Fur Farming A book of Information about Fur Bearing Animals, Enclosures, Habits, Care, etc. by A. R. Harding

Author:A. R. Harding [Harding, A. R. (Arthur Robert)]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fur-bearing animals
Published: 2010-10-01T16:00:00+00:00

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CHAPTER IX.

MUSKRAT RAISING.

The muskrat is one of our most common fur-bearing animals and is found in greater numbers than any other animal, notwithstanding its fur is very popular and is gradually increasing in value.

Muskrats are found throughout the greater part of the United States and Canada, but for various reasons are more plentiful in certain sections. Being water animals they are found in greater numbers in marshy places, on ponds and lakes and sluggish rivers, but also thrive and are found in fair numbers on the smaller and more rapid streams. They are very plentiful in Western Canada and especially in the marshy country lying west of Hudson's Bay. In the salt water marshes of Delaware and Maryland they are probably found in greater numbers than in any other part of the world. There, hundreds of the houses of these little creatures may be seen in every direction.

It is said that the value of the catch from Dorchester County, Md., will usually run to $20,000 a year and in some seasons reaches almost to $50,000. The number of animals required to reach such a figure must necessarily be very large and the number of muskrats found in that locality may be judged from the fact that the open season for these animals and the only time of year when they are trapped, is during the months of January, February and March. They are also very plentiful in the marshes along the western shore of Lake Erie and about Lake Champlain. They are not found on parts of the Pacific Coast and portions of the South and never range south of the State of Arizona.

While there is only one species of the muskrat, naturalists find several varieties differing mainly in size and color. For instance, there is the southern muskrat, which is comparatively small and is dull sooty in color, found in the lower Mississippi Valley and along the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama; then there is the Dismal Swamp Muskrat of the Dismal Swamp, Va., which is larger, darker and richer colored than the common variety and has larger teeth. In Labrador a small and very dark variety is found.

The muskrat of the Northwest, while of the same variety as those of the Central and Eastern districts, are small and thin skinned and as a consequence are less valuable. What causes this difference in size is not known, but it is supposed to be due either to the presence of alkali in most of the Northwestern waters or to the scanty and poor quality of its natural food.

Fur Farm on Open Ground near a Farmhouse.

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