CHAPTER XVII. 



FERRET RAISING AS A BUSINESS. 



CHE raising of ferrets as a business is one 

 that ai^parently has not yet been overdone, 

 judging from letters written by ferret rais- 

 ers who advertise in the hunting and trap- 

 ping publications. Some of these report their 

 stock gone from one or two insertions of their 

 advertisement. One dealer said that he had hun- 

 dreds of ferrets in the fall but that he disposed 

 of them all before Christmas. The demand seems 

 always greater than the supply. This is usually 

 more noticeable in the months of January and 

 February. 



Among those who use ferrets are farmers, 

 mill men, merchants, etc., on rats, and boys and 

 hunters to chase rabbits from dens. A good 

 many ferrets are lost each season, by rabbit and 

 other hunters, few if any of which live until 

 spring. A demand is also springing up for fer- 

 rets to be used in locating mink and other fur- 

 bearers in their dens. While they don't always 

 drive from den yet if a skunk it generally "raises 

 a stink." They are also sold to ranchers and 

 others, mostly west of the Mississippi river, to be 

 11 161 



