6 BULLETIN 301, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



Charlottetown by Consul Livingston T. Mays the number of domes- 

 tic silver foxes on Prince Edward Island in April, 1914, was given 

 as about 1,600, and in the following December as about 2,600, the 

 increase for the year being approximately 66 per cent, or considerably 

 below the average increase of former years. The value of the foxes 

 on this island at the close of 1913, as estimated by the Commissioner 

 of Agriculture, was over $15,000,000. A report of the provincial sec- 

 retary, issued May 7, 1914, shows that there had been incorporated in 

 the Province up to that time 196 fur-farming companies, nearly all of 

 which were devoted to fox raising, carrying an authorized capitaliza- 

 tion of $24,305,700. In December, 1914, the United States consul 

 on Prince Edward Island reported that the capitalization had reached 

 $31,500,000. From the foregoing it is evident that anyone contem- 

 plating an investment in fox farming, either directly or in the stock 

 of an organized company, should first carefully consider all values in 

 their relation to the actual returns possible from the average increase 

 of the breeding stock. As pointed out elsewhere in this bulletin, 

 prices of both live silver foxes and fox pelts are now far below prices 

 paid a few years ago. The business of fox breeding will be on a much 

 more stable basis than at present when the value of breeding animals 

 bears an approximate relation to the value of their pelts in the open 



AREA SUITED FOR FOX FARMING. 



The natural habitat of red, cross, and silver foxes includes the 

 greater part of North America, from central United States northward 

 to and including the border of the treeless tundras. The red phase 

 inhabits nearly all this region, but the silver phase, although known 

 from most parts of it, is very irregularly distributed. In general it 

 is much more common in northern localities than in southern, but 

 many parts of the north where red foxes are abundant produce 

 silvers only rarely. According to reports of wholesale fur buyers, 

 many silver fox skins of high quality are secured from Newfoundland, 

 the height of land between Quebec and the peninsula of Labrador, 

 and from the upper Yukon in Yukon Territory and the adjacent 

 region of east-central Alaska. 



While pelts of all fur-bearing animals are more valuable when pro- 

 duced in northern localities, furriers have learned that certain locali- 

 ties are not too far south to produce valuable furs, but the conclu- 

 sions they are able to form are of only very general application. 

 The ordinary individual, however, is seldom able to profit by the 

 experience of furriers; and, especially if he lives in a region in which 

 fur-bearing animals have been exterminated, he can not judge 

 whether his own locality is favorably situated for producing foxes 

 with valuable pelts. Fortunately, in a general way a guide to such 

 matters is furnished by maps of life zones of the United States. 

 These zones are transcontinental belts, throughout which, the animal 



