92 THE FUR TRADE OF AMERICA 



his farm land. We may not call this muskrat farming, but it is ; 

 and everything is marketed except the tail ; fur, flesh, musk bags 

 bring their price. The fur goes for seal, the flesh for marsh hare, 

 the musk bags for chemicals. In spring, the flesh is too musky for 

 food ; and as the muskrats' value is more appreciated, there will 

 doubtless and should be clapped on certain closed seasons when the 

 fur is not at its best. 



One acre of marsh lands will furnish 50 rats a year without 

 diminishing the future catch ; and if these rodents are taken only 

 when the fur is at its best and yield only $2 each — the salt marshes 

 are beating the best potato lands of Maine, or spring wheat lands 

 of the North-west. 



Furs may be furs ; but there are times when they begin to look 

 like diamonds. 



Not more than 50 rat pairs should tenant an acre, as they fight 

 viciously and devour their own wounded, which should appease 

 the tender conscience of sentimentalists wearing muskrat coats. 

 The water must be deep enough not to freeze to bottom. Mud 

 thrown up to dredge deeper will be used by the rats to build ; and 

 the diet required consists of bulbous roots, wild rice, wild lilies, 

 cat-tails, carrots, beets, turnips, apples, pumpkins, in fact any rat 

 food. Two litters of rats come the first season, three every season 

 afterwards; and the pups run 4 to 12 at a time. Taking these 

 figures, you can do a problem in muskrats that will make you dizzy. 

 You will find at the end of the third year very close to 1000 for a 

 beginning of one pair ; this is averaging the babies at 8 with ample 

 food. Try it, putting each season in a separate column, and 

 adding to your total the old couples. In the South, the litters seem 

 to run 4 to 6. In the North, nature evidently provides more pro- 

 lifically to counteract the cold, and litters run 8 to 20. Babies come 

 21 days after mating. The young are blind, naked and much more 

 helpless than kittens, but as far as I have been able to observe, 

 unless the mothers are excited, they are tender and protective 

 with their young as a cat, or wild duck. At least I have seen a 



