CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO 



'RAT RANCHING 



m rtificial muskrat farming will probably never prove as 

 /\ remunerative as the ranching method. In fact, no 

 **■ *■ less an authority than E. Lee LeCompte, state game 

 warden of Maryland, has made the sweeping statement 

 that: "Artificial muskrat farming has never proved profit- 

 able," and recommends that the raising of these valuable 

 fur-bearers should be done on large and unspoiled marsh- 

 land areas in a natural — or, at least, in a semi-natural — 

 environment, and he cites a number of instances of what 

 'rat ranches in Maryland have produced and earned for 

 the owners. 



Mr. LeCompte recites the experiment of W. A. Gibbs, 

 of Chester, Pa., the inventor and manufacturer of the trap 

 that bears his name, who owns an 800-acre tract in Dor- 

 chester County, Maryland, one-third of which was enclosed 

 with a tight board fence set three feet in the ground. This 

 was done to keep the animals wholly enclosed, but it was 

 found that this was not a practicable method of confinement 

 as the animlas gnawed holes through the boards in a very 

 short time in order to satisfy their desire to wander or 

 migrate, and further experiments taught the owner that 

 the muskrats would dig almost to any depth to create a 

 passage under any obstruction which might be set in mucky 

 soil such as that comprising a marsh. Better success was 

 obtained in erecting an enclosure on high marsh land, while 

 other sections not inhabited by the small fur animals were 

 ditched and flooded with water and the 'rat population soon 

 spread and began populating the new territory. 



Mr. Gibbs is quoted as saying that previous to his ex- 

 periments this particular 800-acre tract had never yielded 

 the trappers more than 700 muskrats in any one season. 

 After fencing and ditching, the catch for one season was 

 4,025, and an average for 12 years was in excess of 3,000 

 a season. The average would have been better had it not 

 been for two or three severe winters, especially that of 



