ken from hides of the very best description,
perfectly free from flesh-cuts, warble-holes, or any other blemish,
and stuffed as high as possible.[M] Not more than four breadths are
taken from each hide, and none of the soft parts about the neck,
shoulders, or belly are used. No piece of leather is less than four
feet long.

The leather is gauged to the exact breadth, and holes punched in it
for the rivets. In the operation of punching, great care must be taken
to make the holes on each side of the leather exactly opposite to each
other. If this precaution be not attended to, the seam when riveted
takes a spiral direction on the hose, which the heads of the rivets
are very apt to cut at the folds. Care must also be taken that the
leather is equally stretched on both sides, otherwise the number of
holes on the opposite sides may be unequal. The ends are then cut at
an angle of thirty-seven degrees; if cut at a greater angle, the
cross-joint will be too short, and if at a smaller, the leather will
be wasted. This must, however, be regulated in some degree by the
number of holes in the cross-joint, as the angle must be altered a
little if the holes at that part do not fit exactly with the holes
along the side.

The different pieces of leather necessary to form one length, or forty
feet of hose, are riveted together by the ends.

Straps of leather, three inches broad, are then riveted across the
pipe, ten feet apart, to form loops for the purpose of handing or
making fast the hose when full of water. The leather is then laid
along a bench, and a bar of iron, from eight to ten feet long, three
inches broad, and one inch thick, with the corners rounded off, is
laid above it. The rivets are next put into the holes on one side of
the leather, along the whole length of the iron bar. The holes on the
other side are then brought over them, and the washers put on the
points of the rivets, and struck down with a hollow punch. The points
of the rivets are then riveted down over the washers, and finished
with a setting punch. The bar of iron is drawn along, and the same
operation repeated till the length of the hose be finished.

The rivets and washers should be made of the best wrought copper, and
must be well tinned before being used.

Some objections have been made to riveted hose on account of the
alleged difficulty of repairing them; but this is not so serious a
matter as may at first view appear. Indeed, they very seldom re