^"io ^^ ^v- « « • , V", . .^*^^- >° ■'<*-. .4.' G ^^0^ ^"^9^ 0^ c ° " ' * o ^ * O N ■^^^ 0^ c-"", '^o_ " J" ..'■•, V* FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES A Book of Practical Instructions on Breeding, Raising, Handling and Selling; Also Their Uses and Fur Value BY A. R. HARDING PUBLISHED BY R. HARDiNG COLUMBUS, OHIO n^A\ ^^>^ Copyright 1915 By A. R. HARDING. ftUG 23 iai5 CONTENTS. Chapter. page. I. History and Description 15 II. Ferretville 25 III. Hutches and Nests 33 IV. Barns and Sheds 42 V. Feeding and Management 52 VI. Breeding 61 VII. Handling and Training 76 VIII. Rats 82 IX. Ferrets and Rats 95 X. Ferrets and Rabbits 103 XI. Ferrets and Ground Squirrels, Gophers, Prairie Dogs 112 XII. Ferrets and Mink, Skunk, Raccoon, Etc 119 XIII. Ferret Contrivances 128 XIV. Letters from Raisers 135 XV. The Ferret in Belgium, Europe 149 XVI. Ferret Raising in a Small Way 154 XVII. Ferret Raising as a Business 161 XVIII. How to Sell Ferrets 170 XIX. Ferrets as Fur Bearers 177 XX. Ferrets — A to Z 186 XXI. Diseases of Ferrets 199 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, PAGE. The Two Varieties of Ferrets Frontispiece White and Brown or Dark Ferrets 16 Ferrets are Easily Tamed and Handled 23 Bird's Eye View of Held & Anderson's Ferret Farm. . . 30 Mother, Young and Nest Box 34 Summer Hutches of a Northern Raiser 38 Ferret Shed and Hutches — An Iowa Raiser 40 End View of Ferret Barn or Shed 44 Bird's Eye View of Chamberlain Bros'. Ferret Farm... 46 Cook House and Three Ferret Barns 48 One of Ralph Woods/ First or Summer Pens 50 Interior View of an Up-to-Date Cook House 53 Interior View of one of Chamberlain Bros'. Ferret Barns 56 Feeding Pans 58 Breeding Box or Nest for Mother and Young 63 Side View of One of Held & Anderson's Barns 68 Correct Way to Hold a Ferret 78 Illinois Raiser Handling Ferrets 80 Some Good Ratters 88 Females and Their Young 92 Ferret Harnessed and Muzzled Chasing Rat 101 Catching Rat and Ferret in Double Cage 102 Hunting Rabbits with Dog, Ferret and Gun 105 Where Rabbits are a Nuisance 108 The Wild or Black Footed Ferret 113 Squirrels — Pests of the Western F: rmer 117 Large Old Ferret 120 9 10 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE. Some Large, Strong Ferrets — The Kind for Fur Animals , 124 A Good Rabbit Net 130 The Old-fashioned Muzzle 181 Adjustable Muzzle for Ferrets 132 Harness for Ferrets 133 Winter Ferret House 139 Pen for Female and Young 146 An Eastern White Ferret 151 Summer or Outdoor Pens 157 Shipping Crates 165 vShipping Ferrets — On Way to Express Office 173 The European Fitch — Brown 178 The European Fitch — White 179 The Common Brown Weasel 180 Some Nice Furry American Ferrets 181 A Bunch of Contented Ferrets 187 Two Old Ferrets at Breakfast 191 Large Outside Pen or Run for Ferrets 196 INTRODUCTION. no business of the importance of the ferret industry has received so little attention and notice especially from the press. Fur Raising, Ginseng and Golden Seal Culture, Game Growing, Fish Culture have all been given a good deal of attention from news- papers, magazines and books upon the several industries as well as publications devoted en- tirely to these special lines. Although the ferret industry, in America, is really yet in its infancy the business is of much more importance than generally realized. Perhaps there is no better way to illustrate the extent to which even now ferrets are raised, sold and used than to call especial attention to Chapter II — Ferretville. Ferrets are a domesticated wild animal. I have seen more than one raiser pick up, with bare hand, old ferrets, handling or wooling them around. The ferrets apparently enjoying it. At the approach of the owner or raiser they usually come to him, or as close as the wdre screen will allow, jumping up or clinging to the wire and otherwise showing their friendliness. 11 12 INTRODUCTION. At the present time ferrets are mostly used to exterminate rats and for rabbit hunting. For rat»s they are much used in barns, granaries, grain elevators, mills, stores, levees, walls, ships or any place where rats are. If rightly used and handled there is no better or quicker way to rid a place of the pests. Where rabbits are doing an injury to fruit trees, etc., ferrets can be used to advantage. Ferrets are also used to some ex- tent on the large Western ground squirrels, gophers and prairie dogs. Some success has also been had in using on mink, skunk, coon and other fur-bearing animals. The ferret is very similar to the fitch, an European animal, that furnishes tens of thou- sands of skins to the fur trade annually. In Europe the ferret is sometimes called fitch-ferret where-by many claimed to be half fitch. Some dealers in American furs class ferret skins as "halves" — half ferret, half fitch — and buy on that basis. At the present time the fur value of the ferret pelt is but little, yet the time is not far in the future when it, no doubt, will be much more valuable. Kaising ferrets, like most other lines of busi- ness, is profitable for those who are familiar with the nature and habits of the animal, but is apt to prove otherwise for those who know nothing INTRODUCTION. 