Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1921-01-20


years. About 1890 he learned tnat a
.rapper friend on AMIGOS Island
across the gulf had two pairs OF silver
ioxes in captivity. He bought them
AM installed them in special quarters
which he had prepared on his farm
at Tignish.
Meanwhile, it happened that another
rapper called Robert Doulton had been
Reasoning in a similar strain and had
vcsun preliminary studies with some
silver animals. One day Dalton, hay-
ak, heard OF Doulton's experiments,
lad the latter visit and was a lowed
u zee mis- animals. There ensued a
prolonged discussion o. ne problem
involved, the prospects of the industry,
and the best methods to pursue The
result was a decision to pool their
resources and form a partnership for
the commercial farming of the silver
fox. They set up large wire pen on
Savage Island where Doulton had mis-
ranch and commenced scientific breed
ing in good earnest. The original
two pairs of silver foxes bought BY
Dalton produced four pups, which
were successfully reared, and it was
proved that given cpngenial conditions
the silver fox could be domesticated
successfully.
The stock thus established was rein
forced by pair of young foxes found
in den and successfully dug out. The
firm soon found themselves in posses
sion of considerable number of fox
es and able to kill some of the older
ones for their pelts, which found a
profitable disposal. Neighbors who
had jeered at this "shiftless fooling
with wild foxes" became keenly in
tereSted in the new enterprise. Others
began to embark in fox farming oper-
atoms and met with gratifying sue
cess. The inevitable result followed.
boom in fox farming DEVELOPED, and
people who had not the remotest con-
nection with trapping or the fur bust
ness began to start ranches. Expan-
sion went on rapidly, especially when
fox furs from the island began to
realize large prices on the London
markets. The pioneers of the ndustr,
found themselves besieged with ap-
plIcations to buy pups and the demand
for stock caused a virtual cessation of
pelt producing. Companies were
Hoated to embark on the business and
there was heavy speculation in their
shares in the years preceding the war.
In 1912 there were 2l7 fox ranches
on the island, of which lS.S belonged
10 companies. The total value of their
stock was then estimated at SlO,OOO,-
600, twenty-five per cent in excess of
the value Of all the other live stock
held by the island farmers. At that
time $4,000 was not an uncommon
price to pay for a pair Of frst-rate
pups and in one case the high wafer
mark of $4,000 was reached The
profits on one small farm capitalized
at $4,000 enabled a dividend of 500
per cent to be distributed one wear.
But the imitation Of values was tco
great and the boom could not last. II
mad begun to collapse before the war
and its outbreak, closing as it speedily
did the European market for furs, has
tened the end. A great deal of money
was lost but the effect has been TO pu,
the industry in healthy condition,
While high prices are still obtainable
Tor a pair of good breeders the indus
try Is now on a pelt basis and. under
good management, is extremely re-
munerative.
Contrary to early opinion the silver
fox has not proved difficult to domesti-
cate and farm. The chief REQUISITES
are patience, shrewdness and sympathy
with the animal, coupled with the
knack of noting its pecularities and
numoring them. The human factor
plays a very large part in success. The
ranch contains from one to five acres
and as far as possible the natural en-.
vironment of the fox is reproduced
The favorite location is in a piece OF
thinned bush where mixed hard and
sort woods will both shade from the
summer heat and allow an early thaw
OF snow and ice and whose elevation
permits good drainage. AS the fox i,
extremely sensitive to noise, the farm
should be removed as far as possible