mn until November or December, when the coat
gets rough from the coldness of the season, and the hide is then in its
best state. It is surprising how a hide improves in thickness after the
cold weather has set in. The sort of food does not seem to affect the
quality of the hide; but the better it is, and the better cattle have
been fed, and the longer they have been well fed, even from a calf, the
better the hide. From what has been said of the effect of weather upon
the hide, it seems a natural conclusion that a hide is better from an ox
that has been fed in the open air, than from one that has been kept in
the barn. Dirt adhering to a hide injures it, particularly in stall-fed
animals; and any thing that punctures a hide, such as warbles arising
from certain insects, is also injurious. The best hides are obtained
from the West Highlanders. The Short Horns produce the thinnest hides,
the Aberdeenshire the next, and then the Angus. Of the same breed, the
ox affords the strongest hide; but, as hides are applied to various
uses, the cow's, provided it be large, may be as valuable as that of the
ox. The bull's hide is the least valuable. Hides are imported from
Russia and South America.

Hides, when deprived of their hair, are converted into _leather_ by an
infusion of the astringent property of bark. The old plan of tanning
used to occupy a long time; but, such was the value of the process, that
the old tanners used to pride themselves upon producing a substantial
article--which is more than can be said in many instances under modern
improved modes, which hasten the process, much to the injury of the
article produced. Strong infusions of bark make leather brittle; one
hundred pounds of skin, quickly tanned in a strong infusion, produce one
hundred and thirty-seven pounds of leather; while a weak infusion
produces only one hundred and seventeen and a half,--the additional
nineteen and a half pounds serving only to deteriorate the leather, and
causing it to contain much less textile animal solid. Leather thus
highly charged with tanning is so spongy as to allow moisture to pass
readily through its pores, to the great discomfort and injury of those
who wear shoes made of it. The proper mode of tanning lasts a year, or a
year and a half, according to the quality of the leather wanted and the
nature of the hides. A perfect leather can be recognized by its section,
which should have a glistening marbled appearance, without any w