St. Landry democrat., 1879-05-17
WINTER FURS.

WINTER + URS.
Such an are UHed for Trim ming ladies
Cloaks.
Frank. Buckland, in Land and Water.
gives information as to whence the skins
used fox lining ladies' cloaks are derived.
Fur.l lined cloaks are now quite abundant
and fashionable. The skins used as Innings
are OF various kinds. The commonest
OF all is white rabbits; these are not En-
glish, but imported from LISA, in 20,
land, where they are dressed by the fur
riers, and manufactured into Innings for
cloaks. 1t is not certain whether these
skins are from wild or tame rabbits.
As many thousand skins are annually
used, it is very probable, that they are
domestic rabbits bred for the purpose.
Beside rabbit skins, many cloaks are
lined with what are called squirrel bel
lies" These are literally bellies ofsquir>
rels. These animals are skinned in
peculiar manner so as to make the most
of the fur. The squirrels used for this
purpose are of various kinds and prices.
The most expensive squirrel is the
Siberian squirrel. The general color OF
this is blue, some dark blue the dark
blue are the most valuable, particularly
it it is void of the red stripe down the
back. These squirrels are killed by
thousands in Siberia they are mostly
| shot with small bullet. Those from
Sweden and Norway are caught, in traps,
probably pitfalls baited with food ; they
are also intercepted when in the act of
migrating. The Swedish squirrels are
very large. Some of the squirrel skins
are of a red color; these are the same
zquirrels in the summer dress. Squirrels
are also imported in large numbers, es-
pecislly from kasan, in Russia, but
they are rather inferior to other sorts.
There are various modes Of dressing
squirrel skins. The Russian Fskins are
picked in ealt, and in consequence are
apt to feel damp in wet weather. They
do very we'll in Russia, as the weather
there is always dry. In this country
the skins are dressed with butter or
lard, and it is a remarkable thing that
the Russian furriers can not use butter"
dressed skins, because in Russia the
skins thus prepared became quite hard
in cold weather. For years past the
trade of dressing squirrel skins has had
its headquarters in saxony, principally
at the town Of WeisenteIs.
Leipsic is celebrated for its fur mar
ket, especially at Easter, when the great
fair takes place. From Leipsic furs are
sent to China, Russia, Turkey, Greece
etc.--in fact, all over the world. Large
numbers of common wild rabbit skins and
silver grays are exported from England
for use in Russia; Cats are now largely
cultivated in Holland, especially fol
their skins. The fur of the Dutch cal
is very long and soft as compared to the
English cat. the fur of which is hard
and wiry. There is some secrecy as to
how the cats in Holland are fed; it is
possible that they are fed on fish. The
best Dutch cats are black. A good Skin
of Jet black color is worth half a guinea
The Dutch cat killers have most pc
culiar and clever way of killing thei,
cats. 1t is fallscy to suppose that cats
are skinned alive. In the frst place, tc
skin a cat when alive would be utterly
impossible; and secondly,it does not make
any difference in the quality of the skin
The origin of the fallaey is probably that
q cat is easier skinned Immediately after
death than ifallowed to become rigid. 1t il
very remarkable how fashions Set by En-
glish ladies influence wild and tame AMI
mails even in the most distant parts
of the world. It is fortunate that Ia
dies have made cats fashionable, as 81
last some use is found for these animals
which, being untsxed, ale so abundant
that any night and In any weather cats
/ many of them half starvei-swarm in
the london streets, and the poorer the
neighborhood the more abundant are the
cats.