I

JPcNUAitY 11. 193s i -. ,.

. Quality In Silver Foxes

0

PART III

(By G. Ennis Smith, Superintend- ent, Expvimental Fox Ranch, sum.

ma. side. P.E.I.)

In th: second part of this paper it was stated that sine and diameter of the fur. independent of length, is the most important quality in the fur of sliver foxes. which can be readily determlnfd by the "feel of the fur." that if the fur should be size, al- though it may have length, while it may be possible to produce foxes having a favourable colour, density. textllle and relatively clear silver, still it would be practically impos- sible to make any advanced im- provement, and fox breeders who retain such for breeding purposes are "up against a brick wall" rc- garding improvement. On the other hand, given a. fur of large size and have a brown shade. be coarse, open and lacking in life and lustre, yet with proper methods of breeding and feeding, a type of foxes could be produced with an extremely dense

flue, suit/and lacking in

diameter, while it. might

black colour, exceptionally close- furred, with a striking life and

lustre, altogether superior to that

which could ever be obtained with fur of a smaller diameter. Also one cf the most problems was to rccogn

the quality lay in every ranch is in tin ranch itself, and to that extent it was an individual breeding prob-

lcm for each individual breeder to

solve for himself. Further. that with outcrossing fox breeders may

prcbably be altogether at sea as to

ivhere the quality mIJht be in the offspring produced, yet with- in- breeding the quality could readily be discerned as it would go hand in hand with the foxes having the darkest colour and improved den-

important breeding ice that quality, and\the evidence of where

reds 50 percent silver each, end

litter would still be so per cent, Nu fox breeder would consider then

per cent sliver black to the 100 per cent red so as to still maintain his foxes at so per cont silver black and 50 per cont red. but would use that well known f damental principle of breedinmselection and elimina- tion. He, tl-iereforo, would select his 100 per cent silver blacks and elim- inate the 100 per cent reds and in that manner will eventually build up n. herd of 1'30 per cent silver black foxes.

rBut in order to do that he is not striving for a. uniform litter, but he uses methods that give him a var- iation ‘in his litters. That funda- mental principle holds true in all methods ofbreeding. Despite the recognized fact that conspicuously poor pecimens have been produced from improper matings of outstand- ing animals, it is a well established fact that has been demonstrated ovcr and over again in all lines o! grading that you cannot get any thing more out of the animals than what is In the animals. Th9 averayc of the offsprlngs will be the average of the parents. There are certain methods of breeding that tend. to a variation in the quality of the litters, some of a poorer quality than the average of the parents, but to that same ex- tent as some were poorer than the parents, there would be some sup- erior to their parents, and by sel-

the poorer it gs pocsibie to improve the herd. I! t e matings are so ar- ranged that fox breeders do not get uniform litters, but rather ob- tain a variation in the litters, then ivy-moans of selection and elimina- tion a coutinucd improvement can

sity, life and lustre or the fur, and‘ be obtained in the breeding stock,

that the most important criterion cgarding the qua‘ity inthe foxes was the fact that the iur invariably improved- during the breeding sea- son, more particularly regarding the sharp bright silver (the dil- metric opposite of a’ chalky silver.) Not only have fox breeders fail- ed to recognize quality because it was not labelled with colour, den- sity, life and lustre, the only char- hcteristics that they could acociatc with quality, but it has been more unfortunate still that fox breeders ‘ have had many Iaise standards and unsystematlc methods of ranchlns. which have further blinded them and tended to hide the quality that might be in their foxes. Visiting different ranches and examining pelts shipped to the various co-op- eyugive mgfkitlflg concerns, it has been noted that there is a marked general increase in the size of the white tips. 1t would appear that fox breeders are still selecting white tips as a standard for their brood- in; foxes, not a very 800d 553115‘ ' "u, l; i; but another manifestation of that infantile idea, a picture pelt; teeny the most a large white tip does not increase the pelt value; n. medium sized or small tip is more iuipiacc on an outstanding N" than an extra largo‘ one. One thins is quite r that the white ti? has not ted in any Way W ' ‘ '10s fur a staple

making , commodity? quality 9! u“ fur and not "w to ti? m“ h”

made the general demand for silver fox furs.

