552 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



inces owe their start on the road to 

 prosperity. 



Today the business of fur trading- 

 is an important factor of our commerce. 

 North American furs annually mar- 

 keted in the United States and England 

 have an approximate value of sixty 

 million dollars. Although the Euro- 

 pean war has decreased the demand to 



vance of the farmer, they are followed 

 into almost inaccessible regions by the 

 trapper, who is urged on by the stimu- 

 lus of high prices. It is evident, there- 

 fore, that the demand for furs before 

 many years will exceed the supply, un- 

 less this supply can be increased by 

 artificial propagation. 



To meet these conditions a new in- 



The mink was one of the first fur bearers to be douiestic-ated, and was propagated successfully in 

 the state of New York fifty years ago. If taken young it is tamed easily, but owing to its capricious 

 temper it becomes dangerous to handle as it grows old 



some extent, exports from the United 

 States alone during the fiscal year ended 

 June 30, 191G, amounted to more than 

 nine million dollars. A glance at the 

 market reports dealing with furs and 

 giving figures showing the actual num- 

 ber of skins handled will surprise the 

 ordinary consumer, and at the same 

 time cause wonder that there should be 

 a fur-bearing animal still in existence. 

 As a matter of fact the number of fur 

 bearers is steadily decreasing. Driven 

 farther into the wilderness bv the ad- 



dustry is springing up — that of fur 

 farming, or the raising of fur-bear- 

 ing animals ^ in captivity. Generally 

 speaking, fur-bearing animals are easily 

 domesticated. All our domestic ani- 

 mals were once in a wild state, and 

 there is every reason to believe that 



' Pur-bearing animals in the stricter sense of 

 the term belong to the families of carnivores — the 

 Mustelida?, Canidiv and UrsidcP, which embrace 

 the weasels, martens, sables, badgers, skunks, 

 wolverenes, otters, sea otters, foxes, wolves, and 

 bears ; and the families of rodents which include 

 beavers, muskrats, squirrels, and marmots. In a 

 broader sense the term applies to all animals which 

 yield pelts used in the preparation of marketable 

 furs. 



