FUR FARMING. 33 



540 and 480 were received for two skins, these being- 

 the highest prices ever paid for Silver Fox skins. 



At the present time there are about eighty ranches on 

 Prince Edward Island, stocked with about two hundred 

 fine dark Silver Foxes, about three hundred Silver Greys r 

 and something like four hundred very light Silver, Crossed 

 and Red Foxes. The total skin value of these animals is 

 about five hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and for 

 breeding stock they are worth at least three times that 

 amount; but it is safe to say that the industry could not 

 be purchased outright for three million dollars today. 



The ranchers who obtain the best results have only 

 descendents of the stock originally caught on Prince Ed- 

 ward Island. All the high priced pelts that have been 

 referred to were from Foxes of this strain. If an ordinary 

 Red Fox of Prince Edward Island is bred to a black, and 

 the resulting young are bred to a black for four or five 

 generations, a good Silver Fox will result. The first cross 

 produces what is designated a "Cross" or "Patched" 

 Fox, the next mating produces a cross of a better quality 

 with hardly any reddish tinge in the hair, and with silver 

 patches on the back. The third mating will produce a 

 light Silver Fox worth probably five hundred dollars, and 

 the result of the fourth mating will be a Dark Silver worth 

 upwards of one thousand dollars. Many farmers of small 

 means thus breed up their stock by the use of only one 

 high priced animal. 



Where indiscriminate crossing of the colors takes place 

 under natural conditions Foxes occur in about the fol- 

 lowing proportion, and pelts bring the trapper or breeder 

 approximately the prices named : One hundred thousand 

 Red Foxes valued at five dollars each ; ten thousand Cross 

 Foxes valued at fifteen dollars each; one thousand light 

 Silver Foxes valued at two hundred dollars each, one hun- 

 dred dark Silver Foxes valued at a thousand dollars each. 

 It will be seen that the price is in inverse ratio to the num- 

 ber produced. Scarcity may influence the present price 

 of dark Silver Foxes, but there is no question of the great 

 intrinsic value of their pelts. They are marvels of rich- 

 ness and beauty, and even if produced in as great numbers 

 as the red ones would still be many times their value. 

 The price of dark Silver Foxes has always been high, and 



