THE MUSKKAT. 



9 



SAVING THE FUR SUPPLY. 



Although the outlook for a future fur supply adequate to the 

 world's needs is unpromising, it is by no means hopeless. Four ways 

 of increasing the present supply suggest themselves : 



1. The use of pelts of domestic animals as a substitute for wild 

 furs. In some parts of the world, dogs, goats, horses, and cattle are 

 now bred principally for their pelts, which are used for both clothing 

 and rugs. The full development of this idea Avould involve pro- 

 longed experiments in producing finer pelages by selective breeding. 



2. Breeding fur-bearing animals under protection, either in a state 

 of domestication or in a semiwild condition. Such animals would 

 prove especially valuable for restocking parts of the country from 

 which any species has been exterminated by excessive trapping. 



3. Investigations to discover if any animals not now considered 

 valuable for fur have pelts that may be utilized in the manufacture 

 of clothing. 



4. Conservation of the present supply. If furs from the three 

 sources already mentioned can gradually be made to supplement the 

 present output, much will be gained ; but the chief dependence, after 

 all, must be on a more careful conservation of the natural supply. 

 This may be saved by laws restricting the taking of fur animals to 

 proper seasons and protecting them at other times; and, in the case 

 of species that are becoming rare, by laws forbidding their capture 

 for a series of years. In addition, systematic restocking of territory 

 depleted by trapping should be undertaken. It is believed that the 

 muskrat may be made to play an important part in the conservation 

 of the Nation's fur resources. 



IMPORTANCE OF THE MUSKRAT. 



While individual skins of the rarer fur bearers, like the sea otter 

 and black fox, now command enormous prices, so few reach the 

 market that their aggregate value is small compared with that of the 

 commoner kinds. Even tiie beaver and the fur seal have so dimin- 

 ished in numbers as to be of less commercial importance than either 

 the mink or the muskrat. The last two, in spite of their small size, 

 assume importance as sources of fur by reason of their wide distri- 

 bution and continued abundance. Mink remains our most popular 

 as well as our most durable fur, but muskrat pelts not only have fair 

 wearing qualities but are adapted to a great variety of uses. This 

 fact and their abundance made the aggregate value of the muskrat 

 skins sold in 1909 apparently greater than that of the mink. Only 

 one other animal in the world, the European rabbit, exceeds the 

 muskrat in the number of skins marketed. The London sales of 

 muskrat pelts for the year 1905 exceed 5,000,000. 

 34656— Bull. 396—10 2 