13 about it. Information, in this book, was gatli- ered from visiting some of the largest ferret colonies as well as correspondence with many others who raise thousands down to those who raise a very few. FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. CHAPTER I. HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION. CHE ferret is a native of Africa. The animal was first domesticated in the northern part of that continent, by the Egyptians, hundreds of years ago. Long after its first domestication it was taken across the) Medi- terranean Sea and introduced into Europe, from which continent it has spread to many part of the civilized world. The first ferrets' in America came from Spain, one of the divisions of Southern Europe. Just the exact date that it was brought across the Atlantic Ocean is not known but it was not until late in the nineteenth century, probably about the year 1875. The animal has proven useful and beneficial when rightly used. There are two varieties — white and dark or brown. The white variety is called Albino or English. It has a somewhat yellowish-white coat of fur and hair and pink eyes. The other variety, 15 16 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. dark or brown, is known as the Fitch-ferret. It has dark eyes and is said to be the result of a cross between the Fitch, a European animal, and the white or common ferret. Ferrets belong to the Mustelidae family. Marten, weasel, European polecat ( don't confuse with American skunk or civet cat, for they are '"M ^^^^^mmm )SSim4i; p;.. .■.:.*:;* -dSS «■"■■ "'"":'■::% 1 WHITE AND BROWN OR DARK FERRETS. of an entirely different family) are close mem- bers of the same family, while allied ( if not more distant relatives) are otter, badger and skunk. All animals of this species are pretty much the same in form, habits and nature. Ferrets have short legs, elongated, muscular and lithe bodies ; they are blood-thirsty, determined of purpose and relentless; hardy and prolific breeders, rather short lived, habits clean. Like all of the HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION. 17 weasel (mustelidae) family they are possessed of a foul odor which they can secrete or produce at will. They, however, are not foul smelling unless roughly handled. The ferret, according to Chambers' Encyclo- pedia, is an animal of the weasel family so nearly allied to the Fitch, known as Polecat in the Old World, that many regard it as a mere domesti- cated variety. It is of rather small size, the head and body being about fourteen inches long, the tail five inches and a half, the muzzle rather longer and more pointed, the head rather nar- rower and the color is very different, being yel- lowish, with more or less of white in some parts, there being two kinds of hair, the longer partly white, the shorter yellow. The eyes are pink. It is, however, much more susceptible to cold than the polecat and requires careful protection from it in climates where the polecat is a hardy native. It was imported into Europe from Africa and was well known to the Komans, being anciently em- ployed, as it still is, in catching rabbits, for which purpose it is often sent into their burrows muzzled, or ^^coped" by means of a piece of string, to drive them out into nets, or, with a string attached to it, it is allowed to seize the rabbit in the burrows and then it is drawn out, holding it fast. 18 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. The usual plan, however, is to let the ferret have free range of rabbit holes unmuzzled, the rabbits being shot as they bolt. Attention to warmth and cleanliness is essential to the health of ferrets. They are capable only of partial domestication, acquiring a kind of familiarity with man and submitting with perfect quietness to his handling, but apparently never forming any very decided attachment, and they never cease to be dangerous if not carefully watched, especially where infants are within their reach. If allowed any measure of freedom, they are ready to attack poultry and kill far more than they can devour, merely sucking the blood. They generally breed twice a year, each brood consist- ing of six to nine. The