While, without question. the W111“ up has been discredited by a:

buygf; a5 regflfdS Ddt VBIUQ» probably it should not be altozfith" discredited from a breeding stand- point, because there are some very excellent foxes that have large white tips and also a. good tip is an indication o! a "1$°'°“-‘ “lad healthy circulation. but fox bree - ers should remember when select- ing their breeding foxes that 1:6 Lip is altogether a secondary cow - oration, and-the gill?! 4015mm I‘ n t b0 y- mfiilhlilng forhliniform litters is an- other false standard that, to 80m: extent, has hindered imPmV°m°“_ in individual ranches. as it is ti: hing in the face oi one of Q most important fundamental prin- ciples of breedins- Tllfi Df°du°u°n oflitters having a uni.orm silver colouring of a lllllfofm W!” “d qua‘lty would be a very Bill/BMW‘ coils and wise standard when fol: breeders had arrived at the highea and ultimate limits oi the most do; sirablc typo of silver foxes t?‘ could be produced, but to use t a as a standard would tend to bring the ranch down to a d9"! level without any nope of WY “Pm”: mrnt. For example. “ma”? W“ cross red foxes. all 0i which “W” be to per cent silver black and 50 pep gent, 39d, the “ISL IICTAII D30‘ ' duced would be on the averaia. m" sum black, two cross reds and one DUN red, the silver black pup b01118

100 per cent silver, the two cross solutely certain. fox breeders should have

whereas if they use a standard of obtaining uniform litters, and there are certain ways in which that can be done. then the ranch will tend to coma to a dead level with very little chance of improvement. Mat- ing brothers to the female off- springs for two or three generations would probably lead to. a. uniform silver colouring in the litters. that is mating uncle and niece. but im- icss this was followed up by an- other form of inbreeding. no im- provement could be expected by such a system of mating. Fox breed- ers should not jump to the conclus- ion that they have struck the ideal mating when they get uniform lit- ters, and adhere to that '.orm of mating, unless they are s;..l.fied with the standard 5 tho “X95 1Y1 their ranches. On gother hand. fox breeders who L a‘ ailmins f0!‘ an improvement should not be dis- couraged when their matings have resulted in a wide variation with- in the litters.

Many fox breeders no "pawns the cart before the horse” in the manner-in which they‘ are attempt- ing to build up t eir breeding stock, as the majority are using colour, texture and density as their standards. flolour, texture and den- sity are certainly desirable charac- teristics to have in the breedini; stock, but qua'ity must come first. Any sane method of lnbrcedlns will

the fur, but you have to have quality, but if quality is not in tho IOX$‘w:IIlQth0d-B of breeding will be able-yo get it out of the foxes. The bee"; ebndn is not an indica- tion of slack of quality. but up 1H- dication c: improper breeding. 1w!- ing, etc‘. Of course fox breeders ard aware that there am brown shades and brown shades. The light brown shade should probably be eliminat- ed from the lgwreedililtsuiigok l: cki as = ‘e as o ma gulconglomig of dlflerent strains of foxes, associated with poor qual- ity. On the other hand, the deep chocolate shade is very 0mm a" indication of very desirable 1M1"- ent qualities, but the foxes have not been mated properly. The brown shade cannot be bled out. that is if there is s. brown shade in the ranch fox breeders should not attempt to u»,- as gut rid of it by matin! it w other strains of foxes, but should in- breed as closely as possible, and it will be found that a system of in- breeding with a deep chocolate shade wl‘l lead to a very favourable dense blue black colour. Fox breed- ers appear to be adverse to coam fur and on account of this attitude many foxes with excellent inherent qualities have been ruthlessly pelt- ed. The coarse fur may discount the pelt value, but from a breeding standpoint it is generally evidence of very desirable inherent qualities. end by proper inbreeding with foxes having coarse fur, offspring: with fur of very desirable strength. texture’ and lustre may be produc- ed. There is one thing that is ab-

FOX

wili be healthier

FOR PRICE LIBTB U! ALL

marmo- CUBES.

If you have selected your breeding stock. feed them SILVER TIP MATING FOX CUBES and your fox pupa next spring

and of a much better

quality. -

GENE. TIP FOX FOODS

BEE YOUR DEALER OR WRITE -

lcllvtn m Biscuit 00.,,4LTll.

