FUR FARMING SECTION
PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY
This section Is open for discussion of anything pertaining
to fur farming.
Information concerning stock, site, house and pen con
struction, equipment, cost, breeding, mating, feeding, cooking
recipes, sanitation, prevention of contagious diseases, disinfec
tion, trapping, killing, pelting, marketing, packing, shipping
and other notes are welcomed for publication,—with due credit
to the author.
This section is intended to be the common meeting ground
for fur farmers. Interchange of ideas, helpful information, con
structive suggestions anent these particulars should readily
solve vexatious problems of fur farming. Readers are urged to
take advantage of this section and help The Gateway foster fur
farming throughout Alaska.
i THE MUSKRAT AS A FUR BEARER 1
By David E. Lantz, formerly Assistant Biologist, Division of
Economic Investigation, Bureau of Biological Survey.
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,
controlled by a hunting club of
Toledo, Ohio, the muskrats had
been undisturbed for two years
prior to the winter of 1903-04,
when they were trapped for the
benefit of the club. Five thous
and were 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 marsh
es of Dorchester county are a
center of muskrat fur production.
Formerly the land was consid
ered almost useless, as it is sub
ject to tidal overflow. Now, owing
to the increased value of fur, many
of the marshes, measured by ac
tual income, are worth more than
cultivated lands in the same vi
cinity. Trapping privileges are
leased, usually on the half-and
half plan, and trappers and own
ers unite to protect the marshes
from poaching.
A few specific examples will
give a better idea of the value of
these marsh lands. The owner
of one tract informed the writer
that he bought it several years
ago for $2,700. It is leased for
half the fur and in 1909 yielded
him $890, or about 33 per cent
on the investment. A small piece
of marsh — about 40 acres — was
bought in 1905 for $150. Leased
for half the fur, it yielded the
owner $40, $60, $70, and $100, re
spectively, for each of the fur
years, 1906 to 1909. Taxes on this
land are very light, and on the
basis of a 6 per cent income the
returns for 1909 would represent
an approximate value of nearly
$40 an acre. The owner of a
1.300-acre tract of marsh, who
traps with the aid of his sons,
in two seasons, 1909 and 1910, se
cured over 12.000 muskrats, which
sold for more than $9,000.
The muskrat skins sold in this
region are seldom assorted before
sale. They are separated into
black and brown lots and then
counted, a deduction of from 3
to 5 per cent being made for the
young, known as “kits." The skins
sold throughout the season of
1917 brought 35 to 45 cents for
brown and 60 and 75 cents for
black. The proportion of black
skins varies on different parts of
the marshes from 10 to 60 per cent,
the average being about 40 per
cent.
Muskrat meat is an additional
source of income to the trapper.
It is bought by local buyers and
sold for local consumption or
shipped to outside markets, all be
ing utilized. The Baltimore mar
ket absorbs the bulk of the ship
ments. In 1909 the wholesale price
was about 4 cents a carcass; in
1917 it ranged from 10 to 13 cents.
The editor of the Cambridge
<Md.) Record stated that the
muskrat industry of Dorchester
county brings into the community
about $100,000 annually. This
would indicate that the average
catch is about a quarter million
animals. Owing to continued cold
weather in 1917, the catch prob
ably did not exceed 150,000, but
the high prices prevailing brought
the income nearly up to normal.
The danger of exhausting the sup
ply by continued close trapping
has been discussed in Dorchester
county, but trappers maintain
that with the long closed season,
March 16 to December 31, a little
ground for anxiety on this score
exists.
POSSIBILITIES OF BUSINESS
Muskrats require no feeding,
since the plant life of ponds and
marshes furnishes abundance of
food. ’In many States the * areas
adapted to the muskrat are ex
tensive, and doubtless suitable
areas could be found in sections
from which muskrats are now ab
sent. As trapping is done in
winter, the business of muskrat
farming is especially adapted to
farmers and farmers' boys.
The improvement of the musk
rat’s pelage by selective breeding
has never been attempted. Prob
ably the black muskrat could be
bred true to color and greatly im
proved in the localities it now in
habits, and could be introduced
successfully into other sections of
the country. Indeed, to make the
most of the muskrat industry re
quires that the possibilities of se
lective breeding be tested.
MUSKRATS
Its destructive habits make the
muskrat a pest in comparatively
few places. On the whole, and es
pecially in large marshes and un
inhabited sections, its economic
value far outweighs the harm it
does. On many of the streams it
inhabits, no attempts have been
made to impound water for use,
and hence the animal does not
interfere with engineering opera
tions. In all such situations and
in swamps the muskrat should
have ample protection to insure
a present and future fur supply.
