! 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
J to the author.
This section is intended to be the common meeting ground
for fur fanners. 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.
1
I THE MUSKRAT AS A FUR BEARER 1
By David E. Lantz, formerly Assistant Biologist, Division of
Economic Investigation, Bureau of Biological Survey.
***:••}: ******* *
IMPORTANCE OF THE MUSKRAT
The fur resources of the United
States have diminished steadily
during the last half century, and
present conditions indicate a still
further shrinkage of the supply.
The decrease has been in quantity
of the better pelts and not in total
value of the annual catch. The
large increase in value is account
ed for by the advancing prices
and by the large output of furs
that formerly were neglected. The
muskrat has been one of the chief
factors in maintaining a high total
value for our annual fur produc
tion and in commercial importance
now heads the list of fur bearers
of the United States.
Beavers, otters, martens and
fishers have disappeared from
much of their former range, and
even minks, raccoons, and skunks
have become scarce in some local
ities. Muskrats have also dimin
ished in places where marshes
have been drained and where over
trapping has taken place. These
animals multiply much more rap
idly than the other fur bearers
named, and because of their
aquatic retreats and general habits
are better fitted to maintain their
numbers under reasonable protec
tion. The present bulletin is de
signed to show their economic im
portance and to encourage further
legislation tending to conserve an
Important resource. The harmful
activities of muskrats are by no
means forgotten, and methods for
destroying the animals when they
become noxious are presented.
DESCRIPTION
The muskrat is a rodent which,
when full grown, is about four
times as large as the ordinary
brown rat. It has a blunt muzzle,
a short and hardly noticeable neck,
and a stout body. The tail is
characteristic, about two-thirds as
long as the head and body, com
pressed laterally, and tapering to
a rather acute point; the thinly
scattered hairs on the tail do
not conceal the small but dis
tinctly marked scales. The eyes
are small, black, and beady. The
ears are snort, covered with hairs,
and in winter almost wholly con
cealed in the fur. The incisors
-are large and without grooves. The
legs are short, especially the front
ones, and the feet are stout and
provided with rather long claws.
The hind feet are webbed slightly
and so formed that they can be
turned edgewise when carried for
ward while the animal is swim
ming.
Except the beaver, no inland
lur-bearing mammal of the Unit
ed States leads a more aquatic
life than the muskrat. Its char
acters especially adapt it to the
water. Besides having feet spe
cialized for swimming, it has a
tail which serves as an efficient
rudder, and fur which is prac
tically waterproof. The long over
hairs are close and glossy, and
the underfur is exceedingly dense.
The more common color of the
muskrat is dark umber brown, the
exact shade depending upon the
season and the locality.
Fur dealers recognize only one
variety of the muskrat differing
from the common color. This va
riety consists of the dark, some
times almost black, skins collected
in the Chesapeake and Delaware
regions, and in more limited num
bers elsewhere. They are sold as
“black muskrat,” and command a
higher price than the ordinary
color. The form from which most
of the black skins are derived
ranges chiefly in the tidewater
region of the Atlantic coast from
New Jersey to North Carolina.
The muskrat derives its name
from the musky odor given off by
certain glands. The odor pervades
the entire skin to some extent,
i particularly in summer. Musquash
| is the Cree Indian name, and has
;the authority of long use, especial
ly among fur dealers.
CLASSIFICATION AND
DISTRIBUTION
The muskrat is related very
closely to the common short-tailed
meadow mouse, but is much larger,
'and has fur, feet, and tail more
| highly specialized for a life in the
; water. In addition to size, it
differs from the meadow mouse
particularly in having a long,
| narrow, rudderlike tail, which is
nearly naked, about as long as the
body without the head, and thick
est along the middle line.
Muskrats inhabit the greater
part of North America from the
| northern limit of trees south about
to the Mexican border. They are
absent from the coastal parts of
South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama,
and Texas, and from Florida and
nearly all of California. They do;
not occur in parts of the interior j
plateau that have no streams or i
lakes. Throughout their extensive 1
range, except in Newfoundland i
and southern Louisiana, they are J
considered as of one species with j
about a dozen geographic races, j
GENERAL HABITS
Muskrats are chiefly nocturnal,
but they are much more active by
day than many persons suppose.
