Hudsonian Skunk 993 



Cleanliness everywhere all the time is essential. 



Skunks, if helped, will keep themselves as clean as cats, 

 and their musk will never be smelt if they are not forced to use 

 it in self-defence. 



A diet of all meat, especially raw meat, will kill every 

 Skunk on the farm. 



Overfeeding of any kind is as bad as underfeeding. 



There is great individuality of temper, as well as of 

 colour — always select the black ones and the gentle ones to 

 breed from. From time to time there will appear fierce, 

 quarrelsome individuals; these should be removed and mar- 

 keted as soon as possible; never allow them to breed. 



Castration of the surplus males will greatly improve the 

 fur. 



The wild Skunk pairs, but it is found that one male is 

 enough for a dozen females where they are yarded together. 



The chief causes of death to be guarded against are: 

 disease from dirt, overcrowding, wrong food or overfeeding, 

 infanticide by strangers entering the den during the mother's 

 absence, and loss through great horned owls. The last are 

 most dangerous to the young, and these are, of course, safe 

 under the chicken-wire. 



The young run from 4 to 9 in a litter. At six months these profits 

 may sell from ^i to ^3 per pelt, or, say, the litter bring ^10. 

 Forty breeding females is the most one may safely have on an 

 acre, so that under the most favourable circumstances this 

 would bring a gross return of ;^400, from which we must deduct 

 cost of food, fencing, stock, and care, leaving a very small 

 profit indeed. 



Thus it appears that Skunk-farming is not an industry 

 that promises a very large return. It is possibly a paying 

 business if one can handle a stock of 1,000 old ones, but it 

 seems to me that its chief use is to train fur-breeders for more 

 serious work with more expensive and immensely more profit- 

 able animals, such as Marten, Sable, and Silver-fox, or even 

 Mink. 