The present value of the pelt is
an incentive to excessive trapping.
Mill owners and superintendents
of canals, irrigation works, and
levees sometimes are confronted
with the necessity for active op
erations against muskrats, and
should know the more effective
methods of combating them. It
must be confessed that the usual
means have not been very suc
cessful. Bounties have never ef
fected more than a temporary re
duction of their numbers. Shoot
ing ordinarily makes the survivors
exceedingly wary. Trapping is
more successful, but it can seldom
be carried to the limit of practical
extermination.
Methods of trapping are effect
ive in both summer and winter,
but when green food is abundant
greater care is needed in the se
lection of baits. With enough steel
traps placed in favorable loca
tions the danger to embankments
may be diminished greatly. The
barrel trap will sometimes bring
quicker relief, since it often cap
tures an entire family of muskrats
at one setting. Whenever possi
ble, trapping these animals should
be deferred until their skins are
prime.
Muskrats can be destroyed much
more rapidly by poisoning than
by trapping. Powdered strych
nin sweetened with powdered
sugar or commercial saccharin and
sprinkled over freshly cut pieces
of apple, carrot, or ripe squash
has proved effective in many
cases. Crystals of the same poi
son inserted in the baits with a |
knife also have given good re- j
suits. Care must be taken to keep i
poisoned baits where they will
not endanger other valuable wild
or domestic animals.
DESTROYING MUSKRATS
PROTECTING PROPERTY FROM
The use of concrete foundations
of proper depth for dams reduces
to a minimum the danger of in
jury from muskrats. The modern
dam or weir is always safe from
their attacks.
Probably the most successful
means of protecting earthen em
bankments is to employ a skillful
trapper to patrol them regularly,
using traps, poisons, and a small
calibre rifle. The patrol is usually
charged with the additional duty
of watching for and promptly re
pairing slight breaks in the em
bankments.
Several methods of keeping
muskrats from injuring small
ponds have been recommended.
One is the liberal use of gravel
or coarse sand for the surface of
embankments, since the animals
will not burrow in soil that fills
the holes as fast as they open it.
The best means of protecting
the vegetable garden from musk
rats is to erect a fence of net
ting, either surrounding the gar
den or skirting the bank of the
adjacent stream or pond. The
netting should be of galvanized
wire 3 feet or more in width and
of ll/2 in mesh. The lower edge
should be sunk 6 inches into the
soil to prevent the animals from
digging under.
ENEMIES OF THE MUSKRAT
| Man is by no means the only
destroyer of the muskrat. Among
its natural enemies are the coy
ote, fox, mink, the larger hawks
and owls, and the pickerel. But
all of these enemies together do
not greatly affect its numbers.
The proposed reclamation of
swamps and marsh lands through
out the country, if carried out,
will greatly reduce the number of
muskrats by restricting their hab
itat, and if the supply of this fur
is to be maintained it must be
through protection and eventually
through private ownership.
PROTECTIVE LAWS
The earleist act for the protec
tion of fur animals in America
was the Massachusetts law of
1791, which prohibited trapping
fur animals, including the musk
rat, during the months of June,
July, August and September. An
; act passed by New Hampshire in
1821 protected beavers, minks,
I otters, and muskrats from May 1
I to November 1 of each year. The ,
New Jersey law protecting musk
rats, passed January 21, 1829, con
tinued in force until 1913. The
first Ohio law providing a close
season for muskrats was passed
June 18, 1830. At present this
animal has partial protection in I
a large part of its range, but most j
of the laws are of compartively i
recent enactment. Changes in laws;
affecting the muskrat may be
found in Farmers’ Bulletins of the J
United States Department of Ag- '
CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING!
RATES—Fifteen cents per line first inser
tion. Seven and one half cents per tine ,
i for subsequent insertions. Count sis av- ;
erase words to a line. Minimum charge jO
cents.
FOR SALE—Seven pair Moose Pass
pen-raised mink. Inquire Joe
Eamon, P. O. Bx. 412, Seward.
TRAPPERS! Two Foxes in a day,
with only two sets out, is my record.
Methods guaranteed, $1.00. Floyd
Blackman, RD 3, New Berlin, N. Y.
Hartman’s Genuine Black Raccoons.