female sometimes de- vours the young ones, in which case another brood is speedily produced. It has been domesticated and raised in con- finement a great many years. It is a favorite animal among the English farmers, where a few are kept and raised on nearly every farm for the purpose of keeping the rats away. This custom has been practiced in England for a good many years and many farmers of today do not consider their farm properly equipped without a stock of ferrets. Since being brought to this country, their standard has been raised a great deal HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION. 19 higher by giving due attention to the selection of the breeding stock and by careful mating of the same. The ferret of today, as bred and raised in America, is a slim, very muscular animal and can kill animals much larger than itself. It resembles the mink or weasel in shape and size, having a long, slim body, small head and pointed nose. Having a very flexible bod}^, it can enter very small holes and follow rats in the most difficult places. As already stated, ihej are of two colors, white and brown. Tliere is no differ- ence in the two varieties as to their breeding and working qualities. It is only a matter of fancy as to color. They are hardy, strong animals and breed well in any climate. The average life for the ferret is from six to nine years. The breed- ing season is from March to September. One female will sometimes raise from ten to twelve young in one year, sometimes having two litters or even more, but usually less. The ferret will not breed until the following spring. She must be one year old. In Europe, like America, they are mainly used for rat and rabbit hunting. This animal, accord- ing to naturalists, is merely a variety of the pole- cat, modified by effect of long continued cap- tivity. Readers must not associate the polecat here alluded to, which is found only in Europe, 20 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. with the American skunk or civet cat, as it in no way resembles these animals. Fitchet or Fitch Cat, is the name given to the animal throughout much of Europe. The pelt or fur is known to the fur trade as fitch and can be described as consist- ing of a woolly, yellow under fur, showing through longer, glossy dark hairs. In the Kus- sian skins the under fur is almost white. The body of this animal is about seventeen inches long and the tail six. The fur is of value and thousands are used each season. Ferrets, as bred and raised in this country, will average around fifteen inches in length of body and tail five. They weigh up to three pounds but the average will be nearer a pound and one-half. In parts of the West there is a species known as the black footed ferret. They often live in prairie dog holes and in some locali- ties have about exterminated the prairie dog. This species is very similar to the brown or dark, other than its feet are black. While found in several Western states, it is not plentiful enough, except in a few localities, to be a menace to prairie dogs and other pests. The Eastern states, such as Pennsylvania, New York and the New England states are all buyers of ferrets for rabbit hunting. In fact, most all rough or rocky states are users of the HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION. 21 ferret. Many farmers, ranchers, gardeners, etc., especially west of the Mississippi, write ferret owners asking if they have animals that will kill ground squirrels and other pests. Reliable ferret raisers generally recommend best results only for rats or rabbits. Some claim their ferrets will drive out skunk, mink, ground squirrels and other small animals. While the ferret is natu- rall}^ a fighter, yet their size and strength is lim- ited. Certain animals have a natural dread of the ferret and seek to escape. If several ferrets were put in dens they might rout the animal, yet rats and rabbits are the two on which they are the most used, as both are afraid of the ferret. Ferrets have a large field to work in ; they are used on vessels and around wharfs, in mills, ele- vators, cellars, by farmers, sportsmen and poul- try breeders. The cities and country are over-run with rats and the only way to get rid of them is to ferret them out. They are also used by sports- men for hunting rabbits, mink, muskrat and other game. Buy a pair of ferrets and clear your place of rats. For rabbit hunting you will find them the best paying investment you ever made. They are also used on ground squirrels, gophers and prairie dogs. The saying "ferret it out" is surely applicable to the four-footed ferret for they can "ferret out" 22 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. not