OCR Text |
Show The World'! leather. Neat cattle f urnishhides for more than half the world's leather. Next to them come goats, and after them the East Indian In-dian buffalo and the sheep. Horse hides are inconsiderable in amount and of low value. Pig skin used for saddles is in limited demand and supply. Dog skin and rat skin for gloves are mere items of account, not at all equal to the kangaroo skin, which has quite superseded some grades of calf, while deer hides furnish glove leather, as well as that for a variety va-riety of other needs. In 1886, New York imported from all sources about $7,500,-00 $7,500,-00 worth of leather. In 1889 the amount fell to a little over $6,0i0,000. The home supply of hides is far below the demand, in spite of all the cattle upon our 10,000 western hills, not to mention the plains of Texas or the ranches of New Mexico. Mexico herself sends us many hides, both of steer and goat. Indeed, she ranks next to South America, from whence comes two-thirds of our importations. The heaviest, consequently con-sequently the best, ox hides come from Buenos Ayres. They weigh over twenty pounds each, and fetch sixteen cents per pound. Big fortunes have come out of making "flint" hides, that is, purchasing the hides from the plainsmen, soaking them for weeks in saturated salt water, then dyeing and selling them. The ad-i ad-i vance in price is nominal, but each hide takes up ten pounds or so of salt, and this yields a bjg profit besides cost and carriage. Chicago Inter Ocean. |