32 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATIOX 



influences are largely responsible for the value of the coat of fur. If 

 an abundance of good food can be secured, an animal produces the 

 heaviest coat where the climate is coldest. Humidity of atmosphere 

 must also be considered. Poland* says that open waters, such as lakes 

 and seas, render the fur thicker, probably owing to the high percentage 

 of humidity in the atmosphere. Exposed sea coasts and exposed 

 prairies, he says, render fur coarse, while woods and forests cause it 

 to be finer. For instance, the timber or forest wolves have finer fur 

 than those living on the exposed prairie. Mr. Wesley Frost, United 

 States consul at Charlottetown, in a report to his government, Sep- 

 tember, 1912, says: "The temperature and humidity on the island 

 [Prince Edward] are a happy mean between the intense cold and the 

 moist, dull weather of Newfoundland, Labrador and Alaska, and 

 the warmer, drier weather of regions farther south. The far northern 

 furs are said to be coarse and shaggy, while the furs produced in the 

 northern states of our own country are light and thin." It is also 

 said that the absence of limestone in Priace Edward Island and West- 

 morland county. New Brunswick, gives a perfect soil for foxes to burrow 

 in and is beneficial to the fur covering. As some excellent foxes do 

 not burrow, the ranchers carefully stopping up the holes whenever 

 a start is made, there cannot be much ground for this assumption. 



The following is a summary of the best conditions for fox-ranch- 

 ing operations : 



1. Foxes should be ranched in woodland areas with good 

 drainage in a climate cold enough to produce a heavy fur and 

 overhair and which is cool iu summer. 



2. The value of the pelt depends on good health as well as 

 on climatic conditions. Wholesome, varied food is a necessary 

 condition for health and can be best secured in a thickly-settled 

 rural district. 



3. Foundation stock should be the best obtainable. The 

 best foxes are those in captivity in ranches, and they have the 

 additional advantage of being half-domesticated. 



There are some advantages to be gained by conducting extensive 

 ranching operations in one locality, particularly because breeding 

 animals may be easily exchanged and the dangers of close, or in-breed- 

 ing, prevented. Neighbours can also impart to one another more 

 freely what their experience has taught them. These advantages, 

 however, may be offset by the difficulties of securing food for the foxes. 

 In every rural township there is enough cheap meat and offal to supply 



*Fur-Bearing Animals in Nature and Commerce, p. xvi. By Henry Poland, F.Z.S. 



