The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1918-08-27
DORCHESTER MUSKRAT
FARM EARNS BIG MONEY
How a College Graduate Applied In
telIigence And Business Training
To The Development of a New In
dustry in Maryland.

! If you were a graduate OF John
Harvards university, had added to
your theoretical education pract1-
cal course in electricity and had con-
Quoted successfully street railway
in thriving Ohio city, would you De
willing to settle down for five mon-
! tbs year in a bungalow with count
! less acres of marsh in front anu al
most countless miles of timber IN 1he
rear, with mile and hall OF
black gum swamp" between you and
the nearest highway?
! And if you can answer those cues
tions in the affirmative, can YOU tru-
! thfully say that for that five months
you would be willing to devote your
time and attention solely to the eul-
ture, the protection and the trapping
of muskrats?
| Away down in Church Greek dis
trict of Dorchester county, Md, IL
miles from Cambridge, the metropo-,
lis and county seat, William A. Gibbs,
who possesses all the qualifications
called for in the first sentence OF this
article, purchased, in 1918, 500 acres
of marsh land and went into the bus1-
ness of conducting on a large scale
and in a scientific way a muskrat
farm. When he first embarked in
this novel enterprise, his prime OBJ
! ject was to obtain a sporting place
where he could shoot ducks, wild
geese and the other birds which
! abound in that section.
The muskrat end of the enterprise
was looked upon as a side line, the
profits of which he hoped would pay
the expense of maintaining the place,
but since getting under way Mr.
Gibbs has made the muskrat end of
! the business the principal feature
and has expended freely in the ex-
pertinent his time, his money and his
talent for things mechanical. In adj
dition he has called into play his
! business training and ability and has
kept an accurate account of every
thing that has been done, of the in
crease in rate, of the depredations OF
| hawks, owls and varmints, and has
data enough to fill a book.
! In the year 1913 Mr.. Gibbs at
tention was directed to Dorchester
county by an article he found in a
/ r sl,r a
came to Maryland and after looking
over a number of places, bought $40
acres of land.
A count OF rat houses showed just
500 families, or one TO -eyeEy.-ac1e
He set to work, proceeding on the
theory that the rats would multiply
if given food, water and protection.
A record was kept by driving stake
in each house and counting the stakes
so used. The marsh was nor trapped
the following spring and in Decem-
Der, 1914, the count of stakes show
ed 1000 houses; the third year,
$500; the fourth, $500, and this
year, 5,4O0.
Trapping was not begun until
1918, when 2,800 rats were taken.
In 1917 the catch was 1900, and in
1918 about 1000. The reason for
the great falling off the past season
was that the place was overtrapped
year ago and that this season
hard freeze setting in December
caused a heavy mortality among the
rats. amounting, in Mr.. Gibbs Opin-
ion, to 20 per cent. of the popula-
tion of his little city. Another even
more potent cause was the fact that
the freeze made trapping difficult in
January, when, ordinarily, most rats
are taken because of the fact that
then they have established places of
abode and beaten paths to follow.
When spring opens and the mating
season arrives, they are less regular
in their modes of life and less easy
to trap.
An enumeration of the results at
| tanned by Mr.. Gibbs, however, is the
least interesting part of a description
of his enterprise; so let us look at
the means employed. To begin with,
he took into account the fact that
the muskrat builds his home just