226 WHY NOT A FUR FARM? 



of these to the happy owner may be estimated in light 

 of the fact that last spring a single skin sold for 170. 

 Furs, as the writer in the Spectator justly observes, add 

 an exhilaration to the sense of warmth which no other 

 material can impart ; so if we allow the animals which 

 produce them to be killed out, we shall not only be 

 making wild nature poorer in variety, but be squander- 

 ing a luxury which can never be restored. 



Our native fauna, in spite of the influence of the 

 Gulf Stream on our climate, is naturally rich in the 

 production of fur. The marten still lingers in Wales ; 

 the death of one in that country was recorded in the 

 Field of the same date as the Spectator article. Two 

 were killed in Argyllshire in 1896, and, if I mistake 

 not, it is not quite extinct in the English lake district. 

 No animal is more easily reared in captivity ; indeed, it 

 is known that the marten used to be kept in English 

 houses as a mouser before cats became common in this 

 country. The common stoat the true ermine is still 

 tolerably plentiful with us ; but south of the Tweed it 

 seldom, or at least irregularly, assumes its beautiful 

 snowy winter jacket. Ermine fur was so highly 

 esteemed in the heyday of chivalry that its use was 

 restricted by a statute of the Plantagenets to members 

 of the royal family. 



It would be an exceedingly interesting experiment 

 for the owner of a deer-forest to enclose a piece of hill- 

 side for rearing sables, martens, ermines, and even silver 

 foxes. Stalkers and gillies have plenty of spare time, 

 except during two months in the year ; the animals, if 



