FUR FACTS \ 119 



fanning was soon broadcasted all over the world. The price of 

 breeding stock went sky high. As an example of how rapidly the 

 price for breeding stock advanced, one ranchman sold his first pair 

 of cubs for $700.00, and other pairs successively for $3,000.00, 

 $12,000.00, $13,000.00, and $14,000.00. In the Fall of 1913 good 

 ranch bred cubs six months old sold for ten thousand to fifteen 

 thousand dollars per pair. Some pairs of cubs it is said sold as high 

 as twenty five thousand dollars, and full grown foxes that had large 

 litters were valued as high as thirty thousand dollars per pair. 

 Niunerous companies were formed and some concerns were of course 

 formed to take advantage of this unusual condition in order to 

 float stock. There is no doubt but what a lot of wildcatting crept 

 into it, but the sale of silver fox for breeding purposes kept steadily 

 on. There is no telling where the price of prize winning pairs would 

 have been pushed to, if the War had not come along in 1914, 

 which put a damper on the speculative operations for the time 

 being. During the war period ranch bred silver fox could be bought 

 for about $2,000.00 per pair. Fox ranches are now established in 

 nearly all of the northern states and all of the Canadian Provinces, 

 and there are probably three hundred alone in Prince Edward Is- 

 lands. This industry has now passed the experimental state, and 

 each year hundreds of fine pelts are sent to market from silver fox 

 ranches. 



As stated before it is not advisable to attempt to raise silver 

 fox in a central or southern climate, as the fur growth is intimately 

 related to climate and the silver fox pelt to be valuable must be 

 well furred, of good color, and fine and silky in quality. It is, there- 

 fore, advisable to start your ranch where there is a reasonably long 

 cold season with at least a moderate rainfall, and the fitness of the 

 locality for fox raising can best be judged from the quality of fur 

 produced by the natural wild foxes in that locality. 



The government has taken a great deal of interest in the subject 

 of fox ranches and encourages fur farming. Ned Dearborn, who is 

 one of the best posted authorities in this country on the subject 

 says that one of the most important considerations is the choice of 

 a site, and that an ideal site for a fox ranch should have security 

 from unusual noises and occurrences. The fox is naturally timid and 

 nervous. It can be tamed to a degree, but its excitable temperament 

 can be completely overcome only by a long process of careful breed- 

 ing and selection. It is especially shy and irritable during the breed- 

 ing season. 