only animals much larger and powerful than themselves but are able to enter any den or hole that a rat can, especially the small sized ferret can enter an}^ rat den. Although ferrets (as the animals are called and best known in this country) are native of a warm country — Africa — they can be raised in nearly all parts of America, the exceptions being parts of Alaska, Northern Canada and the colder and high mountain sections of the United States. Some raisers are inclined to think that the brown variety, wherever raised, have the stronger eyes as more of the white kind apparently go blind or suffer from weak eyes than of the brown variety. Ferrets that are handled a great deal gen- erally become quite " tame. The animal is pos- sessed of more intelligence than usually known. Those kept and handled for months are apt to become so tame that they will not leave even when given freedom but are on hand at feeding time. In several instances ferrets and cats have been known to eat from same dish. Others be- come so attached to their owner, that they are at his heels much of the time, when he is around the premises. A boy, near Chicago, had a 2-year-old ferret that followed him one evening for miles. Just after dark he started to walk to a place, nearly three miles, on an errand. The errand HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION. 23 FERRETS ARE EASILY TAMED AND HANDLED. 24 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. done, which required about ten minutes, he started for home when he met the ferret follow- ing on his trail or track, nearly three miles dis- tance. It showed its appreciation quickly when picked up. All know how a dog becomes attached to his master. It seems ferrets have same fond- ness, at least to some extent. As ferrets hunt by scent and are a keen scented little animal it is not hard to understand liow one might become attached to and trail its owner. CHAPTER II. FERRETVILI.E. FERRETVILLE, or possibly best known by the name of New London, is located 47 miles southwest of Cleveland, Ohio, on thei Clevelland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis and North- ern Ohio railroads. The town had a population of 1,557 according to the 1910 census, with approximately the same now, being only an average Ohio town for general business and thrift. Among the industries may be men- tioned banks, brick yards, tile works, flour mills, butter and cheese factory, regalia manufactur- ing, newspaper, stores, garages and other indus- tries of more or less importance. The country surrounding "Ferretville' is largely devoted to grain, growing, dairy interests and stock raising, not overlooking the ferret breeder and raiser. The ferret business in America was first launched by Henry Farnsworth, at Rochester, a little village of some 200 inhabitants, a few miles northeast of New London. Realizing a few years later that it could be developed into quite an 25 20 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. iiulnstry, with his three sons, Levi, Samuel and Ezra, they moved the business to near New Lon- (h)n, where the breeding and raising was carried on, on a more extensive scale, raising and selling several hundred if not thousands yearly for some time. Later one of the sons married, an- otlier moved (who followed raising for a time) but for some years past none of these Farns- worths have been regularly in the business. Among those who engaged in the business during the early days were : N. A. Knapp, O. E. Hemenway, K. J. and Will Wood, George Zarker, Kiefer Bros., Olin Washburn, and Clayton Dim- ick. Some of these perhaps looked upon the in- dustry as a get-rich-quick method, for after a few years with more or less success, most of these raisers dropped out. Others, however, went into the raising, not only in and around New London, but in other towns such as Rochester, Green- wich, Wellington, Ashland, in fact many towns and villages in Huron, Lorain, Ashland,, Rich- land and other nearby counties, but New London became and still is the center of the industry. Within a radius of ten miles of New London, half of the ferrets in America are probably raised. New London (Ferretville) is pretty well ad- vertised throughout America as the village where FERRETVILLE. 