On the Continent weights are usually given in pounds of half a kilogramme (50 kilos = 110 lb. English). In Paris the marking is on the tail, and is also shown on Fig. 6. [Illustration: FIG. 6.--Method of marking weight on hides; 97 lb.] Sheep-skins are not usually bought direct by the tanner, but by the fellmonger, who removes the wool; and as this is usually of much greater value than the skin, the latter is frequently handled very carelessly, and its quality sacrificed for the sake of real or fancied improvement to the wool. In very many cases the skin is “sweated” or “staled” by hanging in a warm and moist chamber, heavily charged with ammonia derived from the putrefaction of the skin, until the wool is sufficiently loosened to be “pulled.” If this treatment is conducted with extreme care the skin may escape serious injury, but in most cases the grain is weakened, and the foundation is laid of damage, which makes itself felt throughout the tanning process. For the purposes of the tanner, a much better way is to lime the skins by painting with thick limewash on the flesh-side, and after folding the skins down the back, flesh-side in, to prevent as much as possible the access of the lime to the wool, to place them in a pit, and cover them with water, till the wool is loosened by the penetration of the lime through the skin. A still more satisfactory method, and one which is in general use in the American stockyards, and to some extent also in Europe, is to wash the skins in water to free them from blood and dirt, and then, laying them in a wet condition, flesh side up, to paint them with a solution containing about 25 per cent. of sulphide of sodium, thickened with lime. The skins, as they are painted, are doubled down the back, flesh-side in, and laid on a floor, overlapping each other like tiles on a roof, for some hours, or overnight, till the wool is sufficiently loosened to pull, after which the pelts are limed and treated in the ordinary way. As a general rule the English fellmonger keeps his skins in lime till they are sold to the tanner, and as in small yards some time is taken to accumulate a parcel, the earlier skins may suffer great injury from overliming. Even sweet fresh limes dissolve the cementing substance of the fibre, and increase the naturally loose texture of the sheep-skin, but the injury is much more considerable when old and stale limes, charged with ammonia and bacterial products, are employed, as is frequently the case. In the American stockyards the skins are generally limed only for the necessary time to act upon the grease, and to swell and differentiate the fibres, and are then at once puered, drenched and preserved by “pickling.” For details of “pickling” see p. 89. It is very probable that the Pullman process of liming (p. 137) would answer well for fellmongered skins, as goods will keep for a considerable length of time uninjured after treatment with calcium chloride.