=Leather Yields.=--While it is advisable to have hides carry as much moisture as is acceptable to the buyer, it is not profitable to have them too wet, as the buyers watch such matters and if a lot of hides from a certain house do not show the yield in leather which they should, purchases made after that from such a house are made proportionate to the yield, hence the additional weight that may be gained is more than lost in the price realized. There is a happy medium to be sought in this matter where the seller gets all that he is entitled to and the buyer is satisfied with the yield he obtains. =Pattern.=--The diagram, Fig. 52, shows the pattern of a packing house hide and, as nearly as can be indicated on paper, it shows the part removed by each workman. =Proper Storage for Hides.=--This is a point usually not given due consideration, some packers reasoning that as long as their hides are in a building, little else is to be considered. The following figures which are accurate, will give the reader an idea of the loss that lack of attention in this particular matter may represent. It will be noted that the test extends over a period of one year, representing a test on a total of 198,341 hides. A total of 87,587 hides were cured in house _No. 1_, which consists of a cellar under refrigerated rooms. While no attempt was made to refrigerate this room there was a natural radiation to the floor above which held the temperature at from 55° to 60° F. in hot weather. There were but two openings in the cellar and naturally little circulation of air, hence the moisture of the cellar was retained and the hides show a shrinkage of 14.74 per cent from the green weight on bed to shipping weight. SHRINKAGE OF HIDES FOR YEAR ENDING AUG. 1, 1903, IN HOUSE NO. 1. =================+======+=========+=========+=========+======= | | | | |Shrink- | | | | Shrink- | age, | | Green | Cured | age, | per Kind |Number| weight | weight | lbs. | cent -----------------+------+---------+---------+---------+------- Free of brands |41,870|3,328,133|2,842,542| 485,591| 15.59 Butt brands | 6,087| 507,684| 432,722| 74,962| 14.77 Side brands |13,190|1,078,959| 927,835| 151,124| 14.06 Spreadies | 2,376| 215,676| 190,286| 25,390| 11.79 Texas |11,285| 871,573| 731,165| 140,408| 16.11 H’y native cows | 8,029| 592,338| 500,935| 91,403| 15.43 Light native cows| 2,759| 150,995| 127,108| 23,887| 15.82 Branded cows | 1,991| 128,269| 107,563| 20,706| 16.14 -----------------+------+---------+---------+---------+------- Totals |87,587|6,873,627|5,860,156|1,013,471| 14.74 -----------------+------+---------+---------+---------+------- SHRINKAGE OF HIDES FOR YEAR ENDING AUG. 1, 1903, IN HOUSE NO. 2.