Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1908-09-03
Raising the Silver Fox.

In fnrs as articles of adornment are
not soon to disappear from general use,
methods must be devised for raising
fur.bearing animals in confinement"
This rather striking statement furn-
ishes the text for bulletin that is soon
to be issued by the Biological Survey.
Already this Government bureau has
given a good deal of study to the prob
lem, and the first suggestion it has to
offer on the subject relate to the pos
sibilities of fox-raising under somi-
domestication.
1t is the so-called ''silver" fox that is
in question an animal whose pelt,
silver gray to black in color, is to-day
the most highly valuable of all furs,
excepting only that of the sea-otter.
When it is considered that good skins
will readily fetch from FIVE hundred to
two thousand dollars piece, it may be
inferred that there is money in the
business of conducting fox farm even
on very small scale.
Oddly enough, the animal concerned
is the same as the ordinary red fox,
whose skin is worth only dollar and
half to three dollars and a half. But
now and then it happens that the fur
of this variety of Reynard takes on a
silver-grey or black color-the darker
it is the more valuable-and this pecul-
iarity is readily transmissible to the
offspring of such specimens. In fact,
silver foxes bred in confinement, al
most invariably producce only silver
young, and there seems to be little
tendency to revert to the red.
The Government experts are of opin-
ion that it will prove practicable to
produce a domestic breed of silver
foxes. But by selecting those which
show least aversion to man, with due
regard to other qualities, strain may
be obtained that can be handled as
satisfactorily for propagating purposes
as cattle or sheep-in other words, a
thoroughly domesticated race of foxes.
TRYING TO KEEP THE COLOR TRUE.
Silver foxes can be bred, even under
present conditions, as easily as red
ones, and at vastly greater profit, the
main problem being to make them
breed true to color. AS already stated,
however, this is not difficult. A num-
ber of breeders in this country have
undertaken this sort of farming as a
business with considerable success,
chiefly in Maine, Michigan, and some
of the Canadian provinces. They have
obtained their original stock from dens
of wild foxes.
Hope for great profits in fox raising
must lie almost entirely in improving
the stock by selective breeding. The
object of every fex farmer should be
to prodace foxes as nearly pure black
as possible, and, in order to do this, he
must retain his darkest and most valu-
able animals for propagation, selling
only the poorer ones. The temptation
to sell specimens of high value is often
great, but it is more profitable to keep
them for breeding. Some of the high
est priced fox skins ever put on the
market, by the way, have been from
foxes reared in captivity.
The running expenses of fox farm
are small. Every silver fox raised is
likely to yield a pelt with market
value exceeding one hundred dollars.
Even pale skins bring this figure, and
darker ones much more. 1t is, there
fore, evident that fair income may be
derived from rearing only few of the
animals especially when one consid.
ers the fact that the sale of specimens
for breeding stock is in the present
stage of the business, very profitable
One of the most important features
of the work of the Biological Survey
during many years past has been the
mapping of the 'life zones" of the
United States that is to say, of the
transcontinental belts, throughout
which animal and plant life is relative
ly uniform. Accordingly, to deter
mine what areas are suitable for fo1
farming, it is necessary only to learr
what zones include localities wher,
foxes are known to produce superior
fur. By this means it is ascertaiueC
that silver foxer may be bred and rails
ed to the best advantage in Maine
New Hampshire, Vermont, Michigan
Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Da
kota, and also in the mountain region
extending southwark in New York
Pennsylvania and West Virginia, anC
in all the States of the Rocky Noun
tain country.
While it is not at all difficult to i'm
itate the natural conditions unde
which wild foxes live, this is by NJ
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