any branch of business requires for its successful conduct a greater degree of judgment and experience; and in few arts have there been greater improvements.

The following table is annexed, presenting some facts which may be of general interest:

NOTE. Column 1 shows the number of days' work in the beam-house; 2, number of sides worked in; 3, average per man per day; 4, number of days' work grinding bark and tanning; 5, average per man per day; 6, number of leaches; 7, cords of bark used, at nine cords per leach; 8, leather tanned out (sides); 9, do. do. do. (pounds).

The labor in the loft, and peeling bark, during the above five years, was 8820 days. One man will work through the beamhouse, in one year, 6260 sides. One man will tan and finish 2228 sides. One cord of bark tans 196 pounds.

The question has been frequently asked me, how long does it take to tan sole-leather? I answer, from four to six months, according to the strength of the liquor, and number of sides in the vats; and the quicker tanned, the better. I would here remark that several considerations must be noticed, in order to meet the questions understandingly; and

1st. I should say that the weight of the hides, every one knows, if heavy, requires more time than if comparatively light.

2d. If the hides are fresh, they are capable of being properly softened; and if so, the process of tanning may be completed much sooner than in the case of old and hard hides, that cannot be softened with the same facility.

3d. If the hides have sufficient room in the vats, so as not to lay crowded, they will tan much faster.

4th. As the tanning advances, the liquor should be renewed seasonably, and its strength increased in a ratio proportionate to each stage of tanning.

5th. The question, is the leather to be tanned so as to barely pass in market, or to be well prepared so as to make firm and solid leather, involves a consideration of much importance.

It would be easy to extend this communication, but I will not tire your patience with unnecessary details. Desirous of contributing my mite to the industrial occupations of life, I have thrown together, in my plain matter-of-fact manner, only such facts and figures as it appeared to me would be of service to my brother mechanics; and if they prove so, I shall feel amply rewarded for the preparation of the trifling contribution thus made to the general stock of knowledge—as the design of life is to be USEFUL.

With great respect,

I have the honor to be

Yours, truly,

Z. PRATT.

DESCRIPTION OF LEATHER SENT TO THE

WORLD'S FAIR, LONDON, 1851.

1. PRATTSVILLE TANNERY.-Three sides sole-leather, weight sixty-seven pounds; sweat and tanned from dry Buenos Ayres hides, with hemlock bark, in four months and twenty-two days. Gain in weight, seventy-two per cent.

2. WINDHAM TANNERY.-Three sides sole-leather, weight fifty-one and a half pounds; sweat and tanned from English salted slaughter hides, with hemlock bark, in four months and twenty-five days. Gain in weight, fifty-seven per cent.

3. WINDHAM TANNERY.-Three sides sole-leather, seventynine pounds; tanned from dry Laguira hides, with hemlock bark, in six months. Gain, seventy-three per cent.

4. BIG-HOLLOW TANNERY.-Three sides sole-leather, weight fifty and one-fourth pounds; sweat and tanned from Rio Grandé hides, with hemlock bark, in five months and two days. Gain in weight, sixty-three per cent.

5. ALDENVILLE TANNERY.-Three sides sole-leather, weight seventy-two and three-fourths pounds; tanned from Buenos Ayres hides, with hemlock bark, in five and one-half months. Gain in weight, sixty-two per cent.

6. SAMSONVILLE TANNERY.-Three sides sole-leather, weight sixty-two and one-half pounds; tanned from native slaughter hides, with oak bark, in four months and twenty-seven days. Gain in weight, fifty-eight per cent.

7. SAMSONVILLE TANNERY.-Three sides sole-leather, weight fifty and three-fourths pounds; tanned from dry Buenos Ayres hides, with hemlock bark, in four months and three days. Gain in weight, sixty-four per cent.

8. SAMSONVILLE TANNERY.-Three butts, weight eighty-nine and one-fourth pounds; tanned from New York city salted slaughter hides, with oak and hemlock bark, in five months and twenty-six days.

9. SAMPLES OF HEMLOCK BARK. —- Used in tanning sole-leather at the tanneries of Zadock Pratt. The bark was peeled in the months of May and June, and weighs, when dry, about two thousand two hundred pounds per cord. A cord of the bark will tan from one hundred and ninety to two hundred pounds of leather.

LETTER RESPECTING A NEW BREED OF

CATTLE.

PRATTSVILLE, April 2, 1849. B. P. JOHNSON, Esq., Sec'y N. Y. State Agricultural Society. DEAR SIR: While passing through Virginia to the South, I had my attention (through the courtesy of his excellency, Governor McDowell), called to a new breed of cattle, which was brought to this country by Lieut. Lynch, to whom was intrusted the Dead Sea Expedition. They were obtained near the Red Sea, by Lieut. Lynch, and he presented them to Hon. Mr. Mason, Secretary of the Navy, who forwarded them to the Governor of Virginia, for the benefit of the agriculturalists of that state. They are ten and twelve months old, a bull and heifer. In color, a dark, brownish red, with coarse hair. At first view, at a distance, they resembled the elk. Heads small; have something of the appearance of the Mooly breed, though there is the appearance of horns, perhaps about an inch in length. They are very tall and gaunt, seem well formed for travelling, legs very straight, and much darker than the body. The largest — the bull-stands about five feet high, and more lengthy, in proportion, than our common cattle, and much smaller limbs, with round bodies. Although they have had of a tendency to lay on

the best of keeping, they show no signs

flesh, and are certainly, in appearance, a different kind of cattle from any of our breeds; and it is hardly probable, I should think, that they can improve our stock.

I have seen the cattle of different portions of this country: the small cattle of Georgia; the long-legged and long-horned breed of Mississippi, as well as those of the Western and Northern States; and the improved Short-horns, Devons, Herefords, Ayrshire, &c.,