SILVER FOX FARMING. 20 



guard day and night. The keeper's lodge is just outside the guard 

 fence. In addition there is sometimes "a tower, from the top of which 

 a view can be had of all the yards. Here are recorded the progress of 

 events in the breeding season; and from here quarrels, accidents, or 

 signs of sickness can be discovered without alarming the animals. 

 A tower 12 or 15 feet square and three stories high, fitted up as a 

 3-room house, would contain on the top floor the watchman's couch, 

 chair, and field glasses, his table and writing materials; a cook stove, 

 pantry, sink, and other kitchen appurtenances will be on the ground 

 floor, and here food for the foxes can be conveniently prepared. Some- 

 where about the place there will be a medicine chest and various tools 

 likely to be needed in an emergency. 



Risk of loss by theft or escape is lessened by installing electric 

 lights which can be turned on at any time, and an electric burglar 

 alarm. Bulldogs are used to reenforce the night watchman; and on 

 ■some ranches bloodhounds are kept for tracking thieves. Foxes 

 that escape generally return to the vicinity of the ranch when hungry, 

 and a number of small steel traps having the jaws wound with cloth 

 should be kept on hand to catch them. Ranch foxes have less endur- 

 ance than wild ones, and a good hound can usually overtake one after 

 a short run. The manager of a ranch on Prince Edward Island has 

 a hound which on several occasions has assisted in the capture of 

 foxes without hurting them in the least. Such dogs are excellent 

 insurance against loss by escape. 



Other accessories of a fox ranch, and those most prominent, pertain 

 to food supplies. There must be facilities for slaughtering horses, 

 cattle, and smaller animals ; an ice house and a refrigerator for keep- 

 ing the meat fresh until it can be used; and conveniences for drying, 

 smoking, and salting meat that must be kept a long time. A 

 screened room or box is necessary to protect stored meat from flies. 

 Cows are needed to furnish milk, an important element in the diet of 

 domestic foxes. In a dairy region calves are disposed of when but 

 2 or 3 days old. At that age they are small, and their flesh is soft. 

 Sometimes there are more of them on hand than can be used imme- 

 diately. By having cows to suckle them a few weeks, the veal, 

 improved in quality and increased in quantity, will be available when 

 needed. Rabbits are the natural prey of wild foxes. They have 

 an important place on a fox ranch as a fox food which can be 

 drawn upon at any time, which is always fresh, and in such small 

 units that ice or other preservatives arc unnecessary. 



Occasionally a vixen having young cubs is unable to give them 

 proper attention. Then a Foster parent must be supplied at once or 

 ilie cubs win 1 die. To provide lor emergencies of this kind, every 

 ranch should include several female eats. 



