Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-11-16
FUR FARMING
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

A new Division of Fur Resources
was established in the Department of
Agriculture recently. This means
| that tho Government is going to take
a special interest in conserving the
countrys fur supply.
Some of the valuable tur-bearing
animals of the United States have
been almost entirely killed off or
driven far back into the wilderness
forests into farms and towns. Yet
! the fur industry is growing, because
more people than ever before are
wearing furs. Fur has become an
everyday staple commodity. In de-
mand not only for warmth. but for
trimming and decorative purposes.
More extensive use Of fur has been
made possible in the face Of dwin-
ding natural supply by the changes
in the kind Of furs worn. Once the
market was most keenly interested
In rare and precious pelts. trap
per would hunt for an entire Winter
in the wilderness country and think
the time we'll spent if he came back
with a single silver fox. If II was q
fine pelt his catch would bring from
$1,000 to $1,000. II he could get
we'll matched pair OF silver foxes he
was assured OF around $4,000. This
sort Of adventurous hunting for rare
skins still goes on, but the fur mar
ket does the profitable bulk OF its
business in muskrat, skunk. tho less
valuable foxes, raccoon, squirrel and
other moderately priced and plentiful
furs.
These small native fur bearers rep
resent g. great source OF national
wealth. Furs trapped and produced
on farms in a. single State like New
York are valued at several million
dollars a year.
The difficulty is that most OF the
states are not protecting their fur
resources 80 as to get the most out
of them in the long run. In many
States laws do not protect certain
fur bearers at all. The muskrat, for
instance, which is the most valuable
fur producer in the United States, is
not protected in II States. Most OF
the state trapping laws are defective
in that they do not protect the anil
mails over a sufficient period OF the
wear, And in some cases the laws
are not rigIdly enforced.
There are no general statistics
showing how rapidly the fur bearers
are being killed off. There are no
figures showing exactly how many
animals are taken in the breeding
season or In warm weather, when
their fur Is poor in auality-though
the Governments estimate Is that
from As to 55 per cent Of the pelts
put on the raw fur market are taken
when the fur Is almost valueless.
Fur experts in the Department OF
Agriculture have for the past IL
years been experimenting with fur
problems and urging protective leg1s-
lation. The new division IL pushing
the work ahead. 1t is trying to
demonstrate the advantages Of limit
ing the fur-hunting season to very
few months Of Winter and very early
Spring, when hunting Is really profit-
able. Short seasons for most OF the
fur animals are economical In every
way. as the fur industry itself
realizes.
Fur Bearers Are Assets.
Every one realizes that farmers
should be permitted to destroy trou.
blesome predatory animals and that
when a species becomes too numer-
GUS the restrictions on killing should
be lessened. Mostly, however. the
need Is for greater protection for
these animals Many OF the small
fur animals have regulations Tor de-
stroying crops and doing other dam
age, whereas they are really eco
nomio assets, because they prey on
pests considerably more destructive
than themselves
When g. valuable fur bearer be-
comes rare in a section the fur di-
vision advocates that trapping be en-
tirely prohibited for several years, so
that the species may re-establtsh IT.
self.
Perhaps the most interesting work
done by the division is in connection
with the breeding Of fur animals.
For some years the Government ex-
perts have been experimenting with
fur.farming methods, but they say
that comparatively little 10 yet
known regarding the habits and the
handling of fur bearers in captivity.