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WASHBURN 



decided to try the experiment of propagating some of the 

 more valuable kinds. Having resided on the Seal or 

 Pribilof Islands and observed that the blue fox became 

 somewhat tame, they resolved to try its domestication by 

 placing a small number on protected islands and caring 

 for them as the stockman cares for his herd of cattle or 

 sheep. About twenty foxes were taken from St. Paul Is- 

 land of the Pribilof group, and placed on North Semidi, 

 one of the hundreds of unoccupied islands of Alaska, and 

 thus the experiment began. The industry being new 

 nothing was known of the habits of the animal, the care 



necessary for its 



successful propa- 

 gation, or the kind 

 of food which was 

 likely to prove 

 commercially 

 practicable for 

 it must be nutri- 

 tious, inexpensive, 

 and palatable. 



From North 

 Semidi, the origi- 

 nal ' fox ranch,' if 

 one may employ 

 such a term, foxes 

 were taken to other islands along the Alaska coast and the 

 experiments continued. The results though sometimes 

 discouraging and not always financially successful, have 

 shown on the whole that the animal could be raised and 

 its valuable pelt obtained with as much regularity as in the 

 case of the humbler domestic animals. About thirty 

 islands are now stocked with blue foxes all the out- 

 growth of the small stock of twenty foxes taken from 

 St. Paul Island fifteen years ago. 



BLUE FOXES ON FOX FARM. 



