horse- 
brush, and a fle.shing-beam. The fleshing-beam 
is made by splitting in two a hard-wmod stick 
of about a foot in diameter; inserting two stout 
legs, some thirty inches long, in one end on the 
split side, so that the other end rests on the 
ground, with the round side up; the elevated end 
being high enough to reach the workman’s 
waist. A fleshing-knife may be made by bend- 
ing an old draw-knife to suit the round of the 
fleshing-beam. 
The skins ol bulls, oxen, cows and horses 
are called hides\ those of calves, deer, sheep, 
&c., are known as skins. 
Fresh and dried hides receive the same treat- 
ment, except in the washing process. Those 
that arc salted and dry, (and no hide should be 
dried with less than Irom two to four quarts of 
salt being rubbed on the flesh side — dried with- 
out salt, it is extremely difficult to soften them,) 
require to be steeped, beaten and rubbed seve- 
ral times alternately, to bring them to a condi- 
tion sufficiently solt for tanning. 
Green or fresh hides must be soaked in pure 
watei from 12 to 24 hours, to extract all the 
blood, &.C., and soften the extraneous fleshy mat- 
ter, which must then be removed — throwing one 
hide at a time on the fleshing-beam, grain or 
hair-side down, and scraping or shaving it off 
with the fleshing-knife, which must be some- 
what dull or the skin is apt to be cut. They 
are then put in the liming vat, w hich is supplied 
with strong lime-water, by filling the vat a little 
over half lull of water, and adding thereto four 
bushels of unslacked (or of air slacked) lime, 
or at the rate of tw’o-thirds of a bushel of lime 
to the barrel of water. This will suffice for fif- 
teen hides; each time that they aie removed and 
a fresh lot of hides put in, add another bushel of 
lime, which will keep up the strength lor a 
twmlve-month. Before using, stir the lime well 
up, and while il is thus mixed with the wmier, 
put in the hides evenly, so that the lime will set- 
tle on every part of them. They are to remain 
here from ten to fifteen days, or for three or four 
days after the hair w'ill rub off with the finger 
completely and with ease. While in the lim- 
ing-vat, they must be moved up and down every 
otner morning, to expose them to the air, and to 
the equal action of the lime. Being now ready 
for unhairing, cut each hide in two, by slitting 
them along the centre of the back with a knife, 
forming them into sides. Throw ten or twelve 
of these sides on the liesliing-beam, and strip 
the hair off' with the knife; and as they are un- 
haired, throw each one into the vat of fresh wa- 
ter to bait or soak. When the lot of sides and 
skins in hand have been all unhaired and thor- 
oughly washed, throw' them again, and at once, 
on the fleshing-beam, with the grain or hair 
side up, and work them over (rub and press 
them) with the knife until all the gummy or mu- 
cilaginous matter is worked out. This should 
be repeated tw'o or three times during ten or 
twelve days, being each time baited anew in 
fresh vrater. And this working over must only 
be done when the sides feel soft and smooth to 
the touch; as they w'ill at times, from some un- 
explained cause, feel rough, at which time they 
must not be worked over. While they are thus 
baiting, they must not be neglected, or they will 
soon spoil. Tanners are in the practice ol add- 
ing 1000th part of sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) 
to the last bait, -which has the effect oi sw'elling 
the pores and distending the fibres, and thus 
rendering the skins more susceptible to the ac- 
tion of the ooze: forty-eight hours generally suf- 
fice for this last baiting. 
In the meantime, some good strong ooze 
should be prepared' lor the first tanning process, 
called coloring. Fill a vat a little more than 
half full of water, and add bark, in ihe propor- 
tion of 1^ bushels of ground, or 2 bushels of 
pounded bark, to the barrel of water, wffiich will 
bring the vat up to about two-thirds lull. When 
the bark has soaked from four to five days, the 
sides are put in,, and allowed to lemain 15 days; 
during which they must be ance w'ell and care- 
fully fleshed and worked over, and must he 
drawn up and dow'U every morning, for the first 
week at least, and the bark w'ell plunged or stir- 
red up, to have them color evenly. 
Alter this, the vat being now two-thirds lull 
of this same ooze, after drawing out the hides, 
lay a good coating of fresh bark, of say an inch 
thick, on top of the water, on which it will float, 
lay on this a side, spread out evenly; and if it 
has to be lapped over in any part, lay on more 
bark until it is all well coated, taking care to 
place those hides at the boUoca of the vat now, 
that were at the top last time. On this side lay 
an inch-coating of bark, and on that another 
side, and so on, with alternate layer of bark, un- 
til the vat is full, or the sides all laid away. 
