378 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Nov., 1902. 
TO TAN HIDE FOR WHIP-MAKING. 
Groregk Granam, Garradunga—You do not say what kind of whip you 
wish to make nor what hide you propose to use. If you want to 
make a stockwhip of kangaroo hide, the latter must be tanned. If 
of calf or bullock hide, tanning is not necessary. To tan a skin, the 
general principle is to trim off the useless parts of the skin and 
remove all fat from the inside. Then soak the skin in warm water 
for about an hour, then apply a coating of borax, saltpetre, and 
Glauber salts—1 oz. of each dissolved in sufficient water to make a 
thin paste. The following day, give a coating of a mixture of 1 oz. 
of sal soda, 3 oz. of borax, and 2 oz. of hard soap. This mixture should 
be slightly heated without allowing it to boil After this, fold the 
skin together and leave it in a warm place for twenty-four hours. 
Then take 4 oz. alum, 8 oz. salt, and 2 oz. saleratus ; dissolve in hot 
water and, when cool, soak the skin in it for twelve hours, wring 
out, andhang’up to dry. Ifthe skin is not sufficiently soft after 
this, the soaking and drying must be repeated two or three times. 
Another method is to wash the skin in a solution of sal soda and 
water. Then take 4 oz. powdered alum, 8 oz. salt, 1 quart new 
milk to 4 gall. salt water, 1 pint prepared starch ; stir well, then 
put in the skins, and air them often by hanging them over a stick 
laid across your tan tub. Handle them occasionally until they 
have been in the solution a day or two. Then remove the skins 
and add to the liquor a-half teaspoonful of sulphuric acid. Stir this 
wellin. Put the skin back and steam them well for about an hour. 
Then wring out the skins in lukewarm water and hang them up in 
: a cool place ; when they begin to get white, work and stretch them 
till dry. Hides of animals larger than kangaroos should remain 
longer in the solution. 
When making a whip of calf skin or bullock hide, use the hide 
green. Soak it well, shave off the hair and under side with a sharp 
knife, stretch well after cutting into strips of the required size. 
To remove the hair or wool before tanning.—First wash the skins 
thoroughly in water; then place them one above the other, with 
the flesh side up. Then saturate each skin on the flesh side with a 
thick cream of lime, after which double them, with the hairy side 
out. Let them remain there for twenty-four hours, when the wool 
or hair should be loose; remove it, and leave the skins to soak in 
weak lime and water. Remove them twice a day, and stir up the 
liquor before replacing them. Continue this treatment for three 
days, after which place them in stronger lime liquor, and draw 
daily as before. In seven days whatever hair has been left on 
should be easily removed. The next step is unhairing and flesh- 
ing—that is, the scarf skin and remains of hair are removed with a 
blunt knife, and all fat and flesh is taken off with a sharp one. 
Soak the skins well in some preparation of ammonia to convert the 
lime in the pores into soluble salts, which may then be removed by 
washing and scraping. 
PALM-TREES FOR.STOCK. 
Anprew Cozs, Gregory, Cordalba.—The heart of paim-trees is very good 
fodder for stock, failing anything else. 
IGUANA OIL. 
A.S.S., Lowmead.—Iguana oil is not used for machinery, owing to its 
cost. On a small scale it might be serviceable. Tor oiling guns 
and for leather it is of great value, being exceedingly penetrating. 
The best way to extract the oil from the fat is to expose the latter 
to the sun in a bottle, and afterwards strain off. _ 