Where seldom disturbed they often
may be seen at work in bright
sunlight, especially at the season
when they are building winter
houses. These structures, though
smaller and less strongly built,
are in many ways similar to those j
of the beaver.
HOUSES AND BURROWS
Muskrat houses are composed of,
rushes, grasses, and roots and j
stems of other aquatic plants. The!
structure rests on the bottom of
a shallow pond, and is built mainly
of the kind of plants on which
the animals feed. These are heap
ed up without orderly arrangement
until the domelike top rises two
or three feet above the water. The
mud on the outside and in the
walls of muskrat houses seems to
be collected accidentally with the
roots. Within the part of the
structure above the water a cham
ber is excavated, from which two
or three passages lead downward
through the mass into the water,
reaching it at points well below
the frost line. If the water is
shallow, the animals excavate
deeper channels leading from the
house to various parts of the pond.
The houses are mostly for win
ter shelter and food and are sel
dom used as receptacles for the
young. Occasionally, when driven
from other houses or when ex
fluded from underground burrows
y barriers of ice or frozen ground,
more than one family may occupy
a single house temporarily.
When banks of streams or ponds
are high enough for the purpose,
muskrats burrow into them. En
trances -to the tunnels are almost
always under water, and the ap
proach to them is, if possible, by
channels of sufficient depth to
prevent ice from closing the pas
sage. The tunnels extend upward
into the bank above the level of
the water. They often rise to
within a few inches of the surface
of the ground and are frequently
protected above by roots, by trees
and shrubs, or by thickly matted
turf. These tunnels extend 10 to
50 feet into the bank and termi
nate in a roomy chamber which
sometimes contains a bulky nest
composed of dried vegetation. Us
ually two tunnels lead from the
nest to the water, and often a
tunnel has two branches or out
lets.
When burrows can be made,
muskrats occupy them in winter
and summer; but in shallow ponds
and marshes, and especially in
northern latitudes, the entrances
are often closed by ice in winter.
In such situations and when banks
are not suitable for burrows,
houses become a necessity, but
they are seldom seen along the
borders of deep ponds and canals,
and, except in extensive swamps
unbroken by hillocks, they are not
found in the southern parts of
[the muskrat’s range.
As cold weather approaches, the
animals become very active, add
ing to their old winter houses,
building new ones, and deepening
channels that lead to houses and
burrows. They do not hibernate,
and, aside from the vegetation of
which their houses are made, seem
to make little provision for winter.
However, some of the surplus food
collected may be found in their
burrows at almost any time.
BREEDING
Early writers about the muskrat
gave widely divergent accounts of
its breeding habits. It is now
well established that the animals
breed from three to five times a
year and that the litters average
from six to eight young. The
early spring litters are usually less
in number, and those of midsum
mer are somewhat above the av
erage. The following are actual
records secured by the Biological
Survey: In February, three em
bryos; March 6, three large em
bryos; April 19, six small embryos;
June 8, eight embryos; June 18,
13 embryos. It is probable that 1
the young of early spring litters
breed in the fall of the same year.
A correspondent from Cam
bridge, Md.. has furnished a de
tailed account of his observations
during many years while residing
near marshes and trapping in
them. He makes the interesting
statement that most of the young
muskrats in Dorchester county
marshes are born, not in burrows,
for there are few places where
burrowing is possible, nor yet in
winter houses, although this is
occasional, but in new nests which
the female builds of grasses and
dry plants, but without roots or
mud. Such a nest is placed above
the reach of tides in a brush pile
or a bunch of growing plants. He
states that he often has found
young muskrats in these nests,
which are far less bulky than the
winter houses. He is uncertain
as to the period of gestation, but
thinks it is less than a month.
I All recent testimony shows that
'in their breeding habits muskrats
are not unlike field mice. The
conclusion is further strengthened
by the remarkable way in which
the marshes, depleted by vigorous
winter trapping, are replenished
before the opening of another sea
son. The known facts may be thus
summarized: Normally the animals
mate in March and the first litter
is born in April; a second litter is
due in June or early in July; and
a third in August or September.