Registered stock. Prices reason
able. Satisfaction guaranteed. One
of the oldest breeders. E. L. Hart
man, New London, Ohio, U. S. A.
FOR SALE—The Mountain Home.
Inquire E. L. Sweek.
FOR SALE— 6 piece dining room
suite (Solid Oak), good condition.
Winkler, Cable Office.
FOR SALE—Old newspapers; 25c
per bundle. Order by phone
Main 110 or letter to Gateway
office, Seward.
Quartz and placer location notices i
at the Gateway ofice.
FOR SALE—New 18", 3-blade pro- j
pellor, bored to fit, $11.00; new |
heavy 1%" stuffing box, $10.50; j
fine used right 18" by 28, wide!
3-blade propellor, $7.00. All j
bronze. Good used 2Vz" iron
Thermex muffler, $7.00. All on
Boston boat. Wm. II. Baker, Pond
St., Quincy, Mass.
riculture, on laws relating to fur
animals.
The muskrat pelt taken in Oc
tober or November is worth hardly I
half as much as if trapped in Feb- '
ruary. Trappers are often care- i
less of their own interests, and!
1 in their eagerness to forestall com- i
petitors take the field far too
early. Fur dealers, on the other
hand, have generally deprecated
this policy, and have endeavored
to secure reform. Muskrats with
in the United States should not
be trapped before December 15;
and while the fur is still prime
in the latter part of March, the
breeding season is then on, and
continued trapping would greatly
limit the number of animals for
the next season. The open season
for the muskrat should be limited
to about three months, from De
cember 15 to March 15, or in the
more northern States from De
cember 1 to March 15.
_
•'
Science of Trapping, $1.50; Fox
Trapping, $1.50; Fur Buyer's Guide,!
$2.50; Home Manufacture of Furs
and Skins, $1.75; ALASKA SHOF.
Sales
Every Month in the
Year
1931 SALES DATES
September 15
October 20
November 17
December 15
Advances will be made
as usual when request
ed. Transferred by Tel
egraph If desired.
Special Sales Held on
Request of Shippers
NEW YORK
Wants Your
FURS
The purchasing power
of the American fur in
dustry is concentrated in
New York, the fur center
of the world. . Offer your
raw furs to these buyers
through the NEW YORK
AUCTION CO., INC. This
is the safest and best
method of marketing your
merchandise.
Let us put you on our
mailing list. Write us
today.
[NEW YORK AUCTION Cl
Incorporated
226 West 26th Street
NEW YORK
Custom tanner*
of fur skin* and
buckskin* Taxi
dermist *n klg
one r«gi, wall
mounts. Milt
facturec a f
chokers, coat*
and stores of
latest style*.
Send for oar
catalogue.
—We ear teeth tot mounting—
W. W. WEAVER, Reading Michigan
Traps, Trap Ifegs, Scents, Trap*
ping equipment. Quick service.
Write lor new catalogue.
HOWE FUR COMPANY,
Coopers Mills, Maine
1 ATTENTION PIANO “
OWNERS
Expert piano tuning and
servicing... Alaska agent for
Kohler-Brambach pianos, for
sale and rent.
Servicing Alaska for 25
years successfully—There’s a
reason. Phone, orders to
GEORGE ANDERSON
care of SEWARD HOTEL
(In Seward Soon)
Have you heard he new “OKEH”
records at Sylvia’s. They are won
derful.
Fly With the
NORTHERN AIR TRANSPORT, INC.
NOME AND FAIRBANKS
WRITE OR WIRE
Airplane Service to All Parts of Alaska
COMFORTABLE CABIN PLANES
JOHN e.
WHITE and CO.
High Grade Line of
CIGARS
TOBACCOS
CANDIES
K
FINEST BILLIARD HALL IN ALASKA
KODIAK, the Home of the World’s Largest Bear
World’* record boor was killed S miles from the town of Kodiak and measured
13 feet 6 inches. THE GENUINE KODIAK BEAR (Ursos Mlddendorfii) ARE
ONLY 'FOUND ON KODIAK ISLAND. THE GREAT ALASKA BROWN BEAR
(Ursus Goyas) ARE FOUND ON THE ADJACENT MAINLAND AND PARTS
OF THE KEN At PENINSU1A.
World’s record moose, with
a spread of 78Va inches, was
taken on the Kenai Pen
insula. SEWARD is th<*
Gateway to the world
famous hunting grounds.
KODIAK GUIDES ASSOCIATION
Chas. Madsen, Field Mgr.-KODIAK, ALASKA
I!