THEMUSKRAT 163 



persons who have engaged in raising minks, foxes, or skunlcs.* How- 

 ever, the possibilities of such enterprises have not really been tested, 

 and present prices for these furs might well repay investment of capital 

 in their production 



Some Examples. — Muskrat farming is already a prosperous business. 

 The Cedar Point Hunting Club, of Toledo, Ohio, controls 5,000 acres of 

 marsh at the mouth of the Maumee river, near lake Erie. In the 

 winter of 1903-4, after the muskrats had been undisturbed for two years, 

 they were trapped for the benefit of the club. Five thousand were 

 taken in a single month (January, 1904), and the skins were sold for 

 25 cents each. The carcasses also were sold at a dollar a dozen. 



The muskrat industry has probably reached its highest present 

 development on the eastern shore of Maryland. The extensive marshes 

 of Dorchester county are a centre of muskrat fur production 



Formerly the owners of marshes in this vicinity paid little attention 

 to them. The land was considered useless because subject to tidal 

 overflow. Trappers were allowed to take muskrats wherever they 

 chose, and a dozen years ago much of the marsh land could have been 

 bought for less than 50 cents an acre. At the present time, some of the 

 marshes are worth more, measured by the actual income from them, 

 than cultivated farms of like acreage in the same vicinity. The in- 

 creased values are due to the muskrat. Landowners now usually lease 

 the trapping privilege, and trappers and owners unite to protect the 

 marshes from poaching. The owner receives half the fur caught, while 

 the trapper gets the other half and all he can realize from the sale of the 

 meat. In the short season of seventy-four days, January 1 to March 

 15, during the last two years, trappers have easily made from $400 to 

 $900 each. 



A few specific examples will give a better idea of the value of these 

 marsh lands. The owner of one tract of marsh informed the writer 

 that he bought it three or four years ago for $2,700. It is leased for 

 half the fur, and yielded him in 1909, $890, or about 33 per cent on the 

 investment. The owner of a small piece of marsh — about 40 acres — 

 bought it in 1905 for $150. Leased for half the fur, it has yielded the 

 owner $30, $60, $70, and $100, respectively, for each of the four years, 

 1906 to 1909. Taxes are very light, and, on the basis of a 6 per cent 

 income, the returns for 1909 would represent an approximate value of 

 nearly $40 an acre for this land. The owner of a 1,300-acre tract of marsh 

 trapped it this season, with the aid of his sons, and secured over 5,000 

 muskrats, which were sold for $2,300. 



* Since this bulletin was written, fur-farming, especially with respect to the 

 animals mentioned, has become an important industry in Canada. — Ed. 



