The Alaskan., 1930-07-25
DEMONSTRATION FUR FARM'
By J. E. Ames


 cused on North America for tn, f supply of fur bearing animals tt be used for propagation purpos. , eS. Russia and Siberia are thot of as being great fur producing , countries. Yet the Soviet Gov ernment is spending vast sums o1
 money at this time to train mer
 in propagation of fur-bearers and buying large numbers o1
 foxes and other animals to take
 the place of the fast disappear
 ing wild stock.
 It does not seem possible that
 it is necessary to petition the
 Government to establish and to
 maintain a demonstration fur
 farm so that the many men en-
 gagged in fur farming in Alaska may receive the help they need along sientif1c lines. However it is not only true but it is appar- ent that we must also advise where to establish this farm. Alaska is too large for any one experimental ranch. There should be one in Southeastern Alaska, situated about half way between Juneau and Ketchikan and another to the Westward or at Fairbanks. The purpose of an experimental or demonstration farm should not be only for the reason to send out literature on certain phases of fur farming, but for visiting by fur farmers and getting their information |f1rst-hand. This would be i'm possible with only one experi- mental ranch in Alaska. Anoth- CT angle that we must realize is the factor of human nature in the average fur farmer. He is not "a chemist, veterinary or of scien- tif1c frame of mind. He is ad- verse to science in written form. A balanced ration means noth- ing to him. He resorts to crude methods in the eradication of in testinal worms such as giving deer hair in the food of the ani- nal and not knowing that hook worms are microscopic and that deer hair would have no effect whatever on them. He claims that his animals do not have vermin such as lice because he cannot see them. Now these fur farmers cannot be blamed for their ideas because there is no one to advise them to the con- trary or any place for them to go and see the results obtained by experiments. If the experiment. al fur farm was in Fairbanks Alaska would continue to be sceptical But if there was a ranch of this kind here where he would hear of results and where he could go and see the results
 he would soon be interested and Ia supporter of such help.
 l How is it possible for an exper- Iimental fur farm at Fairbanks to
 study the troubles that the island fox farms have? Does the island
 rancher from up and down the Coast of Alaska have to go inland
 to see the experiments on some
 pen raised foxes in order to fin6
 out how to treat his foxes fol worms, etc?
 One of the late issues of the American Fur Breeder, a maga- zine devoted to the interests o1 fur farming and printed in Min nesota, contained an article writ ten by an Alaskan working fol the Alaska Railroad and advising : future visitors to fur farmers 1T l Alaska as to what route to follow in order to see such ranches. One took the boat at Seattle and got l off at Seward and travelled over ! the Government Railroad to set l the fur farms of Alaska was the 5 sIsum and substance of the article rland no mention was made o1 Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg 3 Juneau, Skagway, Sitka, Kodiak . @L1~ TNa ae+ Cr,aI