32 BULLETIN" 1151, V. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGTilCULTURE. 
for the help on the ranch. If there is no convenient place to store 
tools or to pelt foxes it would be well to construct a building for this 
purpose. 
Some ranchers have the guard fence lighted or strung with charged 
wires to keep out robbers. 
Feed pans or dishes are essential and their kind and use will be 
taken up later under " Feeding.'' Other pieces of equipment are dis- 
cussed under " Handling " and " Pelting." 
ESSENTIALS OF BREEDING/ 
Those engaged in raising foxes should have a clear conception of 
the important factors involved in breeding. Mendel's law has a di- 
rect and practical application to the breeding of silver foxes, and an 
understanding of its principles is vital to success in the enterprise. 
The silver fox being a recessive, always breeds true, with some degree 
of silver, but not always a desirable type. It is found in actual 
practice that' Alaskan silver foxes bred to standard silvers will pro- 
duce cross foxes in the litter. 
METHODS OF SELECTION. 
Success in fox raising is directly dependent upon a careful and 
intelligent selection of the right type of breeding stock. By type is 
meant the sum total of certain features, the possession of which 
makes a fox meet definite requirements for the production of a high 
quality of fur. Only those individuals meeting standard require- 
ments should be selected for breeding purposes. Pedigreed foxes 
as such do not always do this; some registered foxes are detrimental 
to any ranch, being not only inferior in type but worthless in fur 
value. 
PELTS. 
The real basis for selecting foxes for breeding purposes is the 
quality of fur produced by the offspring, the indications from 
conformation (see p. 33) occupying a secondary place. In the case 
of sheep, wool production is judged directly and the same should be 
true of the fox and its fur. 
The pelt of a fox should be perfectly and evenly furred all over, 
both on the back and on the belly. The fur should be reasonably 
long, lustrous, and silky in appearance. These characters determine 
the quality. The guard hairs, whether silver banded or black, should 
be long, fine and silky in texture, and longer in the region of the nape 
than on other parts of the body. The underfur should be abundant, 
soft, and dark in color, the darker the better. Matty or woolly un- 
derfur is not desirable. 
When prime, a silver fox should be black and silver, the glossy 
black shading to blue black. The silver bands on the guard hairs 
should be bright in color. The color must be clear, whether the fox is 
classed as black, extra dark silver, dark silver, silver, or pale silver 
(see frontispiece), for clearness of color is one of the most important 
G For a comprehensive treatment of this subject see Principles of Live Stock Breeding, 
by Sewall Wright: Bull. No. 905, U. S. Dept Agr., 07 p., 25 figs.. 1920; and for a dis- 
cussion of the subject in popular style, see Essentials of Animal Breeding, bv George 
M. Kommell : Farmers' Bulletin 1167, U. S. Dept, Agr., 37 p., 32 figs., reprint, 1921. 
