Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1914-02-25
MONEY RAISING SKUNKS.
Kansas Man Handles Them Like He
Would Pet Kittens.

Kansas City, Mo-, Feb. pa
much maligned being is the skunk.
But Gus Howard is the skunks'
friend. He picks them up and pets
them like kittens. Well, let him do
it. Gus Howard runs the drug store,
out at Dobson. Running drug store
at Dobson in the winter leaves time
for the druggist to follow his fancy,
and Mr.. Towards fancy is skunks.
He has started skunk farm in fact.
And one method of entertaining his
friends is to invite them out to see
the s-thirty-five of them in
one pen.
Just go right on in" says Mr..
Howard cordially, holding open the
door of the pen, ten feet square, five
feet high, sided and rooted with
chicken wire.
There's nothing in sight but box
in a corner covered with straw. But
somehow or another you'd know ii
was a skunk farm. Every business
seems to create an atmosphere of its
own.
You go in, rather timidly, but as
sured by Mr.. Howard there's no dan
ger whatever. "a skunk is as harm
less as kitten" he says. "They make
great pets. And say, you never saw
such mousers-a mouse can't stay in
the same block"
BY that time you're in the cage
with the door locked, resigned to
take whatever comes your way and
make the best of it. Mr.. Howard
is over in the corner opening the box,
which looks like it would hold about
six, not including the aroma. Six
are dragged out before you know it
and are running around you, under
your feet, climbing the wire netting
behind you and above YOU then six
more, and more, and still more.
Thirty-five of them!
Skunks behind you, skunks in
front, skunks at either side, skunks
above and skunks below. And all of
them living up to the reputation CIV
en- them by their advance man, Mr..
Howard. A rather disagreeable odor
comes waited along on the wind and
you look over into the next yard and
discover pig sty.
If the truth must be told about a
skunk farm, in the face of public
opinion it must be said that it is
more odorless than a model dairy.
That, of course, takes for granted
conditions. The skunk
is a stickler for harmony. But he's
a postmaster at creating discord when
he's not pleased.
Mr.. Howard keeps eight skunks in
the basement of his drug store to
keep it free of mice. And in spite of
their presence, the ordinary drug
store aromatic confusion of asafetida,
moth balls and celluloid goods would
reveal the nature of the place to a
blind man.
There's nothing un-nice in the
skunk raising business. Even put
ting them to death is done in a gen.
teel manner. The skunk merely
finds himself in sack with others
Of his family, going to sleep and
dreaming of warm boxes and dry
straw for bedding, with plenty of fat
field mice to eat, and when he wakes
up he's muff, or maybe boa.
Perhaps draped alongside of seal
skin coat in show window, bear
ing price mark in three figures or
better. Still more alluring, perhaps
around a fair neck and
shoulders that have nothing else be-
tween them and the cold and cruel
world. Not so worse, being a skunk,
Ell?
Il never got into anything l liked
as WE'LL" said Mr.. Howard, Monday,
after returning from the road settin'
skunk traps. "A skunk is the most
sanitary thing in the way of four
footed animals. They're clean as a
hounds tooth. OF course they've
got their particular weapon of de-
'ense, but if you take them when
hey're little and remove that, you've
got a pet that beats all the cats in
he world.
Il first got into, it watching the
'ther boys around here coming in
With their skunks and muskrats, last
winter, when there wasn't anything
Icing. / concluded I'd try it myself
70 l set some traps and built these
'ens out here. Sometimes dig them
tut of their winter quarters, when
hey're little, and bring them in and
tut them in the pen. Those / trap
ave to kill.
Then / tried out curing and tan
ing the pelts. ! made a success of
hat, too. 1t was so attractive that
We just kept at it. I'm thinking
low of getting piece of ground out