Where hides or skins cannot be used at once in the fresh state, there is probably no better method of preserving them than the use of salt. Although salt is not fatal to bacteria, it so slows bacterial growth, partly by its direct antiseptic effect on many organisms, and partly by withdrawing water from the skin, that well-salted skins can be kept in good condition for almost an unlimited time. Where it is only required to preserve goods for a week or two, a moderate sprinkling on the flesh side is efficient, but if they are to be preserved for any length of time, more thorough treatment is necessary. It is said that however carefully hides are salted they deteriorate if kept in this condition above twelve months. The method of salting employed in the Chicago stockyards for “packer” hides may be taken as a good type of a thorough salting. The hides are first trimmed from useless “switches,” and any large portions of adhering fat are removed. The curing takes place in large and cool cellars, with concrete floors. The detail is well given in the following extract from the ‘Shoe and Leather Reporter’:-- “Great care is taken to make the sides of a pack higher than the middle, so that the brine which is made by the juices of the hide coming in contact with the salt will be retained. The brine can only escape by percolation and hence the fibre of the hides is thoroughly cured. The floor of a hide cellar is usually of concrete, and a pack is from 15 to 20 feet long and as wide as the space between the posts which support the floor above. The sides of a pack are built first to a height of from 4 to 6 inches; the cross layers are then put on, generally three on each side, two being inside and one having the butts drawn out to the edge. In a pack 20 feet long, the side layers will contain about 25 medium-sized hides each, and a cross-layer 12 or 14. To begin a pack a truck-load of hides is run along to the front of the place selected, one spreader grasps the butt and his partner the head of a hide, and together they carry it to what is to be the rear of the bed. The hide is then dropped, so that the folded back is parallel to and from 15 to 20 inches from the inside line of the posts, the head a trifle closer than the butt. The front man takes the dewlap and front shank in his left hand, and extends his right along the belly of the hide as far as is necessary to raise the edge, the rear man holding the flank with one hand and the hind shank with the other. They keep their legs well out of the way of the salt thrower, who with a single throw covers the whole hide, being particular that enough salt strikes against the edges held by the men to make a pronounced ridge when they are lapped down. A little salt is thrown on the hair surface and the butt folded over about a foot. The folded edge is then drawn out even with the outer line of the pack. More hides are placed the same way until the corner is high enough.