The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1909-12-09
MONEY IN sKUNKs.

ID. G. Rossetti.
MONEY IN sKUNKs.
A Breeding Farm Can be Started at
Slight Expense.
From the New York World.
Few persons who travel the highway
between Tarrytown and White Plains
fail to notice a strange little place on
the north side of the road at the end
of the Rockefeller estate. A little one-
story cabin hudd1es in a corner Of the
gully into which the road dips at that
point. An abutment raises the road
from the gully bottom nearly half the
height OF the little shack, and from the
street cars the stunted chimney at the
front seems almost within reach.
For years this picturesque little cabin
IN the gully has been the home of a
unique character-Sam Tate. He is
well known by the people in the vicini-
ty. Nobody seems to NOW his exact
lge, but he is credited with being more
han 80.
Skunk raising is the old mans means
Of livelihood. In h ummer he does
some work on the ~neighboring estates,
put most Of his time is spent in catch
ing and raising polecats. A resident
with a pestiferous varmint about his
place SENDS Tor Old SAM
This sheds about the little cabin, are
generally full of live skunks. Tanner
ones are allowed the freedom of the
house. They become pets, and the old
handles them like kittens.
"Skunks are like most people," he
will tell you. Handle EN- right and
you won't get hurt. I'd rather. have
they don't want to boss all the time"
Scions of the wealthy families that
live between Tarrytown and White
Plains visit Old Sam to learn about
skunks. To one young man Old Sam
taught h art of handling them. The
however, was too energetic and was
forced to discontinue his lesson.
Skunk farming is becoming an i'm
portant industry in some parts of the
United States. and yet the man who.
suggested it was regarded as mentally
prising. imaginative Washington COR
respondent sent out a purely fake story
about the big money which was to be
made in skunk farming, giving the
department of agriculture as his au-
thority. The result was that hundreds
Of letters from people all. over the
country poured into Washington adj
dressed tosthe departments agricul-
ture.
At that time there could be given
b U one answer. and that was that The
story vas a fake and that there were
no facts relative to the industry, but
since then there a been q great
change, for the story did effective
Nork. In the skunk regions the
farmers got busy, so to speak. and
several skunk farms were started. To-
day there are hundreds Of such farms
on a paying basis.
The average skunk produces a quart
OF OIL and the fur or skin always brings
a good price, fashion regulating the
value. At the present time the skins
which are the most valuable are the
sarker ones. A pure black skin is
the quality and size; a striped skunk
skin brings in the market about SO or,
60 cents, while those with g: part stripe
are worth in the neighborhood Of a
dollar.
While there are no official statistics
on record, 1t is known that the Ameri
can skunk will begin breeding at n
year ole: They breed twice a year. and
have filters Of from five to 13-an
average of eight to a litter.
It has been figured out that a man
who understands skunk farming can
begin on 20 slsunks, is females and five
males, and In a few years he can have
a healthy bank account. 1t is not diff
cult to calculate how r3pidly these
20 skunks will increase in number.
Say you begin work early in the fall
and h c in December they breed. At
once you have ar increase Of 100
skunks. putting h average OF each
litter at eight. In June they breed
again, and If h same ratio of Increase
kept up. at the expiration Of a year
and a half you will have 7.495 skunks.
Put the pelts at 81 each. the pelts of
200 male skunKs would bring 5000; the
oil at so cents an ounce would be worth
$500. Then figuring as was done on
the increase in skunks. at the expira-
ton of a cal and half you could kill
$500 male skunks. the pelts of which
would be worth that many dollars.
The amount of oil gathered from this
number would be $4,000 ounces, worth
just $4,000. At the expiration of four
years you would nave killed 100000
males, the pclts Of which would be
worth $3.50 ,ooo,s and the oil. .15,120.0o0
worth $7,56O,000. And you
would still have 3,700.002 skunks left!
It is not surprising that skunk farm
ing Is being taken up throughout the
country, and II it was possible to de-
odorize the skunk the Industry would
be ever more popular.