The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1871-09-14
Facts About Furs-The Process OF
Manufacturing-S About
The EulI STYLES.

From the New York start
The capital embarked in the fancy
fur trade in this city is immense, New
York manufacturers not only meeting
the local demand, but selling their
goods very largely to firms both East
and West. As skins are sent to mar
ket they have generally been merely
dried in the sun or before fire, having
been first stepped in solution Of alum.
This is necessary in order to keep them
from moulding when packed for trans,
port. The fur manufacturer does not
dress his own skins, as this process,
besides being very dirty work, requires
abundant space. The skins are placed
in tubs, together with rancid butter, and
trampled upon by the feet OF men.
This soitcns them and renders them
perfectly pliable. The inner sides are
then rubbed with strips OF iron in order
to remove the loose bits of integument,
and they are next trampled with mix
ture OF sawdust, mahogany being pre-
ferred, which process removes the grease
Finally they are subjected to a beating
and combing. They are now ready to
he cut up into things OF beauty, IT not
things of JOY forever-to the ladies.
A fur cutter can never have too much
experience.
CUTTING REQUIRES GREAT SKILL,
and great care, also excellent judgment,
for the skins are never made up nat
urally, but from a great number OF
skins parts OF the same shade are Sc
lected so that each article shall present
a uniform color. In other cases the
article is required to be striped, and to
continue in stripes without wasting the
valuable material is no easy matter.
Russia sable sets are now made up OF
sable tails cut up in narrow strips and
sewed between braid, which can be seen
by blowing the fur The writer was
shown a mutt in sixty pieces, the price
of which was 500. Many ladies i'm
agine that the mufls they buy are in
one entire piece, but only the common.
est fur, which is not worth botherlng
with, is ever made up in that way, with
the exception OF those which are dyed.
Dyeing greatly improves the appearance
of the commoner grades OF fur, and, the
manufacturers assert, has no injurious
etfect-a dyed set lasting as long as the
undyed.
THE DYEING
is done with brushes, and is very nice
piece of work, as only the edges OF the
fur must be touched.
The sewing is all done by women
Only the Innings of the collars and
sacks are quilted on the machine, all
the rest being hand-work. In most in
stances the pay is by the piece, and 1t
varies greatly, some women making ex'
ceIlent wages, while others have to be
content with five dollars a week, and
even less.
SOMETHING ABOUT STYLES.
With regard to STYLES, the principal
novelty is the gored sack, "a to 80
inches long, and made with and with,
ont reusrs. The plain sack will also be
worn, but it is not nearly so graceful,
These are made principally in seslskin
and Astrakhan. The sealskin sacks
will sell at retail from SIS to 1925; the
Astrakhan, from so to 10. White
conev sacks are being made up very
largely for children's wear. Mink Is
being made up into the favorlte boas'
which has held sway for several years.
A mink boa and muff can be bought as
low as SIS, but the finer grades bring
s75 to Sl25. The imitation mink Is
made our of muskrat skins. The dyed
sets sell as high as 81, and
the common undyed sets at s.. There
is a cheap black Astrakhan which will
sell as low as s. to SO. Black marten
is likely to be a favorite with those
whose purses permit them to 60 little
higher. Very pretty sets will retail at
SIS. However, for young ladies there
is nothing so pretty as real ermlne. a
boa and muff, or q collar, if preferred,
sell from $50 to $685. Of course there
are more costly sets for those who can
White nnday.