JANUARY 3, 1950

THE GUARDIAN. CHARLOTTETOWN

PAGE SEVEN

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In our story of silver fox farm- ing and its ups and downs since its inception in the 1880's by breeders Charles Dalton and Robert Oulton, we left off at 1920 when the United states government had placed a tariff of 50 per cent on pelts and 15 per cent on live foxes. The real effect oi the blow was not realized until December when ranchers started to market their pelts. That rail an exhibition oi live foxes was held in Montreal. It was the iirst in, Canada and most oi the top breeders in this province were there. They practically filled the show with their entries. W. Chest- er B. McLure and P. J. Drolet were the judges. Some sales were made, a particularly iine silver was sold by Joe Callbeck to the Borestone Ranch in Maine, Arthur Doyle, Winnipﬁﬂ- bought quite a number and the writer also purchased several. These foxes iormed the ioundation sires for many oi the best that were bred in Canada af- terwards.

Ooincidirig with the American duty was a drop in the demand in Iondon for iox pelts due probably 1o currency difficulties which at that time were not so well known or freely discussed as they are at present. Anyhow, the outlook was jar from bright, relieved a bit though by some buyers from Mus- kegon, Michigan, who picked up quite a number of pairs oi livc ioxes, The industry had been start-

ed there by Frank ’I‘uplin, iormer- the enacts o,

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CONNECTED WITII y,

Silver For and ,5

Mink Farming

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prices of as high as 15o

were realized for some goodpgplélgf mens there. In 191i Messrs. Mo. Lure and MacKtnnon sold s1 pg}. cent interest in the Vimy Ranch to the Hudson's Bay Comlpany and 9- 11W company. the Mcbure and MaoKinnon Silver Fox Farms. Ltd, was brouwht into being. The prgy- ious year - - 19% - MacLure and MacKinnon had been pilmhaggfg o1 silver iox for H. B. C. and they carglnued in that capacity until

An idea oi’ the prices paid at their sales can be taken from the fact that our records show that in 192i; silver iox pelts were sold on the January H. B. C. sales at prices of 14-2 pounds, 132 pounds and quite a large number at over 100 pounds. The highest price real- ized at their sales that the writer remembers oi while we were at- tending them was 250 pounds for a pelt consigned by Edgar Mllllgan through us to the H. B. C. It was a marvellous skin, not an Alaskan, but a pure P. E. I. bred. At the same sales 50 Alaskan type silver consigned by Milligan and Mor- rison brought an average oi 65 pounds, -

By i930 Norway. the States and Western Canada had secured their requirements of lire foxes and sales became limited to certain top ioxes at iox shows or some especially good individuals. the stock market

United

ly oi New Annan, who had lccated °“ " “I” "m" “d w“ W” W‘iiﬁifhiﬁéim§“i§h§.Ui'$II°‘li§“§I§§

established. Fox farming took on quite well in Michigan and the next year several carloads of Prince Ed- ward Island ioxes were shipped there and became the nucleus for very successful breeding farms.

Fromm Bros, who in alter years developed into the largest breeders of silver foxes in the world, were then Just feeling their way. They had started out with rather poor stock at first but had managed to pick up some types oi Alaskan and were getting some breeding results. One of them came to this province that year or the next and bought quite a number oi our darker types to cross on the silvery ones they had.

The year 1002 was a good one {or the sale oi breedingstock and it was that year that the Royal Winter Fair, ‘Toronto, held its

first silver fox show, As in i920 practically all the entries were from Prince Edward Island and

quite a. number of sales were made to Ontario parties and also to west- erners. In 1923 a number oi buyers came here from Norway and that trend continued until in 1926 a whole ships deck was covered with silver foxes brought from P. E. I. 1t was the live sales that boosted the industry from i920 to i926. About that time pelts made a come- back on the London market and

NAPOLEON AND UNCLE ELBY

the world and prices of pelts drop- ped accordingly but still they were sufficiently good to maki- fox farm- ing quite profitable. Looking over old records we note that we aver- aged somewhere around $60 or more that year. By 1936 most ranchers had increased their breed- ing stock and thereby cut down the overhead which a smaller number of foxes would create.