ESTABLISHED ms

. MONQ s. u. a.

the red pure Nd having no silver black; the average for the whole

that he should mate back the 100

ecting the suporior and eliminating,

improve the colour and texture of~

» ticn in the prices which fox breed-

{an

A condition powder for foxes and all fur-bearers. Try it this year for Inrger litters, and don't be like that old Scotsman of long ago who saldi “I am willing to be convinced, but I'd like to see the mon that cud con- vluce me." We could convince him and here's how: The very aristoc- racy of the Silver Fol World have one teaspoonful of Nicholson's Fox Health added to their rations daily. The two highest price pelts, £46. each of some 150,000 pelts sold in London the season of 1934-35 were taken ofl foxes fed some of Nichol- son's Fox Health. Another rancher pelted 20 foxes that averaged $51.50. his top price pelt selling for $119.00, his lowest $39.00. Another rancher near Charlottetown started feeding Nicholson's Fox Health to his breeders at the beginning of the ‘hating season, and he was the only rancher that ever tried it, fed it right through till the pups were two months old. he had 55 litters that counted 273 living pups. There are some agents selling fox feeed trying lo tune in on those pups. But get- ting down to “who really makes de mooalc," as the trombone player l said to his fellow artist, who mani-

pulated a piccolo it should be ncil _l , that this gentleman had 20 females r in a nearby ranch and they had 107 pups. There was one litter of l0, one of 8 and 5 of '7. Three sisters, pups of 1934 had 22 pups. Tile owner of the ranch had 22 females of his own in the same ranch he did not. feed Nicholson's Fox Health, and they had ‘l0 pups. So in this case Nichol- son's Fox Health will have to be given the palm, and the lemonade, or whatever other drink the anc- ients used. to hand out to victors of that sort.

Price, 3% lb. box, $1.50, delivered free, if you mention this paper.

(This powder is put up fresh as ordered.)

DR. J.M.NICHOLSON

202 Kent Street Charlottetown, P. E. I.

have soft fur. Such foxes may be well furred one year but with the slightest irregularities in their eed and management may be entirely off furred in subsequent years. In general “softncss in the fur"’ ‘is a tendency toward the samson con- dition. Quality should be the prime standard in the seccticn or breed- ing stock. and fox breeders should learn to detect this quality by the “feel" of the fur, as it can be more readily detected by the hand than by the sight. If the quality should be associated with fur that is off colour, coarse and open, it becomes simpi, n. qucttion of adopting a sound method oi lnbrccdins. and then using a wise selection and eilminaticn in order to obtain types of fcxes with a clear black colour, closely furrcd with desirable life and lustre. The evidence obtained in the Experimental Fox Ranch would indicate that those foxes that have quality also have an inherent potentiality of producing fur of very great (IBlLSlIy. ff foxes are very open furreci but still have nudity, it would appear that the density failed to develop in these individual icxss, bu‘. they have the ability to produce densely furwl foxes; that is to say foxes with very open fur that have quality have generally produced‘ ofspring with very dense fur.

Fox breeders have been blinding themselves to where the quality lay in their ranches by the pieilld‘ ice that has arisen in their minds against inbreeding. If the foxes have been line-bred as they should be ,then in each ranch there would be a large number of gr0l1l15 and fox breeders would be in a better position to recognize where the quality lay in their ranches. But in- stead of having a largo number of difierent lines runninZ In the ranch, the majority of fox breeders have bzen mating their foxes in such a promiscuous manner that it would be altogether impossible even u quality should appear in the" foxes, Io definitely know where the quality came from. 175601156 m“ had adopted a. system o! mating as distantly mlated as possible within their own breeding stock A system- atic method of line-breeding would tend cc produce bettrr f0x€s and woukl divide the foxes into groups so that fox brectlcrs would 50 111 B [better position to know where the

quality lay in their ranohfii-

Fox breeders arc blinding them- selves to where the Illlilllly “e3 I“ ‘their ranchcs by the hfillhlmld method in which many M9 market‘ ing their pelts. Many fox breedeis stated that they have got good prices for their pelts on one sale, but did very poorly on other sales. The majority of {OX breeders are always ready to jump 85 I“ conclusion that there is somethini wrong with the market, but they never- gezm m question their own judgment. Probably where fox breeders have thought that they had obtained very 8°00 Prim m" their pelts, they were underesti- mating the value of tnozc Particular pelts and where they got 8- D001‘ price they had overestimated thrm. In other words, they did not know were the quality lay in the pelt! they were producing. would not be guided simply by their own opinion lpsardlns the cash value of the Dem

any time there should be a varia-

ers expected to sot for their 981W they should not so much question the market conditions, but should make a thorough analysis of the breeding stock in their ranches to ascertain if they have properly estimated the quaiiiy of the differ- ent foxer. If fox breeders are

carefully eliminate those foxes that ,

Fox brecders

that they are producing, but should learn t0 accept the valu:s that are filmed upon the market by. the real exile" fur buyers o3 the trade. B110 1f l‘

lrllr Quertgrrrrpww ovARvl-evi

mun nous on roncs , . colvlvircrlln wnw

Silver Fox Farming

The annual meeting of the Can- adian National Silver Fox Breed- ers’ Association. will be held in_ Moncton, Tuesday, January 21st. Directors from all over Canada will be present and in addit to the presentation of the annua re- port. there will be a discussion as to new legislation for the coming year. At s special eeting of the Silver Fox Exhibitors Association of Prince Edward Island, Captain John L. Read, Borden, and W. Harry Tidmarsh, Charlottetown, were appointed as‘ nominees from the Association for directors of the Canadian National. Their election to the Board will follow as a mat- ter of course.

