﻿18 BULLETIlSr 1350, TJ. S. DEPAUTMEl^T OF AGEICULTUEE. 



The brush should be reasonably long, in order to balance properly 

 with the length of the body. The general principles determining 

 the quality of fur on other parts of the body are equally applicable 

 to the brush. 



CONFORMATION 



Conformation involves the individual structure of each part as a 

 unit. A defect in any part offsets to some extent an otherwise per- 

 fect structure. Some parts, as the chest, back, loin, or leg, are rela- 

 tively of greater importance than the others; a deficiency in such 

 parts would have more effect on the serviceability of the whole than 

 a similar inferiority elsewhere. 



Constitutional vigor is evidenced by a well-developed heart girth, 

 chest, front flank, and loin, and both vixen and dog should be deep, 

 wide, and well coupled in these regions. There should be no indica- 

 tion of a pinched appearance behind the shoulders or in the loin. 

 If breeding foxes -are strong in these regions it is safe to assume that, 

 other things being equal, they have strong lungs and heart, and con- 

 sequently are stronger, healthier, and more able to resist disease. 



BREEDING 



It is to be constantly borne in mind that blue foxes are not domes- 

 ticated animals in any sense of the term. The purpose of breeding 

 blue foxes is to produce good fur and to improve tlie stock. The 

 business of blue-fox ranching is comparatively new, and he who would 

 succeed in it must give it careful thought, study the moods of the 

 animals, and prepare himself to meet intelligently emergencies as 

 they arise. Many companies formed for the sole purpose of raising 

 foxes have failed because of the great difficulty in hiring a keeper 

 having the necessary personal interest in the welfare of the animals. 

 The more thoroughly a man studies breeding practices and his foxes, 

 the more closely he may approach a uniform degree of success in his 

 breeding operations. 



The only method of breed improvement that the blue-fox rancher 

 can use, unless he is raising the animals in pens, is grading and close 

 culling of inferior stock. On islands where steel traps are used 

 instead of trap-feed houses, all animals trapped are killed. In this 

 way the best may be killed and the poorest left for breeding stock. By 

 use of trap-feed houses, however, the poorest animals can be killed 

 and the best liberated for breeders. On islands formerly producing 

 pelts having a high percentage of white hairs, this condition has now 

 largely been eliminated by following this system, and the stock is 

 darker and clearer colored. 



Grading is the mating of a common or relatively unimproved 

 animal with one that is more highly improved. In the case of do- 

 mestic animals the male is selected as the improved one of the pair 

 for reasons of economy. In the blue-fox business, however, it is well 

 for the improvement to be made both ways. Improvement by grad- 

 ing is, of course, limited to the foxes on a particular island. This 

 method distributes breed excellence rapidly and with certainty; 

 that is, the unimproved blood soon becomes insignificant and finally 

 disappears. Only those individuals meeting standard requirements 

 should be retained for breeding. 