In this, which is ca l the first bark, the sides 
must lie tour weeks. They are then drawn out, 
and the spent bark taken out with a skimmer or 
drainer. The sides are then replaced as before, 
with alternate layers of fresh bark, in the same 
ooze, which has acquired some additional 
strength, notwithstanding the amount of tannin 
and extractive matter, contained in the bark, 
that has become intimately combined with the 
animal fibre of the hide. In this second bark 
they remain six weeks undisturbed, when they 
receive a third bark, in the same way, in which 
they are Islt anolher six or eight weeks. Three 
barks will suffice to tan deer, hog, calf, and oth- 
er small skins; lour barks will make good sole 
leather, but five are preferable. 
The tanning process being completed, sole 
leather is taken out of the vat, rinsed efi'eciualh', 
and dried in the shade, hanging the sides up by 
two ol their corners to ji ists, where they may 
remain until wanted. Those sides intended for 
upper aEil harness leather, (which are those of 
cous, &c. — the largest ana thickest bullock 
hides beiug used for sole leather,) as also deer, 
hog, and other small skins, being thoroughly 
rinsed, are spread out on a strong table, with 
the grain or hair side up, and scoured with a 
stiff brush, like a very stiff horse-brush, occa- 
sionally throwing on pure water, until all the 
ooze is scoured out. Tanners use the edge of 
a stone, made smooth, to assist in rubbing out 
the ooze, and all the water that can possibly be 
rubbed out. They also use what tfiey call a 
slicker, being a dull edge of copper of about six 
or seven inches long, set In a piece of wood, to 
serve as a handle. 
Alter they are all served thus, and rubbed as 
dr}"- as possible, the table is cleaned off, and ihe 
skins thrown back upon it, grain side up, and 
are rubbed with tanner’s oil (cod-fish oil) as 
long as the leather will receive it. Harness 
leather must be completely saturated. As they' 
are oiled, fold them up and lay them aside.-^ 
When they are all gone over, lay one on the 
table at a time, flesh side up, and with a rag rub 
on all the dubbing that the leather will absorb. 
Thin hides require but a small quantity; har- 
nessjleather must have a heavy' coating. 
Dubbing, which consists of equal parts of tar 
and tallow, melted together, and weM mixed, 
must be made the day prevdous to being used. 
Lard may be used in place of tallow, but will 
require a lesser pioportion of it. Each side of 
leather is then hung up by two corners to joists, 
there to remain until j'crfectly dry, or until 
wanted. 
If iron or sfeel touches a hide daring the pro- 
cess ol tanning, when in the least wet, or even 
moist, it W'ill discolor it, forming an indelible 
black m^rk. 
To blacken harness of other leather, take the 
skin when completely dried, and if any greasy 
spots appear, showing that more oil or dubbing 
has been applied than the leather coukl absorb, 
wet the spots with a little strong ooze, and scrub 
them out with the brush. Then apply' a good 
coat of copperas (sulphate of iron) dissolved in 
ooze, until the leather has a good color all over. 
After this, when dry, put on another good coat 
of oil. The leather may then be smoothed off 
with a rounding edge of polished steel, or glass, 
or stone. T. Affleck;. 
From the Southern Planter. 
HORSES, 
Mr. Editor — The ordinary means of purging 
a sick horse are so slow in operating, that, in 
many cases, they do no. good. I send you a 
very simple' recipe with which some oFyomr 
readers may not be acquainted, which I have 
never known to fail, and regard as the best and 
simplest. I saw it many years ago in the 
American Farmer, and have tested it. 
“Take a piece of chalk about the size of a 
walnut, pound it in a mortar, or wrap a rag 
around it and reduce it to powder with a ham- 
mer or any thing else— put the powder into a 
quart bottle— pour common vinegar into the 
bottle until the eff'ervessence prevents your 
pouring mure, and (having the horse ready) 
drench him with it. But little vinegar can be 
gotten into the bottle the first time, so that you 
will have to pour more into it, and drench a se- 
cond time. Ordinarily a pint will do. In ca- 
ses where it does not operate in jive or ten min- 
utes, persevere in the dose, and in a very short 
time the suffering animal will be well again.” 
1 concur in the opinion that every farmer who 
