1386 



YEARBOOK, 1937 



large producer and the price he receives for a pelt is on a par with 

 that obtained by the latter. The small producers as a group are today 

 marketing more than 140,000 pelts each year, while the large producers 

 contribute only 50,000 or 60,000 to the annual crop. 



Experiments with Other Species 



Minks, martens, fishers, skunks, raccoons, and opossums also are 

 being raised in captivity to some extent, the most striking develop- 

 ments having been in mink farming. The number of farm-raised 



Figure 4. — Skunks are easily raised but not at a profit. 



mink pelts has increased rapidly, and the prices paid have been excep- 

 tionally good, reaching their high point during the 1936 season. 

 These favorable conditions have naturally stimulated expansion. 

 Generally speaking it may be said that in the case of fur animals other 

 than foxes and minks more money is invested in feeding, breeding, and 

 management than can be realized from the sale of the pelts. For the 

 present, at least, the production of skunks (fig. 4), opossums, raccoons, 

 martens, and fishers for fur is not a profitable undertaking. 



The problems of the fur farmer are fundamentally the same as those 

 of other producers of livestock. They include a knowledge of his 

 animals, their physical needs and temperament, and the requisites 

 of sanitation, feeding, breeding, and disease control. In all of these 

 lines, scientific research has a part to play, but so far research has 

 been of very limited extent. 



Present Breeding Methods 



During the relatively short period that foxes have been raised by 

 man no particular strains of outstanding characters have been de- 

 veloped. The best of them, however, produce fur of high quality. 

 The problem then becomes one of producing fur of a given character 



