182 THE TRAPPER 



kind must protect it at the time it is bringing 

 forth young. And it should be borne in mind 

 also that many of the foxes are dug out of their 

 dens when but a few days old, and a large per- 

 centage totally lost during early captivity, when 

 artificially mothered and artificially fed. 



Moreover, it may be doubtful if Fox Farms, 

 the booming of which has been a means of enter- 

 taining public speculation, will have any great 

 success beyond a temporary one. Foxes roam 

 far, and are very restless in their wild state, and 

 it seems idle to expect other than an inferior 

 race from production in confinement, even though 

 the farms succeed in increasing the number of 

 Black and Silver Foxes, which is their object. 

 Temperament, freedom, food and temperature — 

 for the further north the better the fur — all 

 seem to point to this. Thus trapping the adult 

 fox in its wild and natural haunts, in the few 

 months when the fur is at its prime, is conceiv- 

 ably the fairest way, and the best, to encourage 

 lasting fur trade, while, at the same time, such 

 trapping does not reduce the stock unduly. 

 Furthermore, trapping the fox in its native 

 haunts worthily helps the Indians to a means of 

 obtaining what little luxuries they have ; and 

 those of them that remain of the race of peoples 

 whose country we have overwhelmed deserve 

 every consideration that can be given. It would 

 be surely a pity to take away from them a part of 

 the trade which they have always had since 

 their first meetings with the white man. 



The fur of those foxes under discussion is that 

 which eventually finds its way in great bales 