27 ferrets are raised by thousands. While the in- dustry is one where the demand will probably remain under 200,000 yearly for rat and rabbit purposes, yet as the tens of thousands sold an- nually go to all parts of America, it puts Ferret- ville upon the map, so to speak, far and wide. Gradually, the importance and volume of business being done in ferrets in Northern Ohio was noted by enterprising people elsewhere, who began raising them. The industry spread to other parts of Ohio, also to other states, and even west of the Mississippi Kiver. So many, however, took to raising them at New London, only a few miles from where the Farnsworths were so successful, that that locality produces about one-half of the total number raised in North America. It bids fair to continue doing so. During the spring of 1915 there was prob- ably a dozen breeders in and near New London, who had from fifty to five hundred females. At that time Held & Anderson had the greatest number, five hundred. The total number of females kept for breeding in the New London territory was around 2,500. This included not only those that make ferret raising a business, but those who keep a few. Add to these probably 1,500 more within a radius of fifty miles and the 28 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. total is 4,000 young producing females. Say they raise five each the first litter and the total young is 20,000. Perhaps half or 2,000 are bred again. The second litters do not average so many. It is probable the average will be only 2^ or 5,000. This brings the number raised to 25,000, and assuming that the same number will be kept another year for breeders, would leave 25,000 for sale. At the highest tide of the industry it is esti- mated that 35,000 were shipped during a single season. The average is considerable less, being around 20,000 annually. The largest single shipment was one made the season of 1914 of several hundred and valued at |1,500.00. Ferret raising, like other enterprises, has its dark side, for all who engage do not succeed — neither do they in other lines. Yet tlie wonder- ful success made by a few caused others without any ferret knowledge to engage in the business. Many such, after a year or two, quit. Those who today are making a success, study the ani- mals and look after them closely. In the first years of the business Mr. Farns- wortli arranged with farmers to raise for him, paying 50 cents for the young in the early fall. At that season there was ready sale at |2.00 each or better, so that it was easy money for the FERRETVILLE. 29 buyer. It* was not long, however, until the farmers learned that there was a ready market at much more than the price Mr. Farnsworth was paying them, so looked elsewhere for sale. Ohio is noted as well for the diversity as well as for the extensiveness of her industries, and every little while one hears that a new in- dustrial activity has been established or an old one pushed to a remarkable degree. An Ohio man has developed the most extensive ferret- breeding establishment in the United States. He is Fred Held and his place of business is at New London, a little village in the southeastern corner of Huron County. The records of Held's business (he now has a partner) show that the number of ferrets now annually produced there and sold reaches the high point of 5,000. And they go to all parts of the United States and to foreign countries. The demand not only continues but is increasing, they say, and the business at the Held plant grows with it. The peculiar industry was started in that vicinity by three brothers living near Rochester, Ohio, a little village over the line in Lorain County — Samuel, Levi and Ezra Farnsworth — whose given names brand them as of New Eng- land extraction, Their Yankee instinct led FERRETVILLE. 31 them into the business and they made quite a success of it, but they did not grasp the possibil- ities of it as Held did, who, while he got the idea from them, has developed it far beyond anything ever dreamed of by the Farns worth men. Originally ferrets were used almost exclu- sively for killing rabbits, but since many of the states have passed laws forbidding such use of them, in order to protect rabbits, their principal use in states like Ohio is in ridding places of rats. A ferret can go any place a rat can and rats are mortally afraid of them. They fly when a ferret enters their burrows. As is well known, ships soon become in- fested with rats, which board them as they are tied up at the wharfs. Wharfs are always in- fested with rats of large species that live on the refuse from the cargoes thrown out there. It is a frequent sight in the water shipping districts of ports to see rats going aboard by way of the mooring ropes. Every vessel carries its equipment of ferrets, whose duty it is to keep the holds free from the rodents that, during a voyage, may do extensive and expensive damage to goods in the cargoes. Vessel-owning companies are large buyers from the Held establishment — their orders generally calling for from 50 to 100 animals. 