UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULLETIN No. 301 
Contribution from the Bureau of Biological Survey 
HENRY W. HENSHAW, Chief 
Washington, D. C. 
October 29, 1915 
SILVER FOX FARMING IN EASTERN 
NORTH AMERICA. 
By Ned Dearborn, Assistant 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Introduction 1 
The silver fox 2 
History of domestication 4 
Area suited for fox farming 6 
Ranch sites 8 
Inclosures 9 
Food 15 
Breeding 18 
Behavior in captivity 21 
Handling foxes 22 
Sanitation 23 
Improved strains 25 
Accessories 28 
Costs 30 
Profits 31 
Preparation of skins 31 
Legal aspects 32 
Summary 34 
INTRODUCTION. 
Furs are the most useful and valuable of the several products 
derived from wild animals. Indispensable to primitive man, they 
are scarcely less important to the civilized, for in warmth, beauty, and 
durability no manufactured fabrics equal them. As the result of in- 
crease of population and of encroachments upon the breeding grounds 
of the fur bearers the supply of furs has steadily diminished and prices 
have correspondingly advanced. Trappers have been stimulated to 
penetrate farther and farther into the uninhabited regions of the 
north and to redouble their efforts to increase their catch nearer 
home. Many of the more valuable animals are now so scarce that 
the demand for their pelts is met by the substitution of inferior 
products. Among the most important of the fur bearers of North 
America is the silver fox, which furnishes the subject of this bulletin. 
The natural production of first-class furs seems to be approaching 
a sure end, and the growing and world-wide demand for them requires 
that the present supply be supplemented with stock obtained through 
domestication. Experience has demonstrated that some of the fur 
bearers may be raised without much difficulty. This is likely to lead 
5238°— Bull. 301—L5 1 
