Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-08-30
A NOVEL INDUSTRY.
NiiED CLARK'S SKUNK EARM IN
WESTERN NEW YORK.
Ne Raises the Animals for Thcil
Skins. Which He Sells at II
Good ProGt-ijiS Mysterious
Power Over the Skunks.

The skunl, farm of Fred Clark is about
four miles from here OH the other side of
The Genesec River, says the Mt Morris
IN. " correspondent of tine New York
Sun. 1t is stocked with $50 skunks.
Next month, the breeding month of
skunks, MIR. Clark expects that this num-
Der will he increased To 1000 or more
Air. Clark began raising skunks for the
purpose Of selling their skins one year
i2o last fall. He selected Il barren acre
of land on II steep hillside as a site FOR
his farm. He surrounded this plot with
close board fence three feet high and
set deep III - stone foundation, which
skunks can neither 'unGcr!uinc nor dig
through. He dug long, narrow holes
INTO the side hill, followed out pit
about us big us { hilf-bushcl basket ut the
.ud of each hole, laid boards over the
pits and approaches, and then threw on
earth enough to prevent the penetration
of the cold i'll winter.
Then Mr.. Clark caught his skunks
His ncighbors had laughed at him good
deal when he first told them of his plan
10 raise skunks and sell their skins.
When Inc built his board fence and
aoncycombcd his fathers side hill with
skunk nests they laughed harder, and told
Ill the people ut the old Pine Tavern
cross roads and ut the Moscow corner
grocery about foolish young Clark, who
had spent SO much money laying out II
skunk farm before he got his skunks.
They didn't know that Mr.. Clark was Il
sEtInIs tnIucr L..
couldn't catch his stock without IN en-
pcricncc with skunk high iinks which
would sickcn him OF the whole enterprise.
Mr.. Clark went skunk hunting, never
thclcss, with IL spade and two market
5askcts Whenever lie found wood
:huck's hole which gave indications that
1t contained skurks, he dug into it. lie
found eighteen sktmks on the first day of
ms hunt. He picked them out of their
ioles by the back, neck or tail, Just as
They happened TO come, and they never
objected. They were as docilc as kit
lens i'll his hands. After he had filled
both baskets with s!iunks, Mr. Clark
came upon two big black fellows, espc-
Tally valuable for breeding purposes
lie caught them, removed his coat anil
:ied knot i'll the end of each sleeve, and
tucked Il skunk in through each ar,nholc.
When the ncighbors saw him come home
1t tic end OF his first hunt with basket
iul of skunks on each arm, T. coatfu OF
! 'kunks thrown over his shoulder, and
smelling only Of the pines and hcmlocks.
they stopped laughing. at him and his
stock farm.
Mr.. Clark's novel business has pros
ocrcd. Last May twenty black she
'kunks on his farm bore aud reared
lao little siunks. Mr. Clark then
killed off about thirty head of his old
'tock and sold the skins TO buyers for
New York fur dealers for $50. For the
'oal-black skins the buyers pay 81. 80
@ch; for lialf-striped skin, 81; for Il
ull striped % cents; for white skunk
'lSin only 81 or 80 cents. Since last
May Mr. Clarl; has been killing off his
striped and white skunks. lie has
secured the woods along the Gcncscc
| River for the finest black he shunks and
las caught some twenty or more o!
hcm, coal black and rs large as ton,
ats. lie thinks he has in them guar
mtec Of the blackucss of the 500 OF
more little skunks which! he expects
lcSt month.
The cost of raising skunks, according
20 Mr.. Clarl's experience, is almost
nothing. Young ores he feeds on
kimmcd or sour milk, bliyhtcd sweet
:orn, small pumpkins and frost-bittcn
melons. The old ones get Il diet less
;hoicc. Whenever Il horse, COW, sheep
u hog in the neighborhood, dies of dis
,asc, the carcass is cartcd to Mr.. Clark s
Ikunl farm. The skunks make short
~ork OF the meat. In a day or two
hcy strip of the hide, tear tho flesh
rom the ribs and begin gorging them
selves with Tie cntrails. They stuff them.
selves day and night until they can hard
y crawl back 20 their holes. They then
'oll themselves together, often fifteen OF
sixteen of them in one of the nests hard
y eighteen inches in diameter, and sleep
or weeks. This last winter MIR. Clark 5
$50 skunks have eaten only horse,
elf and Il sheep. All told, Mr..
Clark has not spent $40 in feeding his
;kunks since he stocked his farm, al.
most two years ago.
y SIN correspondent found Mr.. Clark
sitting OIL the fence which encloscs his
iarm. Mr. Clark is well-knit, intclli-
rent looking Young man of some thirty
Gears. lie has soft, sleepy eyes, and
moves his hands in lazy, easy fashion,
when handling slunks. He couldn't tell
Why sliunks treated him more consider.
atcly than they treated other people, but
vas ready to prove they did. He tool;
The correspondent down the hillside to the
skeleton OF :, horse nj which thirty skunks
we're Juggling for dear life. They paid lit
tic attention TO his approach, save that
ihcy chartered u little louder Mr.. Clark
grabbed a half striped skunk by the napc
Of the neck, lifted him up, patted him,
and poked him in the ribs. The skunk
iurled up his back feet, waggcd his tail
harnlessly, and looked happy. Then Mr.
Clark dropped him to pick up big
black skunk. lie treated the black skunk
just as he had treated the half Striped,
one, and the black skunk took to it a.
kindly as if had been Il pet cat Their
Mr.. Clark fondled, teascd, and pushed