RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1401 
Skunk Farming on the Side 
With but little time and practically no 
cost the farmer can raise as a side line a 
few skunks that are worth a small for¬ 
tune. Every Spring there are several lit¬ 
ters of young skunks raised under an old 
barn in my back lots. I set two or three 
box traps and catch them, place them in 
a small enclosure, and keep until early 
Spring, when the fur is prime. The best 
grade brought me as high as .$(> a pelt last 
Fall, and the lower grades accordingly. 
A few pairs of the best grade of ani¬ 
mals are kept over to breed, but most of 
the fur I catch when young and keep only 
until fur is prime. If I did not catch 
these little felloAvs and save them they 
J'cDcr (Hid Fence Post for Fkunk Run 
would very likely come to grief, for they 
are always very tame, and run to a 
neighbor's chicken park. He has shot 
seven that I know of this year; just like 
burning two 20-dollar bills, with fur 
bringing the remarkable prices that it is 
now. By selecting one black male for 
five nicely marked females I am able to 
breed a majority of dark skunks. 
I never have had any trouble with can¬ 
nibalism among my skunks, because I give 
them plenty of room for exercise, and 
feed them plenty of table scraps, ■vegeta¬ 
bles, fruits, fish, meat scraps, etc. The 
meat should not be salty, and should be 
fed to the old ones in the Spring, before 
the litters come, so that they will not eat 
their naked young. Each mother is placed 
in a box that has a floor (I generally find 
I can get boxes from the store that are 
just about right), and should be surround¬ 
ed by a small enclosure that will allow 
the small .skunks to run. A quarter of an 
acre allowe me to keep from 50 to 60 
skunks for the fur market. (If cour.se I 
could not keep that many the whole year 
in that space, but remember that over 
half of the pelts I sell in the Winter are 
taken from wild animals that I caught 
young in my back lots, and sometime.^ 
right near the farm buildings, and the.se 
animals have only a few mouths to oc¬ 
cupy the enclosure. These wild ones are 
kept separate from the litters that come 
from my breeders, and the sexes are kept 
separate, as it is the best plan for growing 
them as quickly as possible. Fewer fe¬ 
males can be kept together than males, as 
the females most often fight. Feed more 
meat scraps and you will stop this at 
once. 
For Winter use the skunks must have 
dens to sleei> in, and more skunks will 
den up together peaceably for Winter 
than at any other time of the year. I 
use a post digger to start the burrows 
that are used for dens, and the skunks 
take the hint and do the remainder of the 
digging. Straw and dry stuff should be 
placed near for pulling into the den and 
making a nest. The skunk yards are sur¬ 
rounded with inch mesh chicken wire set 
two feet into the ground and five feet 
high. I dug a trench three feet deep, 
filled it with stones for the first foot, set 
in the posts and placed the wire on, fill¬ 
ing up the trench. This mak-s a dig-out 
proof fence for the outside, while the 
smaller compartments for the inside yards 
need have only temporary fences. 
Fresh milk is a diet that the skunks 
will thrive on. Oakes and mush made 
from coriimeal are very good, and cooked 
green corn and hominy also. Feed once a 
day. just at dark, and give them only just 
what will be cleaned up during the night. 
Of course the females with young are fed 
morning and night. I get all the meat 
odds and ends from the butcher that T can 
find when I go to town, end during the 
Summer keep sevei'al steel traps set for 
woodchuck, which furnishes me very good 
meat and keeps the ’chucks thinned down 
on my farm. In sea.son skunks will eat 
any raw vegetables and fruit. Their 
range of diet is the most varied of any 
animal that I know, and this makes them 
an easy animal to rai.se. 
I have never taken out the scent glands, 
and the skunks are back away from the 
road, where they cause no one any trouble, 
and I have a surprisingly small amount of 
scent, due to the fact that I keep them 
fed right and so they never fight, which is 
the cause for scenting. Keep them con¬ 
tented and they are just as tame and 
playful as kittens. When the time comes 
for harvesting the fur I attract them one 
at a time into a box by means of tempting 
food, and suffocate them by placing in 
the box a little chloroform or carbon bi¬ 
sulphide on a piece of cotton. Death 
comes in 10 minutes and I skin them with 
no more odor than from a cat. . 
