PROFIT FROM THE MUSKRAT 83 
valued, and should be preserved and cultivated 
under properly restrictive conditions. Com- 
pared with most other furs of small size, musk- 
rat furs are of excellent quality and durability ; 
their cheapness is chiefly the result of their 
abundance. Properly dyed and made up, they 
are difficult to distinguish from sealskin, but 
their wearing qualities are greatly inferior. 
The modern dresser and dyer have found means 
of imitating nearly all the more costly furs with 
that of this animal, and have thus created a 
continuous demand for the pelts. 
Notwithstanding that during the past 150 
years nearly 250 millions of muskrats have 
been trapped, vast numbers of these pelts reach 
market annually. The sales at the great Lon- 
don auctions (which determine prices for the 
world) for 1909 were 3,771,000, at higher prices 
than at any time previously. Many fur-buying 
establishments advertise most alluringly, in 
order to induce consignments from local deal- 
ers, or from individual trappers; but in many 
cases they grade the furs so low that the re- 
turns are far below expectation. It is prob- 
ably better policy, as a rule, for the amateur 
