FUR AND FURRIERY. The skins of animals, having hair or fur as a coating, have been used in Europe as an article of clothing for many centuries. Since Xuropean countries, however, have become more and more cleared and inhabited, fur-bearing ani mals have nearly disappeared; and the supply is now chiefly obtained from other regions, especially North America.
All the chief fur-bearing animals will be found described under their proper head ings: we shall do little more here than barely enumerate them. Ermine fur is of a pore white, except the tip of the tail, which is blagk. The spotted appearance of this fur is not natural; it is produced by sewing the black tail-tips on the white fur at cer tain spots. Stoat fur is a kind of inferior ermine. Sable fur, obtained chiefly from northern Russia and Siberia. is valued in proportion to the darkness of its color. Marten fur, especially that of a rich dark-brown olive color, is much sought for. fur, brought chiefly from the north-eastern part of Asia. is admired both for its brilliant fiery color and for its fineness. fur, differing in some particulars from the kind just named, is much sought after by the Chinese for trimmings, linings, and robes. fur has a peculiar lustrous silver-gray color. - Nutria fur, belonging to the animal called the coypou, is brought largely from South America, chiefly as a chief Sub stitute for beaver. Bea-dttel! fti• has been kia0Wia iti tt"century and a half; being obtained from the otters which frequent the seas washing the Asiatic shores of the Russian dominions; it varies from It beautiful brown to jet-black, and is very fine. soft, and glossy. &al fur is obtained from the seals frequenting various coasts, chiefly iu the Southern ocean. Beaver fur was once much in request for the manufacture of bats; but the growing scarcity of the animal, and the substitution of silk hats for beaver i hats, has lessened its importance. The fur of various other animals is similarly valued, either for its warmth or its beauty; such as that of the bear, raccoon, badger, ininx, lynx, musquash or rabbit, bare, squirrel, and Mine/cilia.
For manufacturing purposes, furs are classified into felled and dressed. Felted furs, such as beaver, nutria, hare, and rabbit, are used for hats and other felted fabrics, in which the hairs or filaments are made so to interlace or entangle as to form a very strong and close plexus. The quality of the fur is better when the skin is taken from the animal in winter than in any other season, giving rise to the distinction between " seasoned " and " unseasoned "skins. The removal of the fur from the pelt is a neces-` sary preliminary to the preparation of fur for felting purposes. in many kinds of skin, such as that of the hare, the fur is of two kinds—a close short layer of felting fur • next the pelt, and longer outer hairs of unfelting fur. The removal of these two is effected separately. The long hairs are cut off by a kind of shears; and the true fur is then removed by the action of a knife, bearing some resemblance to a cheese-cutter, requiring much care in its management. In some sorts of skin, the long hairs are
removed by pulling instead of shearing; in others, the greasiness of the pelt renders necessary a cleansing process before the shearing can be conducted, with the aid of soap and boiling water; and in others, both pelt and fur are so full of grease as to require many repetitions of cleansing. For beaver skins, a machine of very beautiful construc tion is employed in cutting the fur from the pelt.. When the coarse hairs have been removed to form a stuffing for cushions, the skin is placed in a machine containing a broad keen blade equal in length to the width of the skin. This blade has a peculiar reciprocating movement given to it, producing a kind of chopping effect on any sub stance to which it is applied, by coming nearly in contact with another blade placed parallel with it. The skin is guided between rollers into the space between the two blades; and then the action of the upper blade crops off the fur from the pelt in a very complete manner—every particle being removed, and yet the pelt is not cut. The fur falls upon an endless apron, which carries it to a chest, or trunk, containing a blowing machine; this machine separates the fur into three or four qualities, by blowing to the furthest distance the lightest and most valuable filaments, leaving the heavier and coarser to be deposited sooner.
Furs have their felting property sometimes increased by the process of carroting, in which the action of heat is combined with that of sulphuric acid. The chief employ ment of felted furs is described under HAT 31AINUFACTURE.
Dressed furs are those to which the art of the furrier is applied for making muffs, boas. and fur-trimmings to garments. The fur is not separated from the pelt for these purposes; the two are used together; and the pelt is converted into a kind of leather to fit it for being so employed. The fur-hunters. always exercise great care in dyeing the skins after removing them from the animals, seeing that any putrefactive action would ruin the fur. When brought to England, the skins undergo certain cleansing processes. They are steeped and scoured in a bath of 'bran, alum, and salt, to remove greasiness from the pelt; and then in a bath of soap and soda, to remove oiliness from the fur. When thoroughly washed and dried, it. is found that the pelt, by the action of the alum, has been converted into a kind of towed or kid leather.
When the skins are cleansed and dried, they are made up into garments and trimmings by sewing through the pelt. The skins, however, are very irregular in shape, and often differ much in color in different parts; they require to be cut up into pieces, matched according to tint, and sewn together edge to edge. This ' requires much skill, especially where the furs arc of a valuable sort.. A fur gar ment or trimming, appearing to the eye as if it were one uniform piece, is tints gen erally made up of many curiously shaped pieces. The shaping for use, and the lin ing with silk and other materials, call for no description.—The great source of furs is the Hudson's Bay territory (q.v.).