Stretchers for the pelts can be bought 
ready made of galvanized wire, but I saw 
mine out of half-inch lumber. The length 
is 30 inches, with a width of nine inches 
on one end and two inches on the other. 
Never put salt or alum on a fur that you 
are planning to sell, because it hurts the 
value of the pelt, as any fur dealer will 
caution you. There is never any need to 
carry the faint odor of skunk scent on 
your person, for you can quickly wash it 
off with chloride of lime. If you should 
get the scent on clothing where you did 
not want to spoil the colors in the cloth, 
you would not want to use chloride of 
lime. In this case wash the garment in 
gasoline and allow to,hang in the sun and 
wind, or pl.ace the clothing in running 
water. Anyone interested should write 
the United States Department of Agricul¬ 
ture, Washington, D. C., for free books on 
skunk farming. 
The sketch at the left shows a 
section of the fence that I place about the 
skunk enclosure. The posts are eight feet 
long, being five feet above ground. To 
make sure that the skunks will not use the 
wire for a ladder and so climb out, I place 
overhanging boards on the top of the 
posts, projecting nine inches inside. To 
keep other animals out, I place another 
overhanging board toward the outside of 
the same width. At No. 2 is shown the 
way I place my posts into the ground, and 
the dimension for depth and height are 
given at the side. K. k. brimmeb. 
Onondaga Co., N. Y. 
Farming on Shares 
Will you give me some .suggestions for 
leasing a farm on shares? The owner 
wants to raise early tomato plants, also 
wishes me to furnish glass, sash and 
frames for same. Is this the custom? 
What are the customs in dividing the corn 
and hay crops? Is it true that I should 
furnish all lime, manure, grass seed, spray 
luaterTtil, and that we go 50-50 on the 
fertilizer bought? a. a. L. 
As there is nothing .said in regard to 
the agreement in the division of the re¬ 
sulting crops, I cannot answer the inquiry 
except in a general way. When the crops 
are divided on a 50-50 basis the owner of 
the farm usually furnishes all the lime 
'fhe bank in this district is located at 
Baltimore. 
The third district covers North Caro¬ 
lina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, 
with headquarters at Columbia, S. C. 
District No. 4 covers Tennessee, Ken¬ 
tucky, Indiana and Ohio, Louisville, Ky., 
being headquarters. 
The fifth district covers Alabama, 
Louisiana and Mississippi, with the bank 
at New^ Orleans. 
District No. 6 comprises Illinois, Mis¬ 
souri and Arkansas, with St. Louis as 
headquarters. 
District No. 7 covers North Dakota, 
Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, with 
the bank at St. Paul, Minn. 
The eighth district consists of Iowa, 
Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming, 
Omaha, Neb., being the center. 
District No. 9, Kansas, Oklahoma, 
Colorado and New Mexico, the bank be¬ 
ing at Wichita, Kansas. 
Tenth district is composed of Texas 
alone, with Houston headquarters. 
Eleventh district covers California, 
Utah, Nevada and Arizona, the bank be¬ 
ing located at Berkeley, California. 
The twelfth or last district is composed 
of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washing¬ 
ton, the bank being at Spokane Wash¬ 
ington. The proper way to apply for 
information about these banks is to write 
to the President of the Federal Land 
Bank at the point indicated for the State 
in which you live. Ask for instructions, 
and you will receive pamphlets telling you 
just how this money is handled. Up to 
the end of October these banks have re- 
C('ived 104,101 applications for loans. Of 
this number 90,478 had been approved, 
and (>1,174 loans had been actually made, 
l^e amount loaned amounted to .$139,- 
378,1.56. The largest amount had been 
loaned at the Spokane bank, with St. 
Paul, Omaha, Wichita and Houston fol¬ 
lowing in the order given. These five 
Western districts had taken nearly 70 
per cent of all the loans thus far put out. 
Odorless Death of the Skunk 
The little picture shows how to take 
them from the house, barn or cellar, with 
no odor. Near the end of a board, ae in 
rough sketch, place beneath a block of 
wood; anything to raise the board 10 
inches or one foot from the ground. At 
this end place a barrel, as in sketch, just 
a. 
that Nebraska is a great, rich State. The 
potash lakes cover but a small part of it. 