In favorable seasons a fourth or
even a fifth litter may be pro
duced. The period of gestation
is possibly no longer than 21 days,
as with the common rat and prob
ably with the field mouse. The
young are blind and naked when
born but develop rapidly. Outside
of low marshes, muskrats usually
are born in the underground bur
rows.
I
MIGRATIONS
Muskrats often wander over
fields and along highways far
from water. This occurs late in
fall, early in spring, or during
severe droughts late in summer.
The causes are not understood, al
though the spring movement has
generally been attributed to the
beginning of the mating season.
When met away from water, th®
animals sometimes show consid
erable ferocity and have been
known to attack persons savagely
without apparent provocation.
The local movements of musk
rats, both overland and along
streams, make it difficult to pro
tect canals and artificial ponds
from the animals. They promptly
find their way to new ponds built
several miles from their former
known haunts. Irrigation canals
and ditches likewise are invaded
throughout their entire length so
nearly simultaneously that it is
hard to believe that all the ani
mals could have reached them
through the head gates.
FOOD
Like nearly all rodents, the
muskrat is chiefly herbivorous, but
it sometimes indulges in animal
food, a habit which it shares with
many other gnawing animals.
Its chief food in winter consists
of the roots of aquatic plants—
pond lilies, arums, sedges, and the
like—but in some localities it feeds
on mussels and also on carp and
other sluggish fish that bury them
selves in mud. When ponds are
frozen over, muskrats are restrict
ed almost wholly to food accessi
ble under the ice, but in rare cases
they leave the water and burrow
under the snow in search of the
crowns of grasses and sedges.
The summer menu is far more
extensive, being made up of many
.quatic plants—roots, stems, leaves,
and fruits—and in addition, of
supplies from near-by fields or
woods. Muskrats are fond of near
ly all garden vegetables—cabbage,
i onions, carrots, parsnips, beets,
peas, beans, celery, and the like—
and they frequently do consid
erable damage in gardens close to
their haunts.
(CONTINUED NEXT WEEK)
Editor Gateway:
“You hit on a whale of a good
thing by running a column once
a week on the great fur industry;
you can cover a field that no so
called fur paper dare cover, as
advertisers keep them from giving
the truth about many things; one
instance: The fur farmers have
been gypped out of millions by
so-called worm remedies the
houses put cut and scare the
farmer in belief he must use their
remedy whether his animals need
it or not. I have never found
a worm remedy of merit among
those advertised.
“When I get time I would like
to write a story on fake worm
remedies.
“Another big help you can be
i to the industry is to publish the
proper dosage and manner of giv
ing many useful remedies and
tonics the ranchers hear of yet
never has a chance to learn; dose
for fur animals and manner of
administering. Then the rancher
finds many words in his reading
that he doesn’t know the meaning
and no way to find it, and if the
word refers to a medicine the
Gateway can publish the mean
ing, what action it will have on
the animal, and proper dose.
“Last year a woman who had
just started ranching, heard she
should give iodine to animals;
she sent for a bottle of tincture
iodine, a poison for external use
only, a label printed in red ink;
and suffered a loss by poisoning.
What she should have, was potas
sium iodide, a powder, and a use
ful medicine, if properly given,
but not near whelping time. An
other gave metallic copper, when
told to give copper sulphate, etc.”
A FUR FARMER.
Science of Trapping, $1.50; Fox
Trapping, $1.50; Fur Buyer’s Guide,
$2.50; Home Manufacture of Furs
and Skins, $1.75; ALASKA SHOP.
Traps, Trap Tags, Scents, Trap
ping equipment. Quick service.
Write for new catalogue.
HOWE FUR COMPANY,
Coopers Mills, Maine
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.
INEWYORK AUCTION Cl
Incorporated
226 West 26th Street
NEW YORK..
Having sold his Golden Eagle
monoplane, Game Warden Sam O.
Whate of Fairbanks has ordered
another ship with which he will
continue flight training, reports
the News-Miner.
. Custom tanners
I of fur skins and
1 buckskin. Tari
ft dermist on bit
I came rues, waif
■ mounts. Him
, facturer of
chokers, coats
and closes of
latest styles.
Send for our
catalogue.
—We buy teeth for mounting—
W. W. WEAVER, Reading: Michigan
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
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