o fill the demand. Therefore we import a great many from abroad as well
as from South America. When a shipment arrives the skins are sorted: the
cowhides and those to be tanned in chrome coming here, and the heavy
skins and those to be tanned in oak or hemlock being sent on to Elmwood,
where all the sole leather is made. The hides vary in weight, ranging
from twenty-five to sixty pounds. There are skins of steers, horses,
buffaloes, walrus, bulls, and oxen. The strongest and most perfect ones
are made into belting to run the machinery of factories. Leather for
this purpose, as you can easily see, must be of equal strength in every
part to withstand the great strain put upon it. Some factories turn out
belting and nothing else. Other heavy hides are tanned into sole leather
for harnesses, bags, trunks, and the soles of shoes. Then there are lots
of hides which are not perfect. These are the skins of branded cattle
and steers. You know, of course, that on many of the ranches the stock
is branded so that it can be easily identified in case it is lost. These
branded hides have flaws or thin places in them and are not so valuable
in consequence."

"I can see that," assented Peter. "What is done with such leather?"

"Well, it is usually tanned in oak, or in a blend of oak and hemlock
known as union tan, and is sold for purposes where less strength will be
demanded of it than if it were made into belting."

Peter nodded.

"Oh, there are lots of interesting things to learn about hides. Why, you
wouldn't believe, now would you, that the way the animals live would
make a difference in the weight of their skins? Yet it is so. Cattle
raised in stalls and supplied regularly with good food have far better
hides than those that range the fields and are forced to forage for the
scant rations found there. Wild cattle, on the other hand, have much
tougher hides than do domesticated animals."

"It's curious, isn't it?" replied Peter.

"Yes, it is," the foreman answered. "Two factors always go hand in hand
in the making of a fine leather. One is the quality of the hide itself;
and the other is the way in which it is tanned. For the tanning liquid,
you know, reacts on the fibres of the skin in such a way that the
material becomes tougher, closer grained, and more pliable. Here again
you are back to the importance of the beamhouse processes."

All these items of information Peter and Nat added to their accumulating
fund. Through the l