Tut. I doubt you are a couple of cowards. However, I suppose you came near enough to observe great stacks of bark in the yard.
Geo. O yes; there are several.
Tut. Those are oak-bark, and it is used in tanning the hides.
Har. What does it do to them?
Tut. I’ll tell you. The hide, when taken from the animal, after being steeped in lime and water to get off the hair and grease, is put to soak in a liquor made by steeping oak-bark in water. This liquor is strongly astringent, or binding, and has the property of converting skin into leather. The change which the hide thus undergoes renders it at the same time less liable to decay, and soft and pliable when dry; for raw skins, by drying, acquire nearly the hardness and consistence of horn. Other things are also tanned for the purpose of preserving them, as fishing-nets and boat-sails. This use of the bark of the oak makes it a very valuable commodity; and you may see people in the woods carefully stripping the oaks when cut down, and piling up the bark in heaps.
Geo. I have seen such heaps of bark, but I thought they were only to burn.
Tut. No; they are much too valuable for that. Well, but I have another use of the oak to mention, and that is in dying.
Har. Dying! I wonder what colour it can die?
Tut. Oak sawdust is a principal ingredient in dying fustians. By various mixtures and management it is made to give them all the different shades of drab and brown. Then, all the parts of the oak, like all other astringent vegetables, produce a dark blue or black by the addition of any preparation of iron. The bark is sometimes used in this way for dying black. And did you never see what the boys call an oak-apple?
Geo. Yes; I have gathered them myself.