Fur Farming. 35 



There need be no doubt as to the permauenf-y of the 

 "fur farming" industry, for when the demand for one 

 species slackens there will be an increased market for 

 other animals ; and there will always be a profitable sale 

 for valuable skins, even when there is no call for animals 

 themselves for breeding purposes. 



If an animal as sensitive as the Fox can be successfully 

 reared in captivity, it is safe to assume that any species of 

 wild life can be propagated on fur farms established under 

 proper conditions. 



The Russian Sable is nearly as valuable as the dark 

 Silver Fox, coats of this fur often costing as high as 

 twenty-five or thirty thousand dollars and upward. The 

 writer years ago sold two Black Fox skins for forty-five 

 hundred dollars, and a set of natural Black Fox fur worn 

 at the last New York Horse Show is said to have cost 

 the owner sixteen thousand dollars, although only four 

 skins were used in its manufacture. The writers referred 

 to at the beginning of this article justly claim that unless 

 immediate steps are taken to increase the number of Foxes, 

 Siberian and other Martens, Otter, Beaver and ]Mink and 

 some of the other valuable fur-bearing animals Avhich are 

 capable of being domesticated, none but the very rich will 

 be able to buy furs. The fact that the Silver Fox has been 

 successfully domesticated by the efforts of a few men with- 

 out any encouragement of the government, and with no 

 financial backing except meager incomes from farming 

 and trapping, should inspire extensive governmental ex- 

 periments, to determine the feasibility of extending the 

 number of domesticated fur producing animals. With an 

 estimated yearly expenditure of from two to three hun- 

 dred million dollars for the skins of American reared ani- 

 mals alone, "why are the woods being depleted of our 

 handsome wild animals by such a cruel method as trap- 

 ping? Why are not the trappers converted into animal 

 husbandman ? " 



A Fox ranch may be from half an acre to five acres in 

 extent, and should be enclosed with a stockade fence ten 

 feet high with an inner wire fence of the same height, and 

 so constructed that the Foxes cannot escape by burrowing 

 underneath or climbing over the top. The kennels on the 

 inside — one for each pair— should be large and roomy, 