In the i036 and 193'? sales aver- ages were around $35.00 to $45.00 and anyone with a good sized iox ranch was making money because feed was cheap, tripe around 3 1-2, horse meat .04 and cereals around .0t 1-2. Labor was reasonable and silver iox farming was looked on as a good steady moneymaker. The demand seemed insatiable - - Nor- way, Denmark, United States. Can- ada, were all raising foxes and by 1mg somewhere between 1300f 00 800.000 iox pelts were thrown on the markets. That led to very low prices, much below the cost oi pro- duction and in this province - - and we presume elsewhere - - iox farin- ers cut down their herds very mat- erially.

The advent of war in the iall oi 1938 caused an upturn in prices, in i040 most oi the pelts going to Canada and American purchasers.

by Gilfford McBride

I I

FEWA SHADYL%I\1N'GOARQCTUT Ell-BY. BETTE LET NEH-IN

HIM IN t

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New President 0f Ford Motor 0o.

WINDSOR, D00. 31 -- Ford Motor Company of Canada, Lim. lied. yesterday announced the re. iii'ci:nciit of Douglas B. Greig a5 director and president, and the ap- pointment of Rhys M. Sale, (above) executive vice president. as his successor, effective January 1

Mr. Grc-ig is relinquishing his diuiies after more than 30 yam-g with the company. He began in the accounting department and moved steadily upwards through a series of positions to become treasurer Ln i942, and president in 1946. Mr. Sale, who ls 52. began his carver in Ford of Canada as a YOui-‘i oi l8 in the cashier's de- Diiflulvul. lie became assistant ex- port managcr in i926. assistant Canadian sales manager in 1929, and was sales manager from 1939 until his election as vice president in 19-1-6. Mr. Sale was elected exe- cutive vlcc president in 1948. It was that year that the first plat- inums wore horn on Canadian ran- ches and in a few years they were pretty wcll distributed and prices as high as $225. a pelt were received in Montreal. They had been first introduced in New York in 193B by Omar Brager - Larsen who brought over 100 beauties from Norway and had them sold at auc- tion I. J. Fox paying $5.000 for the top, and many oi them sold for $500.00 and I think the aver- age was something over $050.00.

Every rancher wanted to get in- to platinurns and ihcse who could not get the Norwegian type pur- chased the L-aForest. This type had occurred on a French Canadian farm in Quebec. The proprietor did not realize its value hut Dr. J. _A. LaForest did. He made a deal and had the use oi the male polygam- ously for two or three seasons. La- Forcst types became q-uite as popul- ar as the Norwegian and they have continued so ever since. The iact that platinurns were bringing such high prices ca/used most ranchers to endeavor to produce as many as

flooding or the markets and con- sequent low prices. Today plat- iniums unless particularly good qualify, are not bringing any more than silvers,

Another type that had great popularity ior a briei spell was white face. These were popularized principally by Ollie McNeill. Fort QiYAppelle, Sask. In 192'! he pur- chased a pair oi silvers from Mc- Lure and MacKinnon Silver Fox Far-ms and they produced the original white faced male that was the progenitor of hundreds of others, Well. McNeill and Raoul RIOYTTIOTIIT were the first here to get breeding stock from Ollie and sal- es by them soon spread white faces throughout the province. They were bright beautiful types and had quite a vogue, but the last couple oi years they have been relegated to an inferior position to silvers mainly because the trimming trade does not like them as well.

'I‘he above concludes our brief history oi silver fox farming and our purpose imwrlting it is to ac- quaint the younger persons conn- ected with the industry with its history and also to revive memories of the past among older persons. In concluding we are going to make a prediction - - but we do not claim to be a prophet or the son oi a prophet. However, we think we can discern signs oi a revival oi interest in silver iox and we have an idea that those who can hold on for two years with good stock will see iox furs once again popul- nr and in good demand.