32 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. It is not generally known that the ferret's choice of food is horse flesh. That mnst be an acquired taste, for, of course, in his wild state and unaided by man, the ferret could never secure such food. Many an ancient horse, use- less in other Avays, finds a sale at a low price at the Held ferret farms. The matter of providing food for the young ferrets is quite another and more expensive thing. A small, dairy herd is necessary for this purpose, for it is found that the little fellows do best, and escape the many diseases that assail young ferrets, when fed liberally on ground whole w^heat, liberally soaked in fresh cow's milk. At the breeding period the mother ferrets are also fed with the same preparation. Since the ferret raising industry was begun in Northern Ohio several hundred people in the New London vicinity have been interested in the business. At one time there were probably a hundred who had the "ferret fever" in a single year. It is true that many only raised a few and gave the business up after a year or two, but others devoted their entire time and attention to ferrets. While no accurate figures are avail- able yet several million dollars have been paid to the "Ferretville" raisers during the past twenty years. CHAPTER HI. HUTCHES AND NESTS. eONSIDERABLE personal observation, coupled with catalogs from the larger breeders, as well as letters from those keeping a few only, reveals the fact that hutches and boxes are all pretty much along the same general plan. If a person keeps but one or two ferrets, a very good cage, hutch or house can be made from an old organ box, laid flat and cut down so that it will only be about two feet liigh, which is about right for two pens. With a partition through the middle, this will make two pens about 4x3 feet. They should not be smaller than this for each female to get best results. For the front of the box heavy poultry net- ting with one-half or three-fourth inch mesh can be u^ed, as one side of the pen should be open. The old riddles out of a threshing separator make very good and durable fronts. The front half of the top of the box should be hinged to make a door. In one of the back corners of the pen should be placed a small box about a foot square to be used as sleeping quarters. There 3 33 34 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. slioiild be a hole about four iuciies in diameter in the box to alloAv the ferret to passi in and out. There should be plenty of clean straw kept in this place for the ferrets, as they seem to be best pleased when sleeping in the middle of a high bunch of straw. MOTHER, YOUNG AND NEST BOX-PLACED ON TOP OF HUTCH TO PHOTOGRAPH. According to one, cleanliness is the main point in the care of ferrets. They are an ex- tremely tender and uncertain animal to care for. Their pens should be about three feet high and three by four or five feet, which should not con- tain more than three or four ferrets; or if one has more room they can give them, it would be HUTCHES AND NESTS. 35 all the better. I have kept fifty in a pen 10x12 feet, bnt the pen has to be kept perfectly clean at all times. They can not climb np any further than they can jump up and catch hold. Inside this main pen should be a small box with a three-inch hole in the end, to serve as a nest where they may sleep and enable them to come outside in the air to sun. The main pen should have the bottom well covered with clean earth or chaff to absorb the moisture, and espe- cially in the corners where they leave their droppings; and this earth or chaff should be covered with clean straw. The nest should be supplied with soft straAV or dried grass. They will carry in clean nesting and keep their nest clean themselves if given a chance, but a general cleaning of pen and nest should be made at least once a week. Every day or two their feed dish should be scalded out and thoroughly washed. Another of the small but successful raisers thinks his good results due to the following: Cleaning pen or box every third day, also daily washing dishes that the ferrets eat from. Cleanliness is a preventive of disease and as ferrets' diseases, such as foot rot, are very con- tagious, and must be guarded against. There are skin diseases, lice, etc., which, while not so fatal, must be avoided if possible and cleanliness of 3G FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. hutches, nests, and feeding vessels is largely a preventive. If any one thinks that all they have to do to raise ferrets is to throw in some feed, they are mistaken. A box 4x5 feet will accommodate a pair or a mother and litter. Place some