CHAPTER XV 



SILVER Fox 



The silver fox is the most valuable and by most people considered 

 the most beautiful of all furs. The finest specimens are glossy black 

 to a point just below the shoulders and from there down to the root 

 of the tail the long guard hairs, or outer fur, is white tipped which 

 gives it a silvery color. The tail is very large, the color jet black but 

 always has a solid white tip at the end. Its native home is in Alaska 

 where the largest specimens come from, it is also found throughout 

 Canada and is especially adapted to the climate of Prince Edward 

 Islands. 



The silver fox that come from the islands off the coast of Alaska, 

 while they are very large for size, are coarse in fur, and are not 

 nearly as valuable as the interior Alaskan Fox and the Canadian 

 Silver Fox. 



Silver Fox farms have sprung up all over the country and in 

 many cases they have been very successful. The home of the silver 

 fox farms is on Prince Edward Islands and here the industry is 

 carried on in a big way, some ranches representing an investment of 

 a hundred thousand dollars and more. The pioneers in the raising 

 of silver fox, like the pioneers in most other lines, met with a great 

 deal of discouragement, and even now there are some authorities 

 who are inclined to disparage the effort made; but the facts are 

 that silver fox farming has passed the experimental stage and is 

 now firmly established and a proven fact. There are no doubt many 

 things to be learned about this industry in the school of practical 

 experience, and there will be just as many failures, probably more, 

 than there are in other lines of industry. It should be remembered 

 that there are many businesses that do not make a success, and this 

 is equally true of fur farming; but because there are some failures is 

 no reason why it is not fundamentally sound and can not be made 

 successful and profitable if carried on with intelligence and patience. 

 It requires plenty of hard work and study of the business in hand. 

 There were some who thought when silver fox farms started that 

 the market would be overstocked and that the price of silver fox 

 pelts would decline rapidly; but this is not true. Silver foxes are in 