With this issue our year's notes will be completed and we will soon be starting in on 1960. We want to thank our readers for their kindly comments made and written to us and to wish one and all a very Hap- pyiind Prosperous New Year.

PROVINCE’! BIRTH In 1849 Vancouver Island was proclahned a British colony, and in 1&6 the territory of the main- land was organized under the name British Columbia.

ACHES

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The led Croelbill.

The Red or American Orossbill appears in the old lists oi Island birds, but only as a winter visitor. In the year 1938 the late Mr. 11nd- low Jenkins oi Marshfield, who was an enthusiastic and careful obser- ver, reported that this Orossbill was very rare, and that he had seen no specimens for at least sixteen years. Francis Bain (i891) wrote: “The Crossbills are way- ward wanderers which eome .1n large flocks some falls and again are unseen for years . . . The American Crcssbill is also a red- plumed bird, but has no white bars on its wings. Large flocks come in late autuimn about our spruce groves, feeding on the seeds, They are exceedingly tame and easily approached.”

This species appears in the lists for N. B. and N. 13.. and is said, to have nested in the latter Province on one occasion. Its natural surn- mer range is in the coniferous woods from Alaska to Queibec, and in the winter it is found scattered down the coast to Virginia and inland to Texas.

The peculiarity of the Crossbllls is that the mandibles do not meet as in other birds, but cross each other at the tips. No bird equipped like that could pick up a living in the ordinary way. The Crosshill however, pries aipart the pine-cone scales with its crossed bill and secures the seeds with its scoop- like tongue.

Red or American Crossblll. AOU. 521, Rare visitor. Male: plirmrmage Jrlck red, wings darker; no white Wing-bars in either sex. Female brownish, washed with greenish yellow. Length 6.0 to 6.5 inches.

LIFE OF GEORGE HANDEL (3)

Handel was as skilled on the harpsichord as he was in musical composition, and often played solo on that instrument in the theatre. Headers need scarcely be reminded that this venerable instrument was the parent of the piano, and that its strings were plucked by quills instead of being struck by hammers as in the later instrument. It was this facility at the keyboard that brought Handel into the company oi another genius, one Thomas Britton. Thomas is a strange sort of character to introduce here, for he was a coal merchant in a very small wary, andcarried hisstock-in trade on his shoulders in a sack, round London streets, calling out “Small Coal" as he walked! l-low he came to play the viola de gam- bia is not known, but play it he did and was so much of an artist that he attracted a great number oi amateurs who were glad to per- form concerted pieces under his direction.

Britten held the tenancy of a stable and he made a long narrow rocm above it; it was in this make-shift chamber that the first private concerts took place in Erg- land, and in which instrumental music was first played regularly. Here, freon lI6'l\8 to 1714 (the date oi his deathi, the small-coal mer- chant entertained the musical world oi London weekly-and gratuitous- ly. Aimong the patrons oi this ex- traordinary man was the Duchess of Queenabury, a celebrated Court beauty, who never missed a per-

possible. That oi course, caused 5°‘ ‘ce-

In lﬂlﬁ Handel produced a new opera, "Amadizi", at the theatre, in the Iiaymarket. The words were by the manager of the theatre, James Heidegger, commonly called the Swiss Count. The poor Count was supremely ugly, but it is rath-

Chesterfield-that master oi cere- monial and good manners-laid a wager that is was “impossible to find another h/uman being so dis- graced by nature." A thorough search was made throughout Lon- don, and at length a hidecus old woman was found in comparison with whom Heidegger was voted "handsome." Heidegger was quite pleased, but bard Chesterfield wasn't: he said that in order to be fair, Heidegger must put on the old woman's bonnet. Thus attired the poor Count looked horribly ug- ly, and Chesterfield won his beti

Perhaps “Amadizl” was not a hit as the saying goes, for it is seldom mentioned now.

