When the improved bate is to be used for light hides and similar skins which have hitherto been treated with pigeon dung, the skins, after the liming process, are washed in the usual manner, heated to a temperature of about 37° C., and placed in a wheel or paddle containing by preference the improved bate in an acid condition, that is before the ammonia has been added, the bate being previously diluted according to the amounts of liming the skins have undergone. The skins are then paddled until the tanner, by the feel, judges that the whole of the lime has been removed. The acid bate is then neutralized by ammonia, with or without removing the skins, and the paddling is continued until the bating process is completed, this being judged of by the feel of the skins. The bated skins are then scudded, washed, and treated in the usual manner. The strength of the bate, into which the skins are placed for both methods, is varied according to the amount of liming the skins have undergone; that is to say, for “high” limed skins, a stronger bate is required than for skins which have been subjected to a moderate liming. _Claim._--1. A bate having the essential properties of a natural dung bate, but prepared according to scientific methods from the means and in the manner substantially as set forth in the accompanying specification. 2. The bate described and set forth in the accompanying specification. *Wood’s American Patent* (638,828, _Dec. 12, 1899_) *Bate.*--This invention has reference to improvements in and relating to the means, liquid, or bate, used for the bating or puering of skins previous to the process of tanning the same. At the present time, skins are usually bated by means of a liquid or bate prepared from dog or pigeon dung; and, although the bating action or actions have not hitherto been thoroughly understood, it is a well-known fact that fermentations which the dung undergoes play an essential part. It was also pointed out, by H. E. Procter in 1885, in his “Text Book of Tanning,” that the action of the bate was in a great measure due to bacteria. It is also a known fact to practical tanners that a dung bate properly applied produces the finest and most supple leather. Owing, however, to the varying compositions of the dung used, the bate made therefrom possesses varying properties: its bating action is uncertain, its properties are readily affected by atmospheric influences, and the skins treated are liable to putrefaction. As a substitute for a dung bate, it has been proposed, as set forth in the specification of the British Patent No. 21,720, A.D. 1895, and the specification of the German Patent No. 86,335, Class 28, to use a bate made from a pure culture of bacteria. Such bate, however, does not possess all the essential properties of a dung bate, and, although bacterial action is necessary, such action alone is not sufficient, as was pointed out by me in 1894 in the “Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry.”