While our friend wandered over the coun¬ 
try and settled down in “the best spot,’’ 
we know a .Terseyman who also wandered 
everywhere and came back to New .Tersey 
to live. “There’s no place like home!’’ 
Single Barrel Trap for Skunk 
and manure, tools and stock, and half the 
reed and Yn fertilizer, and the farmer all 
help, half the seed, half the fertilizer. 
When there ai’e hogs and chickens kept 
on the farm the hogs are divided equally 
and the farmer usually gets all the bene¬ 
fit from the chickens, though in some 
cases the benefits from these are also 
equally divided. When milch cows are 
kept on the farm by the owner, the milk 
and butter (if any) are equally divided. 
In some cases when the farm is in ex¬ 
tra good and highly productive condition, 
the owner furnishes one-half the seed and 
half the fertilizer and all lime and 
manure, while the farmer furnishes all 
the to61s, stock, half the seed and half 
the fertilizer, hogs, cows and chickens, as 
in the first plan. 
When the farm is run on two-thirds 
share to the owner and one-third to the 
farmer, the owner furnishes all tools, 
stock, seed, lime, manure and fertilizer, 
and the farmer furnishe.s all help. When 
milch cows, hogs and chickens are kept 
on the farm each get half the milk and 
butter, if any, half the hogs, and half 
the chickens and eggs, though in many 
(!ases the farmer gets all the benefits from 
the chickens. 
Now as to the building and running of 
hotlx'ds on the farm for the purpose of 
raising plants for market. I have no 
definite information as to the usual ar¬ 
rangement. but from what information I 
have at hand it would seem that the 
owner of the farm usually builds this 
frame, as it is more or less of a perma¬ 
nent fixture on the farm, and *the farmer 
furnishes the sash and glass, as they are 
portable and may be easily removed when 
he leaves the farm. Owner and farmer 
each stand half the expenses for seed and 
fertilizer and all other expenses incident 
therto, and the proceeds arc divided. K. 
so it will stay on the board and not bal¬ 
ance off. Bore a hole near the top edge 
of head to tie the bait on the inside of 
barrel, or it may be nailed on. You Avill 
find the gentleman in the morning in No. 
2, which may be carried anywhere with¬ 
out any odor. m. o. b. 
West Pawlet, Vt. 
The Federal Farm Loan Banks 
Many of our readers are becoming in¬ 
terested in the Federal Land banks. We 
have many letters asking how to obtain 
information about the service these banks • 
are prepared to render. There are 12 
bank districts in the country. The first 
covers the States of Maine, New Hamp¬ 
shire, Vermont. IMassachusetts, Rhode 
Island. Connecticut, New York and New 
.Jersey, with headquarters at Springfield, 
Mass. 
The second district covers Pennsyl¬ 
vania, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, 
Delaware and the District of Columbia. 
Notes from Nebraska 
I have read with interest the article on 
American potash on page 1305. I venture 
to say that most people living in Nebraska 
knew nothing about the alkali lakes in 
Western Nebraska previous to their de¬ 
velopment as a source of potash. I fear 
that your readers will get an idea that 
the great State of Nebraska is a sort of 
desert, from i-eading the accounts of this 
development of those lakes in the .sand 
hills country. I traveled for four years 
in nearly two-thirds of the States all the 
way from Nebraska to Washington, back 
through California, and stopping to work 
on farms in many places, including such 
States as Wyoming, Colorado, the two 
Dakotas, Illinois and Michigan, clear on 
through to New .Jersey. I visited several 
Eastern States, and finally came back 
home and settled here on a farm, as no¬ 
where did I find a more fertile soil or bet¬ 
ter inducements offered by nature. It 
would seem iucre<lible to most of your 
Eastern farmers, but my pasture of 40 
acres supported my herd of 64 head of 
cattle for the Summer, and about a dozen 
horses besides; 16 head of the cattle were 
calves. They are mostly grade Short¬ 
horns, with a few Angus and a coiiple of 
.Jerseys 1 keep for milking. The reason 
that this particular pasture is able to 
support so much stock is because it is 
rich bottom land, of which there is con¬ 
siderable in the eastern part of the State. 
It would also astonish your Eastern read¬ 
ers to know what land in this vicinity is 
valued at, and what it actually sells for. 
