AlfiTOUlTCBt/EEliT ; Every two weeks at this time oior Wilds Man 

 tells us atout his visits with Uncle Sam's Nat-oralists . Today- 

 he is scheduled to tell us what Mr, Frank: G. Ashlorook, in charge 

 of the Division of Fur Resources of the United States Biological 



Survej'-, has to say atout fvr farming. Here is the Wilds 



Man now. 



When we thj.nk of fur animals, we ordinarily think of animals in 

 the wild. The trails of the tra-ppers have penetrated remote regions 

 where highways never ran. Out-of-the-way places in nearly all parts of 

 the glolDc yield fur . animals to the fur trade. I'laturally, the colder 

 countries produce the finest furs. Alaska and the Hudson Bay region of 

 Canada are famous for f"ujrs, "but the wilds of every one of oior northern 

 States yield fur animals. 



In fact, strange as it may seem, one of the greatest fur -producing 

 regions of the world is our ovm Mississippi Hiver Vall®y. And the 

 American farm TDoy is even now prota'cly the world's greatest trapper. Ever 

 since the days of the Indians and since the first of those adventurous 

 French wood rangers started fur trading in the middle of what is now our 

 coiontry, trapping and hunting of fur animals have "been going on. 



There are still some foxes, and martens, and minks, and fishers, 

 and "beavers, but these finer fvT animals are scarce. There are still, how- 

 ever, considerable numbers of skunks, and oposstims, and raccoons, and 

 muskrats. The muskrat , living in swamps and raising bi^ families and 

 raising them often, is one of the world's greatest fur producers. 



However, the pioneer who wore a coonskin cap has been succeeded by 

 his collegiate great grandson who wears a coonskin coat, and a flock of 

 granddaughters and great granddaughters who are appareled in the prime 

 pelts from many other fur bearers. As Mr. Frank G-. Ashbrook, chief of the 

 Division of Fur Resources of the United States Biological Survey, puts it: 

 "The fur wearers axe increasing faster than the bearers." 



The fur bearers not only are being trapped out to supply the trade, 

 and crowded out by the encroachment of cities and farms on the wilds, but 

 in many cases are being hunted down as so-called "vermin" in a mistaken 

 zeal for the protection of otiier aniioals.. and. game birds. 



