30 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



the wild stock the poor colour and the coarseness of fur are notable. 

 There are exceptional individuals of excellent quality among the wild 

 foxes, but none yet examined is the equal of the selected domestic 

 animals in silkiness and sheen of coat. Those who favour the wild 

 class of stock contend that wild foxes are stronger and wUl produce 

 as good fur as domestic foxes after they have been penned up and fed 

 properly. They argue that the lower average for pelts of wild animals 

 is caused by the fact that they are killed out of season; that they are 

 shot, are poorly skinned and carelessly handled before marketing and 

 are not especially prepared for market like the domestic animals; and 

 that the average price is thus lowered several hundred dollars a skin. 

 The exponents of the domestic stock say that selection practised for 

 eight or ten generations — ^when at least 50 per cent of the animals have 

 been culled out and slaughtered — has produced a type of animal that will 

 bring upwards of one thousand dollars each or five times as much as 

 the wild animal. 



There is much to be said on both sides. In our opinion, however, 

 the prime killing of the wild stock after careful fattening would probably 

 increase the value of the pelts 100 per cent but they would still be less 

 than half as valuable as the best grade of selected Island stock. Excel- 

 lent foundation stock, improved through several generations by selection 

 and feeding, has done its work in a fashion similar to the development 

 of our breeds of domestic stock. 



The owners of selected stock will do well, however, to bear in 

 mind that their animals can be still further improved and that it may 

 require a Labrador, Alaskan, Newfoundland or Hudson Bay fox to 

 grade up their stock in some particular quality. It is not probable, 

 however, that improvement of stock can be effected by importations 

 from Kansas, New Jersey and other southern states. To protect the 

 character and reputation of their established strain of stock, all true fox 

 breeders should discourage the practice of importing southern foxes 

 for speculative purposes merely. 



TheC t When the great success of the Prince Edward 



Live Fur-bearers Island fox ranchmen was disclosed several years 

 ago, a general search was made for wild silver 

 fox by trappers and others acquainted with the situation. Until 1912, 

 the busmess was not generally known. Up to that year, probably 

 a hundred or more foxes had been imported and at least half the Island 

 stock had "imported blood" in them. In the year 1913, hunting 

 for wild silver foxes became a veritable craze. The digging out 

 of dens and nests proceeded throughout summer, and in November, 

 when the trapping season opened, the search was prosecuted with 



