xture of chemicals
which we buy all prepared; we call those chrome tanned. Others are
soaked in a vegetable tan of hemlock, oak, chestnut, palmetto roots,
gambier, or quebracho."

"Or what?"

"Quebracho!" Jackson rolled out the long word with a gusto. "Quebracho
is a tree something like the lignum-vitae and grows in South America. The
hardened gum comes in barrels and looks like rosin; sometimes, instead
of being hard, it is shipped in a liquid state in big tank cars. There
is about fifteen per cent. of tannin in quebracho and at the tanneries
it can be diluted, of course, to any strength desired. We use it
altogether here instead of using other vegetable tans."

"But it says in my geography that every one uses oak or hemlock bark,"
objected Peter, sceptically.

"Well, the Coddington Company doesn't. Bryant says we tan so much
leather here that there would be no way of disposing of the quantities
of bark left after the tannin had been extracted from it. Besides bark
is scarce and expensive; then, too, it takes a car-load of bark to get
even a decent amount of tannin and the freighting adds to the cost.
Quebracho can be shipped by water and is therefore more economical, and
for the varieties of leather we tan here it answers the purpose as well.
It is lots of work to get the tannin out of oak or hemlock bark. The
bark has to be ground up and put in a leaching-kettle full of water;
after it has boiled the liquid is drained off and the tannin extracted.
Using quebracho is a much simpler method. Of course we use oak and
hemlock bark, though, in the sole leather tanneries over at Elmwood."

Peter regarded Jackson intently.

"How did you come to know so much about all this business?" he asked at
last.

"Oh, I don't know much," was the modest answer. "I just wanted to learn
what I could while I had the chance. You can't help being curious when
you work so long in one room. Bryant saw I was interested and he's
explained all the things I wanted to find out."

"Then maybe you'll pass on some more of your information," laughed
Peter, "and tell me why some of the skins are tanned in quebracho and
some in chrome."

"As I told you," repeated Jackson good-naturedly, "quebracho is a
vegetable tan and chrome a chemical tan. The effect of each of these
processes on the skins is different; so the process used depends on what
sort of leather is wanted. At many tanneries chrome is used almost
entirely for tanning calfskins becau