their ".lalDits and homc-lifc, vith a viov to g;ottin.^ mor ■ light on the 

 possihilitios of muskrat faming. And he ostirnatos there arc for/er 

 auskrats thfen usual this ■"ear^ on account of the drought. 



They were hard hit by the hig dry spell. And this is ho',7. 

 The rivers and other waterways that our east-coast muskrat s inhabit 

 'vere lower this r)ast summer than usual. That meant that the sea water 

 ca."ae farther up from the mouths of the streams than usual. That in 

 turn meant saltier water than usual, which killed off many of the 

 water plants muskrats feed on. Less fooc?, fewer maskrats. 



Iluslcrats feed on such plants as "three-cornered sedges" -vnd 

 cat— tails and bulrushes, which thrive best in brackish water. They 

 '•'ill even live in fresh water, but they can't stpnd the water too salt. 



Dr. Shillinger is not counting on the decline in Taskrats lasting 

 long. Usually this ^referred vegetation will re-seed itself md come 

 back quickly. For instance, the big flood on the HississiTopi a few 

 years bad': killed off great areas of muskrat vegetation. 



It wasn't long, however, until there was plenty again to support 

 an abundance of muskrats. We know the kind of roots and fresh stems 

 muslcrats prefer, but Dr. Shillinger says wo need to i'now a lot more, 



liaskrats will eat mussels and crawfishes. Some folks claim 

 they have seen them do it. Fnethcr such a diet is necessary for them 

 is one of the questions Dr. Shillinger is looking into* 



T!iat is getting dovm a little further under the fur than v/e 

 started. Of cnursc, this m^t-ttcr of food is bound to lie at the roots 

 of the fur, TThilc Dr. Shillinger was telling me all this, I couldnH 

 got out of my mind that idea of Louisiana leading the country on fur 

 production. The idea that fur grows thickest in the colder climates is 

 one I v/as brought up on, so I asked Dr. Sliillingor how it happens that 

 the marshes of Louisiana supply so much of our fur. 



7ell sir, ho got out a bunch of -)clts of muskrats taken in dif- 

 ferent sections of the co^Jintry. He showed me that the more northern 

 muslo-ats, really do have the thickest fur and the heaviest skins. In 

 qualit;'- --.roduction of fur, thej;- outstrip their southern cousins. But 

 there arc more of those Louisiana muskrats. ^.atevcr lack the average 

 animal ma;^ have in value is more than made up by the larger number of 

 m-j-s^nrats in the South. 



Trapping muskrats in Louisiana is quite a large-scale proposition, 

 r.iere is as much as 155,000 acres in a single tro.ct of r.Tuskrat marsh. 

 The ov/ners run canals througli, so as to make it easier for trappers to 

 get from ' lace to place and also to make a more uniform water level for 

 the niusla-ats. 



