FUR FARMING. 39 



of tin placed along the edge to prevent the animals from 

 climbing out." 



"In each compartment number of dens should be 

 made by digging a trench and covering afterwards. While 

 the animals will dig dens if necessary, they prefer, even 

 while in a wild state, to use dens already made. Boxes, 

 barrels or pens with board floors should not be used. 

 Some of the successful breeders claim that this has a ten- 

 dency to cause a thick pelt and thin fur and say that it is 

 absolutely necessary that they have natural dens in the 

 ground. The dens should be made quite deep so that 

 there will be no danger from frost in winter." 



MINK RAISING. 



It is hardly possible to tame the adult wild Mink, but 

 the young submit to handling and can be easily domes- 

 ticated. Mr. Boughton says that the time to secure them 

 is in May or June when they begin to run with their dams 

 and can easily be tracked to their nests and dug out or 

 taken as they leave the hole. Owners of Mink breeding 

 stock ask very high prices, but in this way a start can be 

 made in Mink raising at a trifling expense. 



Minks are by nature solitary, wandering animals, and 

 it is impossible to rear them successfully in captivity if 

 large numbers are kept together, so their enclosure should 

 be a large one, and so arranged that the male and female 

 can be together frequently from the middle of February 

 to the middle of March, but kept separate at all other 

 times. 



The season for mating is the first two wrecks in March, 

 and the young are born six weeks later, four to six to the 

 litter. The young are blind five or six weeks, and are 

 weaned when from eight to ten weeks old. When four 

 weeks old the mother begins to feed them meat and con- 

 tinues to supply them with food until they are about 

 four months old. The young soon separate when left to 

 shift for themselves and do not pair, the male being a 

 rover. Minks are very cleanly, and as soon as the nest is 

 foul the mother moves the young to another nest. 



Minks are strictly carnivorous animals and always pre- 

 fer fresh food, and therefore are not so easy to supply 

 with food as the Skunk or Muskrat; but as they are fond 



