68 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



the l)each from time to time, and other food is found on the islands. 

 While a number of the islands are now occupied by blue fox farmers, 

 there are many more that are available for the purpose, and which 

 can be leased from the United States government on reasonable terms. 

 Farms on the mainland may be enclosed with wire fencing, and need 

 not be larger than 50 feet by 50 feet. For raising the foxes on a larger 

 scale than would be possible in an enclosure of the above-mentioned area, 

 several little farms, adjoining each other, may be fenced off. 



"Blue foxes breed once a year, mating about February 1, and the 

 young are born near the end of May, the litter comprising from three 

 to seven. Artificial dens or hiding places in which the foxes may re- 

 main secluded at will are provided. 



"Food for the blue fox includes fresh, dried and cured fish, crabs, 

 fresh meats obtainable in the vicinity of the farms, cooked corn-meal 

 cakes made of a mixture of corn-meal and chopped dried fish, and meal, 

 tallow and fish preserved in oil. 



"Food should be supplied to the animals most abundantly from 

 the first of July to August, as, at that period, the care of the young 

 foxes makes it necessary for the old foxes to be better fed than at other 

 times. 



"The price of blue fox skins is about $30.00 each, and even more is 

 paid for well-coloured, full-furred and properly handled pelts. 



"Stock for beginning may be procured from persons raising blue 

 foxes on the islands at a cost of somewhere near S200.00 per pair. 



"The Secretary of Commerce and Labor has authority to lease 

 for the purpose of propagating foxes, such islands in the waters of 

 Alaska, excepting the Pribilof group, as have been so leased by the 

 Secretary of the Treasury prior to May, 1898. The rental in the past 

 has been one hundred dollars per annum for each island." 



The rate of increase of blue foxes is said by Ernest Thompson 

 Iifc^ase Seton to be good index to the increase of red foxes. He 



says: "St. George island, about 36 square miles, has about 

 270 pairs of foxes, and although they are fed and protected and the 

 species has 5 to 12 in a litter, not more than 400 to 500 can be marketed 

 each year without reducing the stock." The figures are about cor- 

 rect for the annual increase of the silver fox, despite the claims of some 

 ranchers of an average annual increase of from 200 to 300 per cent. 



Maj. Gen. A. Greely, in his Handbook of Alaska, published in 

 1909, writes: 



"Unwise exploitation has very greatly reduced the fur- 



Detaiis"^^ bearing productivity of the land animals of the Aleutian 



islands, as well as of the interior of Alaska. With the early 



