The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1918-02-16
MANY ARE THE USES OF
THE FUR OF MUSKRATS
And The Price OF The PeltS Threat
ems to Reach Misunderstanding
Figures.
(From Philadelphia Record

(From Philadelphia Record.)
The yearly catch of muskrat has
been as great as 100000 in the
United States and 100000 in Can
ada-total, 5000, 900 skins. The av
erage catch, however, is some 20
per cent. less, being about $4,000
and worth 100000 to 100000
to the catchers, depending upon the
price of the raw skins or pelts. This
season prices are high, with indica
lions of reaching recOrd-breaking
figures soon.
Many, no doubt, wonder what be-
! comes of the millions of skins an
nually caught. They are used for
various purposes in the natur
al color and dyed. Large quantities
are used in making gloves, gauntlets,
fur coats, robes, Innings, etc, while
others (mostly the finest, silkiest
ones) are dyed to initiate seal. Dyed
skins are also put to many other
uses than to initiate seal.
Muskrat, plucked and dyed, could
probably without deception be called
and sold for seal muskrat," but
when this article is sold dyed and
plucked and called SEAL" Hudson
Bay seal'' or Red River SEAL" it is
Misrepresentation that most reliable
furriers seldom use, though many of
the smaller furriers are undoubtedly
ignorant of the real names of their
stock.
Muskrat skins secured from differ
ent parts of the country vary oSten
as to size, also length and quality OF
the fur. In some parts, such as
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, New York,
Pennsylvania, Eastern Canada and
Southern Michigan and Wisconsin,
the pelts are not only large, but the
skins are strong, therefore. Of good
tanning and wearing qualities. Skins
received from the Northwest, the
high attitudes, from Nebraska to the
western coast and north, are not on
ly small, but thin-pelted, probably
due to the feed not being abundant.
Skins secured from the eastern coast
as far north as Nova Scotia, however,
are silky, dark and fair size.
In Minnesota, Wisconsin and Mich
igan, as well as other large Northern
States, skins secured from the south
ern parts and from rivers and
creeks are larger, with thicker hides,
than those caught in the northern
parts or in ponds and lakes even in
the southern parts. Why? Prob
ably due to feed Rivers and creeks
are usually free from ice longer
than ponds and lakes, making it
easier for the animals to secure food.
Again, in ponds and lakes, should
the animals become numerous, there
is not the chance to seek new homes
that there is along streams and riv-
erS.
Muskrats living in ponds and
lakes, where the banks are not high,
build houses to live in during the
winter, while those in creeks and
rivers usually live in dens or bur-
rows in the bank. Whether or not
this has anything to do with the
size of the animal or its Turing
qualities is not known.
MuSkrat skins are classified by
buyers of these peltS as follows:
Spring, or No. l; winter, or No. 2;
fall, or No. 3, and kits. Kits are
young muskrats; fall are November
catch, largely; winter, December and
January catch; spring, February,
March and the first few days of APP
ril. The comparative value of the
different grades is about as follows:
Spring, 60 cents; winter, 40 cents;
fall, 20 cents; kits, cents. These
prices are not meant to represent to-
days values, but relative worth of
fall with winter, etc.
Muskrat fur is mainly of the
brown variety, yet along the coasts
of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland
and Virginia thousands of black
furred are caught, sometimes being
as great as rs per cent. OF the catch.
Such skins are worth some 5 to Is
cents more than the brown variety.
A white or albino muskrat, how
ever, is very, very rare. A few years
ago one was caught in the northern
part of Alberta, Canada, which was
larger than the ordinary brown
muskrat of that section, the skin
being Is inches long and inches
wide when removed from the STREET
ching board.
In parts of the South, bordering
on the Gulf of Mexico and inland for
some distance, muskratS are not
only smaller than farther north, but
are very coarse and short furred.
These skins are only worth about
half to two-thirds as much as those
caught a few hundred miles to the
north. These skins, like those from
other localities, are sent to market
flesh side out, as a rule, and thereby
hangs a tale-muskrat tail-but
what business but that has tricks?
Some say the fur business is all
tricks. Some years ago thousands of
South Texas muskrat skins were
shipped, flesh side out, to a dealer |
in Indiana, from where, it is said, |
they were sold as native skins, al !
though worth but about half as
much as those caught in Indiana.