Oak Extracts—Are well liked, both wood and bark, and are used extensively. Slavonia furnishes a great deal of it.
Chestnut Oak Wood Extract—Is manufactured in quantities, and easily finds purchasers.
Pine Bark Extract—Is also consumed in goodly amounts.
Quebracho Wood Extract.—The wood is shipped from Brazil to Hamburg and other ports, and the tannin extracted there. Hamburg furnishes quantities of it.
Hemlock Extract—Is used in Russia, and seems to have taken a hold on the shoe buyers' fancies, as they now make imitations of it in color. The hemlock that is consumed is imported from America.
As most leather is sold by weight in Europe, the leather manufacturers aim to obtain as good weight results as possible, and often, I am sorry to say, do so at the sacrifice of quality. This is common to both upper and sole leather. Sole leather is nine times out of ten given false weight by forcing entirely foreign substances into the leather, such as glucose, barium chloride, magnesium chloride, resins, etc. Glucose and resin are also used for weighting upper leather. Leather is also weighted with extracts by overtanning. Leather buyers have become very wary of late and do not purchase large quantities before an analysis is made of a fair sample.
One more word before I close. The governments and private individuals in Europe cultivate and raise trees for both lumber and bark purposes. The forests are excellently cared for by efficient foresters, and the result is that the tanners obtain much cleaner and better bark, and of a very even quality. Would it not be a good idea if some individual, who would certainly earn the everlasting gratefulness of the tanners, would look into this matter, and see that not only the lumber side of our forest cultivation is not neglected, but that the bark also is preserved and cared for? Of course, we can obtain all the bark necessary at present and for some time to come, but the time will come when we shall certainly regret not having taken these steps, if the lumbermen and bark peelers go on devastating magnificent forests. Below will be found a table of weight results. Sole leather tanned with these materials gives for every 100 lb. green hide the following quantities of finished leather:
| lb. | |
| Oak bark | 48 to 54 |
| Oak extract | 55 to 56 |
| Pine bark | 44 to 46 |
| Pine extract | 48 to 50 |
| Willow | 45 to 46 |
| Birch bark and oak extract | 49 to 51 |
| Quebracho wood and extract | 48 to 49 |
| Valonia | 52 to 56 |
| Knoppern | 51 to 53 |
| Myrabolams | 50 |
| Knoppern, myrabolams and valonia | 52 to 53 |
| Hemloc | 55 |
Specification of tanning materials used in different countries:
France. Oak bark (kirmess).
Sumac.
Chestnut wood extract.
Quebracho " "
Some gambier.
Italy. Oak bark.
Pine "
Sumac.
Valonia.
England. Oak bark.
Divi divi.
Myrabolams.
Valonia.
Mimosa.
Extracts { Oak bark and wood hemlock.
Gambier.
Cutch.
Germany and Austria. Oak bark.
Pine "
Willow bark.
Valonia.
Knoppern.
Myrabolams.
{ Oak bark and wood.
Extracts { Pine bark and wood.
Russia. Birch bark.
Willow "
Oak "
Pine "
Hemlock extract.
Norway and Sweden. Birch bark.
Willow "
Oak "