206 CANADIAN WILDS. 



fox and lynx the 15th of November. I have of- 

 ten seen the question asked in the H-T-T as 

 to the time the several kinds of fur are prime in 

 different localities, and the above dates can be 

 depended upon for the latitude mentioned. 



It pays the trapper to have his trap-houses 

 made and his traps hung up ready to set and 

 bait immediately when the skins are prime. 

 They are easily cleaned and command a much 

 higher average, whereas if the majority of skins 

 in a man's pack are unprimed or staged, it takes 

 away from the value of the few really few good 

 ones. 



The buyer, to get these few merchantable 

 skins, has to put some kind of value on the culls 

 to make a buy, but in reality the trader is only 

 paying for the few good ones and the trapper 

 loses the other skins. And who is to blame? 

 Trappers have been told time and again that 

 trapping too early in the season is against their 

 best interests; nevertheless they go blindly on, 

 killing the poor beasts that have little or no 

 value, and then they marvel at the scarcity of 

 the fur-bearing animals and the little return 

 they have to show for a couple of months' hard 

 work. 



No. If there is any line that wants protec- 

 tion and a cast iron union between the men con- 

 nected with the industry, it is the fur trade. All 



