t of 22 pages
on "Silver Fox Farming," by Wilfred H. Osgood, copies of which can be
procured by addressing the Secretary of Agriculture. In consulting that
contribution, however, it must be borne in mind that just now, in fox
farming, history is being made more rapidly than heretofore.

I do not mean to say that the above are the only sources of information
on fur-farming for profit, but they are the ones that have most
impressed me. The files of all the journals and magazines for sportsmen
contain numerous articles on this subject, and they should be carefully
consulted.

BLACK-FOX FARMING.--The ridiculous prices now being paid in London for
the skins of black or "silver" foxes has created in this country a small
furore over the breeding of that color-phase of the red fox. The prices
that actually have been obtained, both for skins and for live animals
for breeding purposes, have a strong tendency to make people crazy.
Fancy paying $12,000 in real money for one pair of live black foxes!
That has been done, on Prince Edward Island, and $10,000 per pair is now
regarded as a bargain-counter figure.

On Prince Edward Island, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, black-fox breeding
has been going on for ten years, and is now on a successful basis. One
man has made a fortune in the business, and it is rumored that a stock
company is considering the purchase of his ten-acre fox ranch at a
fabulous figure. The enormous prices obtainable for live black foxes,
male or female, make diamonds and rubies seem cheap and commonplace; and
it is no wonder that enterprising men are tempted to enter that
industry.

The price of a black fox is one of the wonders of a recklessly
extravagant and whimsical age. All the fur-wearing world knows very well
that fox fur is one of the poorest of furs to withstand the wear and
tear of actual use. About two seasons' hard wear are enough to put the
best fox skin on the wane, and three or four can be guaranteed to throw
it into the discard. Even the finest black fox skin is nothing
superlatively beautiful! A choice "cross" fox skin costing only $50 _is
far more beautiful, as a color proposition_; but London joyously pays
$2,500 or $3,000 for a single black-fox skin, to wear!

Of course, all such fads as this are as ephemeral as the butterflies of
summer. The Russo-Japanese war quickly reduced the value of Alaskan blue
foxes from $30 to $18; and away went the Alaskan fox farms! A similar
twist of Fortune's