Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1893-10-04
CURIOUS FARMS.
Places Where Wild Animals Are
Reared for Profit.
Snakes, Skunks and Buffaloes as . Source
of Misunderstanding About the
Dog Farms OF Northern
Europe.

CSkunks are bred on farms in Penn
sylvania, New York and Connecticut.
The skin and oil of a full grown skunk
will net the owner at least $3.50. The
skin goes to the furrier, and the oil is
deemed by many sovereign remedy
for coughs, colds, consumption, and so
forth. According to the New York Sun
the most successful skunk farmer in
the country lives at Hamburg, Conn.
He has been called 'the deacon" SO
long that few know his real name. And
WIN sdeacon?" Because he is the
most artistic user of explosives seen
since the days of army mule trains.
His favorite books are the Bible and
Milton, and the lofty denunciations
therein contained furnish the basis of
his su!phurous vocabulary. Yet none
is more tender hearted and charitable
than he. In the Orange mountains of
NewJersey and along the various rocky
hills of Pennsylvania the rattlesnake
is treated as scource of income rather
than a deadly reptile. Rattlesnake oil
is accounted good for rheumatic"
The farmers of Colorado and Idaho,
who have of late begun the rearing of
rabbits, will hardly gain or merit the
thanks of their neighbors. The fur
has market value and canned rabbit
is not to be despised by hungry trav-
eler, but, owing to certain extra en-
dowments of nature, bunny breeds so
fast-having a litter of five at least
once a month-as to become pest
equal in destructiveness to the grass
hopper At least this has been the ex-
perience of Australia and New Zea-
land, to which countries rabbits were
taken by settlers from England. In
the last decade New Zealand has eX-
ported 100, 1000, 600 skins, and during the
same period Victoria's export IS been
80, OOO,G0 For these over $1,000 has
been received, large sum, yet 81 arcely
enough to pay for the poison at pow
der needed to keep the rodenh.r from
devouring the land. 1t is to b-- hoped
| that the western experiment IN this
line may not get beyond control.
Far different and quite praiseworthy
is the cttcnpt to preserve and perpetu-
ate the American bison. buffalo
Jones of Kansas, the pioneer OF this
business, says only two herds of wild
buffaloes now exist and both number
but twenty head. The millions that
once made the prairies shake with
their tremendous tread are no more.
They were wiped OUT between 1871
and 1875; when the railroads advanced
the Indians retreated and the pot
hunter could massacre without SUBJ
jecting himself to danger or giving his
noble prey chance for existence. At
least one thousand buffaloes now live
in safe captivity, and, bred with the
domestic COW, a race of valuable n.y.
birds has been produced. Dog farms
there are, but they are devoted to the
rearing of fighting, sporting, or fancy
breeds. These bring high prices, and
the farmers, once they get regular
line of customers, are sure to do well.
But the worlds great dog farms are in
Manchuria. There dogs are raised for
their skins, which are sold to traders
from northern Europe. A Manchurian
who owns one thousand CANNES is
thought to be fairly prosperous. If a
pup is designed for food he must be
strangled to death, and the eaters may
not approach the temple of their gods
for three days thereafter. Deer are
preserved and fancy pigeons are bred
by the wealthy, and in North Carolina
on the Tar river, not far from Green
vile, there is a leech farm.