C ON THE FURRIER*s TRADE.

For the Commercial and Agricultural Magazine. MR. EDITOR. T OFFER you the following account of the Furrying Buſi-

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neſs, partly from Cit. Monge, part from my own obſer- Vatios, and a ſmall part from the Encyclopœdias; this bulincls being‘equally incorredly ftated in thoſe that have noticed the ſubjet. The ſkins of the beaver, hare, and TADDI COV ecod With two kinds of hair, the one long, fi, gloſly, and rather thin ſet; the other ſhort, chick and ſoft, which alone is uſed in hats; to tear off the long hair from the beaver and rabbie ſkinsz the people employed, make uſe of a knife like thoſe the ſhoe. makers uſe; and, to cut of the fine, a ſmaller one, nat unlike a vine knife; for hare ſkins, the ſtrong hair is cut of with a pair of ſmall ſhears— many who are ſtrangers to this buſineſs,(ay, why are not the ſkins ſoftened"with water: as lamb{king are, to get the wool from them, and the uf puiled, as ikinners do the lamb wool? The reaſon appears to be, that‘the bulb or root of the hair, which renders the end that was fixèd- in the ſkin, thick or obtuſe, would, conſequently, be leſs diſpoſed to introduce itſelf amongſt the contiguous hair, and to contribute, by its progreſſive motion, in ſettling to the contexture of. the maſs.

After the ſkin is opened, and the ſtrong hair taken OLA certain number, ſay for example,‘a dozen, are laid únder a heavy weight to flatten them. for twenty-four hours; after which, they are cut by the above mentioned knife, croſlng the ſkin‘in parallel lines àt about the one ſixteenth pari. of an inch diſtance from each other; after being cut of, it ig< locked,” i. e. mnade up into ſmall balls,—it- is then ready for the hat- maker. As the Furrying Buſineß is at preſent conduéted, it might be a proper object for introduGion into the Houſes of Induſtry already eſtabliſhed in this kingdom.- I wonder, that acive aſliſtant at thé Shrewſbury houſe, Mr. Wood, has not already adopted it: Forcings(that is the pullines of the rabbits? ſkins, and the ſhearings of the hare ſkins) are ſold to ſuff com- mon beds with, and the pelts are boug t by the glue makers 5 ſo that in this buſineſs,< nothing,” literally ſpeaking, CC iS Jo.

The mode pradiſed by the London glue-maker, many in this part of the country would wiſh to ſze Aaccut ately diſplayed, Can any of your correſpondents inform me, if there are any en- gines for cutting ſkins for the furriers? or any for drefling flax? 1 ſhould think,‘that Mr. Cartwright?s machine for combing wool, might, with a little Variation, effe&t that purpoſe.‘It Would give me peculiar pleaſure to ſez any of thoſe manufaQures

ALSA