clay or straw in the bottom, clean out often and there will be no disagreeable odor around the pen. Remember that ferrets should not be kept in cellars or any place that is damp. Their pens, hutches or boxes should be in as clean and dry a place as possible, where they get plenty of fresh air. Never cover up the tops of their pens. These are things I had to learn for myself in the last fifteen years' experience in caring for ferrets. In keeping one or two ferrets, vsays a success- ful raiser of years of experience, but who at one time only raised a few, a pen four feet square is about the right size and it should be about two feet high. Cover over the top with one-inch mesh wire, leaving a small door so that one can get at them handy. Put about three inches of good soil (not sand, as sand breeds fleas, and fleas are the worst things that a ferret or a dog has to contend with) in the bottom of the pen. Make a small box nest in one corner, cover on top, with holes for air, also a small square hole for the ferret to go in and out. The cover of this nest HUTCHES AND NESTS. 37 may be taken off in the summer or warm days. Put enough straw in the nest for the ferret to burrow in and you will find that in this way they will do better than by throwing the straw in a heap in one corner. The ferret will use one corner of the pen and this should be cleaned up every day, so there will be no dampness, as dampness causes what we call foot rot, and is a bad disease for a ferret to have. If not taken care of, the feet become very tender and sore, the toe nails groAV very long, and, in fact, the whole foot rots. This disease may be cured by this simple remedy : The foot should be soaked in warm water until the scab becomes spongy, then take a little lard with powdered sulphur and turpentine mixed together, apply this freely to the feet and after a few appli- cations the disease will go away. If they are cared for properly, they will not have this disease. Dampness is what causes it. Change the earth in the bottom of the pen once or twice a year; also have their bedding changed often and the ferret will do well. The description here given is recommended by one of the largest raisers of Northern Ohio who has been a successful ferret man for many years. Where only a few ferrets are kept for hunting or rat killing a good hutch can be built 38 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. out of a dry goods box. A box 3x4 feet in size will be ample room for a pair or even more. A handy hutch can be built and placed in your back yard by cutting the box down to thirty inches high. Nail cleats or posts in the corners, on one side let the posts stick up two feet above the top of the box, then nail a plate on these posts, put on a board roof. The boards are nailed to the plate and to the back of the box, SUMMER HUTCHES OF A NORTHERN RAISER. side up the gable ends, and you will have an opening of two feet, which gives you room to feed and clean out. Make a screen door out of one-half inch mesh poultry netting; this will give plenty of air. You can hinge this door so it will drop down if you wish. We would place this hutch in the shade in hot w^eather. This makes a good hutch for summer or winter, if you have some out- building to place it in, make a wire lid on the box instead of the board roof. HUTCHES AND NESTS. 39 If clay is liandy, fill in four inches deep: if not, shavings or straw will do. Make a nest box. You can keep them in fine thrift in such a hutch and there is no danger of them getting out. This plan is followed by a party who raises several dozen each year. A ferret should not be kept in a dark, dirty barrel or box, but should be kept in a light, clean, airy shed. My pens are about ^ve feet long and four feet back from the front. I generally put a shed roof on about six feet high at the front and five and a half at the back. The building can be made as long as one desires. This building should be cemented and about one foot of dirt put on top of the cement. About two feet from the top of the dirt I build my nests by placing a ten-inch board along the back of the pen. I next place a board about five inches wide on top of my ten-inch board and then place a cover over this on hinges. This makes a nest about five inches high by ten inches wide by five feet long. Saw about three inches square out of the five-inch board in front of the nest for the ferrets to go in. Put four-inch board from these entrances down to the front of the pen. I leave the upper half of the pen open on the front for light and air. One-half inch mesh wire screening may be used to enclose this upper part. Each pen containing twenty square feet 40 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. HUTCHES AND NESTS. 