10 



FARMEKS^ BULLETIN 583. 



The mole has also a commercial value, as in recent years, owing to 

 the grachially decreasing number of wild fur-bearing animals, mole- 

 skins have found a ready market. It is significant of our lack of 

 attention to small business matters, however, that American mole- 

 skins are not quoted or offered on the markets. All the skins used 

 by our furriers are imported from Europe. Auction lists of fur 

 dealers in London show that more than 3,000,000 moleskins were sold 

 in 1911, 1912, and 1913. Recently a small lot of American mole- 

 skins secured by the Biological Survey was prepared and made up by 

 an expert furrier, who pronounced them in every respect equal or even 

 superior to European skins. It seems likely, therefore, that a new 

 industry amounting to many thousands of doUars annually might be 

 developed in this country. As the price of labor in the United States 

 is higher than in Europe, it is possible that for the present the farmer 

 boy may be the chief beneficiary of the new industry. 



o 



WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1914 



