THE OTHER GREAT STAPLE FURS 135 



The skunk mates in February or March and brings forth six 

 to twelve young in May. The babies axe blind for three weeks and 

 mature in six months. The food consists of chickens, eggs, grass, 

 herbs, crickets, rats, mice, lizards and worms, especially such worms as 

 are harmful to vegetable gardens, like the army worm and cutworm, 

 and wasps and hornets and all the hosts of creatures commonly 

 called "varmints" in country parlance. I am aware that naturalists 

 deny the skunk is a raider of poultry yards ; but as a child living 

 on a farm near Lake Huron, I defy any farmer to subscribe to the 

 naturalist's dictum, especially if there are eggs and baby chicks. 

 On the other hand, I am perfectly aware if the skunk has abundance 

 of other food, he does a great deal more good than harm to a farm. 

 He devours more mischief than he creates and will not turn on his 

 obnoxious perfumery unless attacked by dogs or alarmed in his 

 lair. I know he seeks to nest in colonies, where farmers object — 

 in the bottoms of stacks and under loose boards in a shed or barn ; 

 and I have recollections of one such nest as almost drove us out of 

 the house for a week, when a collie dog undertook to expel the 

 intruder. 



As many as twenty skunks are born of one family and that 

 does not seem to indicate any shortened supply of the fur. At the 

 same time, prices for skunk skins are now so high, that may give 

 an extra incentive to trapping; and the fur farm promises the best 

 way out for the fur trade. The farm should be located distant from 

 neighbors owing to the odors ; though a young skunk can be de- 

 scented with little pain and no harm to himself. This process 

 should be attempted only by an experienced veterinarian, or skunk 

 farmer, and it is fully described in the bulletin of the Bureau of Biol- 

 ogy* Washington. It is well to remember gasoline will deodorize 

 "skunked" clothing, or burying the material in the earth for a few 

 days, or chloride of lime will destroy the smell of a lair but will also 

 destroy the fibre of clothing. 



Though there are seventeen species of skunk, a general descrip- 

 tion covers all — the black pelt, jet black the best grade, with small 



