Sources and Qualities of Hides and Skins.—The hides used in heavy leather manufacture may be divided into three classes: (1) ox and heifer, (2) cow, (3) bull. Oxen and heifer hides produce the best results, forming a Heavy leathers. tough, tight, solid leather. Cow hides are thin, the hide itself being fibrous, but still compact, and by reason of its spread or area is used chiefly for dressing purposes in the bag and portmanteau manufacture and work of a similar description. Bull hides are fibrous; they are largely used for heel lifts, and for cheap belting, the thicker hides being used in the iron and steel industry.
A second classification now presents itself, viz. the British home supply, continental (Europe), British colonial, South American, East Indian, Chinese, &c.
In the British home supply there are three chief breeds: (1) Shorthorns (Scotch breed), (2) Herefords (Midland breed), (3) Lowland, or Dutch class. From a tanner’s standpoint, the shorthorns are the best hides procurable. The cattle are exposed to a variable climate in the mountainous districts of Scotland, and nature, adapting herself to circumstances, provides them with a thicker and more compact hide; they are well grown, have short necks and small heads. The Hereford class are probably the best English hide; they likewise have small heads and horns, and produce good solid sole leather. The Lowland hides come chiefly from Suffolk, Kent and Surrey; the animals have long legs, long necks and big heads. The hides are usually thin and spready. The hides of the animals killed for the Christmas season are poor. The animals being stall-fed for the beef, the hides become distended, thin and surcharged with fat, which renders them unsuitable for first-class work.
The continental supply may be divided into two classes: (1) Hides from hilly regions, (2) hides from lowlands. All animals subject to strong winds and a wide range of temperatures have a very strong hide, and for this reason those bred in hilly and mountainous districts are best. The hides coming under heading No. 1 are of this class, and include those from the Swiss and Italian Alps, Bavarian Highlands and Pyrenees, also Florence, Oporto and Lisbon hides. They are magnificent hides, thick, tightly-built, and of smooth grain. The butt is long and the legs short. A serious defect in some of these hides is a thick place on the neck caused by the yoke; this part of the hide is absolute waste. Another defect, specially noticeable in Lisbon and Oporto hides, is goad marks on the rump, barbed wire scratches and warbles, caused by the gadfly. Those hides coming under heading No. 2 are Dutch, Rhine valley, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Hungarian, &c. The first three hides are very similar; they are spready, poorly grown, and are best used for bag and portmanteau work. Hungarian oxen are immense animals, and supply a very heavy bend. Swedish and Norwegian hides are evenly grown and of good texture; they are well flayed, and used a great deal for manufacturing picker bands, which require an even leather.
New Zealand, Australian and Queensland hides resemble good English. A small quantity of Canadian steers are imported; these are generally branded.
Chinese hides are exported dry, and they have generally suffered more or less from peptonization in the storing and drying; this cannot be detected until they are in the pits, when they fall to pieces.
Anglos are imported as live-stock, and are killed within forty-eight hours. They come to Hull, Birkenhead, Avonmouth and Deptford from various American ports, and usually give a flatter result than English, the general quality depending largely on whether the ship has had a good voyage or not.
Among South American hides, Liebig’s slaughter supply the best; they are thoroughly clean and carefully trimmed and flayed. They come to London, Antwerp and Havre, and except for being branded are of first-class quality. Second to the Liebig slaughter come the Uruguay hides.
East Indian hides are known as kips, and are supposed to be, and should be, the hides of yearling cattle. They are now dressed to a large extent in imitation of box calf, being much cheaper. They come from a small breed of ox, and have an extremely tight grain; the leather is not so soft as calf.
Calf-skins are largely supplied by the continent. They are soft and pliant, and have a characteristically fine grain, are tight in texture and quite apart from any other kind of skin.