L6 



FARMElis' r> l T LLETIN 869. 



then stretched, rubbed, and twisted until quite dry. Tf parts of a 

 skin are still hard or stiff, the soaping, drying, and stretching process 

 should be repeated until the ent ire skin is soft. Fresh butter, or other 

 animal fat, worked into skins while they are warm and then worked 

 out again in dry hardwood sawdust, or extracted by a hasty bath in 

 gasoline, increases their softness. 



USE OF MUSKRAT FUR. 



Many of the muskrat skins now used in America are dressed in the 

 United States. Formerly they were dressed in Leipzig and other 

 European fur centers. The cased skins are often split laterally into 

 back and belly parts, the former often being sheared and dyed a 

 rich brown in imitation of fur seal. The handsome garments made 

 of these are called " Hudson seal " in the fur trade. The belly strips 

 usually are dressed in the natural color and are used for lining over- 

 coats and other outer garments. 



Muskrat skins also are used extensively to imitate mink and sold 

 under such trade names as " river mink " or " ondatra mink." How- 

 ever, the better grades of muskrat, dressed in the natural color and 

 unplucked, have a very beautiful luster and make very handsome 

 coats, boas, and muffs. Muskrat fur also is used to make small 

 articles of apparel, as gloves, caps, and collars; and waste pieces 

 from the furriers' cutting rooms are utilized for hatters' fur. 



MUSKRAT FARMING. 



It has been proved by experiments with muskrats in captivity that 

 the animals are easily kept, become very tame, and breed in very 

 narrow quarters. The value of the skins, however, does not warrant 

 commercial attempts to produce them under such restricted condi- 

 tions. Until recently the prices were too low to permit expenditures 

 on preserves or even efforts to prevent poaching. Xow t carefully 

 guarded preserves w T ill }deld steady and profitable returns. All that 

 is needed is care not to deplete the fur supply by too close trapping. 



SOME EXAMPLES. 



Muskrat farming is already a prosperous business. On 5,000 acres 

 of marsh at the mouth of the Maumee River, near Lake Erie, con- 

 trolled by a hunting club of Toledo, Ohio, the muskrats had been un- 

 disturbed for tw r o years prior to the winter of 1903-4, when they 

 were trapped for the benefit of the club. Five thousand w^ere taken 

 in a single month (January, 1904), and the skins were sold for 25 

 cents each. The carcasses also were sold at $1 a dozen. 



The muskrat industry probably has reached its highest present 

 development on the eastern shore of Maryland. The extensive 

 marshes of Dorchester County are a center of muskrat fur production. 