In those happy-go-lucky times the nobility of England oft-times encouraged genius by making its owner free oi their homes. In this way Handel was staying with the Earl o! Burlington whose house was at Picadilhi. (when King George 1 asked the Earl why he lived so iar from London, the Earl replied that he was fond oi soli- tude and had selected a. place where nobody would build beside himi If he could see Picadiliy now.)

In 1'11’! Handel paid a flying visit to his native town and returned to Londonthe following year to iind the Hayimarket Theatre closed for lack ofpublio support. Still "When one door shuts, another opens‘ is an old and true saying. The Duke oi chandos had a private Chapel at- tached to his magnificent palace which he called "Cannons." This afterwards became the Parish Church oi Edgeware. now included in Landon. In this church, up w about 80 years ago, there was a brass plate attached to the organ, bearing this inscriptlom-"Handel was organist at this Church from the year 1718 to rm. and composed the oratorio of "Esther" on this organ." (This fine church may have been bom-bed as have many others in London.)

(Continued in next notes.)

T00 MAN‘! I'll-ll.

It is distressing sto read oi so many destructive house-fires in the Marltimes. We have our share too, but it is not often that we have any loss of life. Usually the incident begins with "the head nl.’ the house" rising early and light- ing the kitchen fire. Then he goes to the barn to attend to his stock. In the meantime the rest oi he family are roused by thick smoke. and Just manage to sramble to safety beiore the house goes up

Jbin smoke and ﬂame, There may be

er disconcerting to iind that Lord

- NEWSY NOTES -

F ly Agricola ‘

O<}00%

i a. little insurance but Ienerally there is not; so it will be long be- fore the unfortunate people are in anything like their former cir- cuimstances.

I suspect that all the drafts were left on, that is. open, when the head of the family went to the barn. "And I know that the flue was fiull oi creosote (sometimes cal- led “tar") ready to take fire.

A little care would have preven- ted the catastrophe. (1) Be sure the drafts are closed; careful as l am I sometimes for-get! But then I am a. atickler for clean stove-pipes! they are cleaned once a month in summer when fires are smaller; In winter when fires must be well maintained, the ilues are cleaned every iortnight or three weeks, and to keep tab on this the day on the

cil. stove pipe is just unburnt fuel to the fire in the grate.

mand success"—but we can deserve it by attending to the tvwo afore- mentioned precautions,

SNAKEBITE TOLL

Every year poisonous snakes in India destroy enough people to rnake a good-sized town.

SNAKY WORLD

There are about 1,700 species of snakes izn the world.

Marilimelife?

7/[42/2 TOOAV/T

'1‘. W. BENTLEY, C.L.U., Manager 121 Grafton Street C‘ lottetown. l’. B. I. Box Ne. 433

almanack is marked with red pen- I The creosote scraped out oi the I (from the wood) and is thrown on- ‘

Well, "'tis not in mortals to eotn- I

aw!

it's here ./

HAPPY NEW YEAR T0 YOI.I ALL!

His wIIIma deep IeeIIng of appreciation that we iermlnaie the year I949 and en+er the New Year I950. W0 appreciate IIie opportunity which was ours ‘Io serve an even increased number of patrons during the past year. We ‘Feel that this Increased business was due In large measure Io ‘IIie sound policies IoIIowed, oI giving unselfish service, high qualify merchandise and at prices cu’r down as c|ose as possible and to a courteous, willing and heIpIuI shelf. "m.

We IooIr forward Io the New Year, I950 WI‘I'I'l re- newed vigour when the managemehi will search out the best values from amongst IIie reIiabIe manufacturers ancI In ‘Iurn pass on Ihese values at reasonable prices Io our cus-

‘Iomers.

The management and siafi ioin In wishing Io one encI aII a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

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