FUR-FARMING IN CANADA 111 
skunk and other animals not now found in northern Canada could be 
improved by domestication in colder regions. Ranch-bred animals 
properly kept will develop as heavy pelts as wild specimens, and they 
can always be killed when prime. 
The average price for all silver fox skins sold in Lon- 
Average Prices i i = 
af ilver Rox Skins don, including the wild stock and ranch stock, are 
as follows: 
YEAR AVERAGE PRICE 
NGO Deer hey ae eee ee tee a ee ek $146.59 
NQOGS Se wicks sete crane tena aeren 166.93 
WOOT ire tee Ae ce oe cabs ane eres 157.11 
OOS Seren Harr ees TAS Are ron hada e hetote 168.91 
MOOQSR et pi ere 3 ae ke ne ne 244.12 
OT OM esis tae reese cso ls 414.37 
71H Dy Is ae a Se AER ae reer oe hue pent ba 290.01 
The high average price obtained for silver fox skins in 1910 is ac- 
counted for by the better market. More than one half of the skins sell- 
ing for £100 or more were from Prince Edward Island ranches. 
At the present time, the average price of wild silver fox skins in 
London is about $200 and, for ranch foxes such as are found with the 
best ranchers, $1,200. 
Wild silver fox are not always prime and they are frequently shot, 
chewed, mangled and poorly dressed, while ranched foxes are usually 
killed when their fur is in primest condition. The highest price ever 
paid at the London sales for a silver fox skin was £580. It is said that 
this skin was sold by a Paris firm which had bought it at a previous 
sale for £390, and that it was from a ranched fox from Prince Edward 
Island. 
The next highest price was £540, and a half dozen have sold for 
£500 or more, all being from Prince Edward Island ranches. A rather 
remarkable sale was made in March, 1912, when a pelt from a fox that 
died in James Rayner’s ranch at Kildare, P.E.I., on October 12, 1911, 
brought the highest price, £410, although the skin would not have been 
fully prime before December. 
It is a difficult matter to obtain authentic records of sales 
Prices ae of silver fox skins from Prince Edward Island; farmers, 
nh as a rule, do not give careful attention to correspondence 
and records. Many reports are alleged to have been lost and those ex- 
amined gave evidence of having been filed in an inside coat pocket for 
a considerable period. Documentary proof of sales made in London was 
also difficult to obtain. Below are reproduced the sales reports of Charles 
Dalton and J. §. Gordon for the year 1910: 