These bottom lands are nearly all sub¬ 
irrigated or supplied with moistui’e from 
below in nature’s own way, which adds 
to their value as pasture. Then there are 
our hill lands, better adapted to Alfalfa 
than pasture, producing great crops of 
Alfalfa hay without any liming or extra 
manuring or other tedious preparation. 
Our valleys produce great crops of corn 
nearly every year. I have seen some of 
the little patches of corn that Eastern 
farmers call cornfields. OTIS stringer. 
Wayne Co., Neb. 
R. N.-Y.—Most Eastern people realize 
Wood Ashes and Potatoes 
For past three years I have used wood 
ashes on my potatoes with good results. 
I usually plant one-eighth acre every year. 
The season of 1916 I used wood ashes 
for first time. It was a poor season and 
potatoes were a failure and were bringing 
$.3 or more per bushel. I dug 15 bushels 
of marketable j)otatoes. In 1917 on one- 
eighth acre I dug 29 bushels of market¬ 
able potatoes, and this season only 13 
bushels. The rea.son for this, I suppose, 
was because of the green lice. I use about 
two b.'irrels of ashes on this amount of 
land in addition to other fertilizer used. 
It seems to me that if one’s seed and 
land are free from scab there should be 
no damage from u.sing wood ashes. 
JAilES S. LAIIOND. 
“A Young Farmer Pays Out” 
Jji.kow many?” The article on 
fgreat sermon on one man’s 
faith in a fellow man. G. could have 
sold his farm through the real estate 
agent for .$3,000, and no doubt receive a 
substantial sum, if not the full price 
down, but he was satisfied to accept a 
fair advance above the price he paid for 
the farm and give the young man his 
chance to make good, which he h.a.s done 
There is no doubt but that this young 
man is a better citizen than ever before. 
He has his own business, is interested iii 
improving it; also interested in local as 
vvell as nation-wide questions and condi¬ 
tions, while G. has the satisfaction not 
only of having sold his farm, but of hav¬ 
ing helped a fellow man to find his life’s 
work. How many would take this chance 
even though the terms of a deal of this 
kind can be arrangeel so there would be 
no po.ssible chance to lose? Let’s hear 
from them, t r 
New Jersey. 
Sheep Manure for Potatoes 
Can pulverized sheep manure be used 
successfully as a fertilizer for Jill farm 
crops? Would it have a tendency to 
cause potatoes to develop scab? l' can 
purchase the sheep manure for .$2.75 a 
hundred, but the.v have no other commer¬ 
cial fertilizer. a. s. a. 
New Hampshire. 
The sheep manure will not make the 
best fertilizer for all crops when used 
alone. The “balance” of nitrogen is too 
higli for the phosphoi’us. It would l)e 
Hkely to increase the scab on potatoes. 
\\ hen acid phosphate is mixed with it 
you have a good combination. Bv lusing 
500 pounds of acid phosphate to ii ton of 
sheep manure you will avoid the danger 
from scab and obtain better results from 
the manure. 
Cementing a Well 
On page 1,310 W. E. M. asks about ce¬ 
menting the bottom of a well. I would 
Suggest that he excavate to a depth of 
SIX to eight inches the porous strata of his 
well and fill it in with cement impervious 
to water, like filling a tooth. Make one, 
or, better, two, indentations or excava¬ 
tions in the solid stone, entirely around 
the well, so as to diminish the probability 
of water coming into the well, or getting 
out. A dentist could tell the manner in 
which this could be best done. 
A. G. EAGLESON. 
Apple Butter Without Cider 
First you must have a bright, new 
boiler, a rin lard tub is good, with a tight- 
fitting hd. Pare and slice the apples 
Reprotluced from New York Evening Telegram 
thin ; to three pounds of fruit use one of 
brown sugar, a layer of apples and a 
layer of sugar. Do this at night, placing 
the lid on. In the morning put some large 
10-penuy nails (or other pieces of iron) 
on the stove and set boiler on these, to 
prevent burning. After it commences to 
boil, boil for six or seven hours. Take 
from stove, pour out in large pan, set on 
back part of stove, add spices and stir till 
smooth and dry. You must not raise the 
lid after you place sugar and fruit in 
boiler at night. When you put it on 
stove to cook, place a weight on the lid. 
and don’t be tempted to peep in. If you 
do you will ruin it. m. g. i. 
