554 



THE AM ERIC AX MUSEUM JOURNAL 



that liiiii^- ii-c (•iiii>cs il til t'adr Id a 

 reddi.^li Urowii (-(tlor. 'I'liis aiiiina], so 

 coniiuonly tnuiid even in wH'll-settled 

 districts, was WvA tri(M| j'or domestica- 

 tion about thirty years a^"o. Today the 

 iminlici' of slvUid'C hreedei's in thi> cimii- 

 try is greater than that of all the other 

 breeders of fur animalsconiliiiied. This 

 pretty animal is easily tamed and. aside 

 from its one ol)jectioiial)le feature, the 

 olTensive scent giand>. which can lie re- 

 nioved easily, makes (|uile as pli'asiiig a 

 ])el as a kitten. Its habit of renuiining 

 in its den during the se\cre winter 

 montlis siniplilics the work of caring 

 f<u' it. 'I'lie trade in skunk furs alone 

 amounts in the liiited States to three 

 million (h)llars a year, slightly exceed- 

 ing in \alue the mink industry. 



Another .Vnierican fur-heiii'ing ani- 

 nial now jiei'manent ly domesticated is 

 the sil\ci' or >il\ ei'-giay fox. wliich is 

 found in iieai'ly all |iai'ts of the I'niteil 

 Stale.- and ('anada. This fox i> a 

 melani>tic coloi- |)ha>e of the red fox 

 ( Viiljics). in which the i-ed hairs of the 

 u|)|)ei- \\\\v\> are replneed entirely by 

 black', while the white hairs remain as 

 usual. ])rodueing the rarest and most 

 \aluable (d' fox pelts. Skins of the liner 

 grades ai'c \alue(| at from (Uie thousand 

 to two thousand dollar.- each. 



Breeding silver foxes has been siie- 

 eessfully carried on for a luimber of 

 years on Prince Edward I.-land and 

 elsewhere in Canada, as well as in s(>v- 

 eral of the more nortluM-n of the T'nited 

 States. At present there are fox 

 ranches in most of the Canadian prov- 

 inces and in about fourteen states and 

 territories of the United States. The 

 first ranch on Prince Edward Island. 

 built in 1891 and stocked with two 

 pairs of silver fo.xes. proved the fore- 

 runner of a great industry in that re- 

 gion which attained after 100(1 a phe- 

 nomenal growth. Aecordino- to the 



i-eport of the Commissioner of Agri- 

 cultui'e of the Island for 1913. there 

 were in that year "^77 ranches stocked 

 with twenty-five hundred fo.xes, more 

 than one half silver black. The value 

 (d' these ranches was placed at fifteen 

 million dollar.^, or twice that of all the 

 ordinary farm live stock. 



The ])ioneers in fur farming had a 

 monopoly until 1910, in which year 

 they were able to send to Eondon a 

 shipment of twenty-five pelts Ijringing 

 an average price of more than thirteen 

 hundre(l dollars each. As soon as this 

 fact became ])ulilie it was only natural 

 that many others should he an.xious to 

 engage in this interesting and ])rofit- 

 able bu.-ine>s. Xot oidy did the ])rivate 

 imlividual invest all the money he had 

 and mortgage his fai'ui to obtain more, 

 but s])eculation became rife and con- 

 tinued up to the outbreak of the Euro- 

 pean war in r.M 1. when the demand for 

 fui".- diminished greatly, and specula- 

 tion, for a time at least, stopped. Dur- 

 ing this ])eriod prices were greatly in- 

 llated, so that in the fall of 1913 good 

 ranch-bre(l cubs six months old brought 

 from eleven to lifteen thousand dollars 

 a pair. .\.- was inevitable undei- such 

 conditions, much dearly bought experi- 

 ence was gained, resulting to the good 

 of those who liad sullicient ca])ital or 

 staying powers to remain in the btisi- 

 ness. Best methods of handling, feed- 

 ing, and breeding were sought until a 

 large ])ercentage of the losses coming 

 through ignorance and carelessness in 

 these matters was eliminated. Hence- 

 fortii. with the return to moderate 

 ]irices for the stock, a steady and 

 healthy deve]o|)ment of fox farming 

 may be expected. 



Without doubt, when properly man- 

 aged, fur farming may become a profit- 

 able undertaking. Eike all business 

 ventures wherein considerable profits 



