Milford chronicle., 1922-03-17
MUSKRATS MAKE MOST
VALUABLE CROP
Farmers Having Marshes on
Bay Shore Get Good Returns.

rat in demand at from $15O to SITS
each the farmers of Delaware have
come to realization that these ro-
dents, once regarded as pests, consti-
tute one of the greatest assets of the
State. In the brief season, of four
teen weeks there are possibly more
than 100000 worth of skins taken
and sent to market, or sold directly at
the traps, and there is no doubt the
rats are far more profitable than ever
the cultivation of peaches proved.
Many farmers, and they are fortunate
indeed to get a farm with marsh land
along the Delaware Bay shore from
Delaware City to Fenwick Island,
realize from $3.50 to $4OO on every
acre of marsh land they own and that
is trapped in proper way by experience
ed trappers.
Land owners are now considering
proposition to engage Systematically
and scientifically in the propagation
of these furbearing rodents. 1t is an
established fact that muskrats breed
and multiply as rapidly as their kin,
the house and barn rodents, which
means that each pair of these swamp
demzens multiply more than twenty
times a season. With one pair active
ly engaged in the rearing of young it
is estimated that their offspring repre-
sent value of more than $50 year.
As they live harmoniOusly in large
group - in fact they are the most
peaceable of all wild rOdents-a hun
dred pairs could find rOusing accom-
modations and forage on an acre of
marsh, so that with care and proper
attention the hitherto useless waste
land and marshes of the State may be
transformed into the most profitable
section of the farms.
Hundreds Of Acres of Marsh Land
There are hundreds of acres of low
land in Delaware that cannot be used
for growing crops or other purpose,
where the raising of rats is rapidly
becoming the stay and support OF the
fortunate owners in these days when
farming has ceased to pay a profit.
It is believed that with the waste land
turned to proper account and the prop
agation of muskrats well established
these marshes would net more than
81, ,O0O, 900 to the farmer trappers. The
wartime demand for furs first sent the
price of rat pelts up to dollar each
during the early days of fighting, but
it was believed that after the return
Of peace they would drop to their old
rates, ten or fifteen cents apiece. The
present season has disprOved that pre-
sumption, however, and now the busl-
ness has assumed the Importance and
dignity of a vocation of very first
rank. Also it is an industry that nev-
er fails, for rats are affected in num-
bers or quality of fur by. neither dry
nor wet weather, heat or cold. They
evidently have no Off-season and de-
spite the high price set upon their
heads by fashionable women they gain
in numbers constantly.
Law Protects Fur-Bearing Animals
One had almost as well shoot his
neighbor or at least his neighbor's
horse or cow as to kill single musk
rat outside of the drastic laws that
guard them. To destroy their houses
or modest them in any way that might
cause them to move to other quarters
is punishable with fine of $100 or as
many days in Jail, while even trespass-
ing on the marshes where they make
their homes is no less severey punish
ed. They must not be hunted with a
dog or shot, or shot at, under such
penalty as grant them immunity from
pot hunters or hunters using unfair
means of capturing them. Neither
may they be killed at times when
waters are overlooking their lairs, for
cling them out into the open. Under
the Delaware laws the muskrat is
treated with the greatest care, and he
who disturbs or resorts to the nail
ing process of capturing them or TAX
ing advantage of them in any way is
a sure candidate for the wOrkhouse IL
he has no bank balance.
MuskratS Need no Care or Attention
Indeed, the 'veneration in which the
Delaware muskrat is held in the con-
science of the law makes his position
almost analogous to that of the sacred
cow of India or the white elephant of
Siam. He possibly deserves all this
consideration, for he has come into a
value at a time when the farmers are
needing money, and he eventually will
become the chief asset left to the
State, as all other of it's natural re-
sources are fading away for lack of
protection and appreciation. The
muskrat requires no care or attention
and simply needs to be let alone in or
der to multiply and increase the
wealth of the land owner whose guest
he may be. The rat is by far the most
profitable yield Of Delaware farms to-
day. One acre of marsh well stocked
with the rodents is worth twenty
acres of peaches, even when the
prices are near the top, or ten acres
of the best apple area in this garden
and orchards section of country.