. The past week has been a rather anxious one for the fur consign- ment houses here as they have all made large commitments from clients to the Iondon fur auctions, which started on Monday last with Hudson's Bay cataloguing over 26,- 000 pelts. Their selling concluded on Wednesday with 82% sold and an average advance over December sale of 'llé%. Frederick Huth s» COmDimy _commen selling on vv ’ esday morning and with over 20.000 pelts in dispose of it is not

Friday night, Today will probably be a holiday and Anning dc Cobb 01' Lflmllson do Company will start off on Monday. The total offering of all the firms is expected to be in the neighborhood of 90,000 skins.

One would think that such a Valli; quantity of silver fox repre- senting as it does roughly over $3.- 000.000 would have a tendency to 50m the buyers. but such is not the case. The demand appears to be as lively as ever and were it not for other disturbing factors, prices would be as good as last year.

Discussing the price factor with several of those who are in a posi- tion to Judge. it was pretty Ken- orally agreed that prices are below those of last’ January, although a. bit above Decembe I935 prices. Where the silver fox market got its bad crack was lip-November, that sale coinciding with very dis- turbing international conditions. December brightened up a little bit and January shows a shade im- provement, which may be due to a better class of skins being of- fered in January and not to any really firming in prices.

Looking at the situation from a purely common sense standpoint and. not kidding ourselves, the writer cannot see anything but n smaller all- round average repre- Selllillls l net decline per skin over last year's average of about $5.00. That seems to be what we will have to face. It is not pleasant, but will let us out with a profit and we are mighty lucky to be able to ga- out from under with a whole skin. considering the wars and rumours § of wars‘ and the scarcity of money

that this sorely oppressed world has to reckon with.

The visit of Ralph Parsons, Fur 'I‘rade Commissioner, Hudson's Bay Company, whose head office is at Winnipeg. was regrettably a very short one. It is a pleasure to have Mr. Parsons here on account of his most likeable qualities

As mentioned in the Guardian yeslflfdfly. Mr. Parsons is one of the most widely travelled men in 95110110. or in fact one could take in a lot. more territory. His nnuuul treks run into thousands of miles and his knowledge o! the vast hinterland of this Dominion is sec- ond to none.

w- 0- 1301181115. who sewed an apprenticeship at the McLure and MacKlnnon Silver Fox Farms,

manner they can use that u; e guide in discerning where the llllfllliy lies in their ranches. Fox breeders who are selling their Wits "on _the street" or to one in- dividual fur buyer, are keeping themselves in the darkto a great extent regarding the relative value cf the foxes in their ranches. Fox breeders should realize that when they arc marketing then» pglts through reliable co-operative mark- etlns concerns. associated with the world's leadiru, fur auction agree, they 818 getting the opinion, not of one, but of a large number of expel“. 0h the quality o.‘ their foxes. It would be more to the ed. "Intake 0f fox breeders to have the opinion of the world's leading fur buyers as a whole on their pelts than a few extra dollars that might be gained by selling them "on the street" or to individual fur buyers. But experience has shown over and over again that fox breeders do not lose money, but rather obtain far higher prices in general by selling through the reliable cc-op- erative marketing concerns.

likely that they would finish until ‘

ployed in establishing mink and muskrat farms for the Hudson's Bay Company, is on his way to Newfoundland to look after the Company's fur farming interest them.

Ira D. Carr, Covehcud, was the recipient or an offer of $500 from Captain H. M. Ireland of Scotland, for his Grand Champion fox of the Charlottetown fox show. This fox will be two years old this spring and was acclaimed by all who saw him as a beautiful nmle. At this writing it 1a not known whether the deal will be consumated or not.

We have just received from the Department of Agriculture, Do-

' ‘ Experimental Farms. a. xe- port on the Experimental Fox Ranch at Summerside. P. E. I., for the years 1931 to 1984, by the Su- perintendent, Dr. G. Ennis Smith.