41 ( say 4x5 ) is large enough for eight f erre1^s. One female will do well in each enclosure with a litter. Raising ferrets is not difficult for those who know how. They must be attended to regularly, pens or hutches kept clean and at about a certain temperature. If the weather gets very warm, the covering on the nest or breeding box must be partly removed. The box in which the female has her young has no lid or top on, that is, no board, but is topped or capped with straw. When the weather gets unusually warm, part of this covering is removed. If tlie 3 oung SAveat much, they are too warm and if allowed in that condition long, will become diseased and die. In fact, a few sweats are fatal. Where a few only are kept, the pen, hutch, box, or whatever the females are kept in must be sheltered from the sun. A shed of some kind should be used where the air can circulate during very warm weather and wliere during cold spells the doors can be closed. Letters From Raisers, Chapter XIV, contains a good deal of additional information about hutches and pens. CHAPTER lY. BARNS AND SHEDS. CHOSE who raise ferrets on a large scale find it advisable to have weather proof buildings in which the ferrets are kept, hutches built, boxes and nests made, etc. Buildings used by such raisers and breeders vary from small sheds to large and handsome barns. While the large and more up-to-date building presents a much more prosperous appearance, yet, no doubt, the shed usually affords as com- fortable quarters for the animals, which seems to be all that is necessary. In fact, considerable inquiry seemed to substantiate this view. In other words, raisers with the largest and best buildings were not always the most prosperous and successful. In one instance, at least, a fine barn built especially for the ferret industry is now seldom used for that purpose. Without giving the matter much thought one would, at first, naturally suppose that the larger buildings would be best suited to success- ful ferret raising. Why? Because the large and high buildings would be cooler in the sum- mer as the animals would be considerable dis- 42 BARNS AND SHEDS. 43 tance from the roof. Again, the better built buildings would be warmer during cold weather, and feeding would be much easier under one roof. But there is another side to be considered. Sup- pose disease was to break out among the ferrets. Would it not be better to have several small barns or sheds in preference to one large building? Raisers of experience have found it advisable to establish their ferret farms two, three or even more miles from cities, towns or villages, largely as a precaution against distemper. Ferrets will contract the disease from dogs, which is usually severe. Dogs are not allowed around the build- ings or even upon the farm of most ranches. We are now speaking of those endeavoring to raise thousands or at least hundreds yearly. Those who raise only a few can afford to take chances in keeping them in or near a town or city. There are various plans or ways of building barns or ferret shelters. A building suitable for say 50 females and young can be built for prob- ably |100. Yet another breeder might spend three times as much upon a building no larger — just as one man builds a house better than another. During the spring of 1915, when the writer visited the Held & Anderson ferret farm, where u FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. BARNS AND SHEDS. 45 500 females and 100 males were kept, tliey were ill one shed which was 12 feet wide and 100 long, 4^ feet at eaves and about 7 at comb of roof — • just high enough for a man to walk through the center aisle or alley. This aisle was about 3J feet wide, on either side of which were 50 pens 2 X 4J feet. This was one of six similar barns or sheds but all ferrets were then in one building so as to be more easily fed and cared for. Ends of these sheds were to the east and west with sides to the south and north. This plan of building gave sunshine to one side and row of pens, half of the day, providing of course that the sun shone. A hinged board along the out- side could be raised to allow more air or ventila- tion during very warm weather. This board, or door, was kept closed during cold or stormy weather. Perhaps the most complete and up-to-date ferret buildings and equipment in America is in Ashland County, Ohio, the property of Chamber- lain Bros., Ashland, Ohio, which was under the management of C. M. Sackett when this splen- didly equipped and handled establishment was visited in the spring of 1915. A pretty good idea can be had of their equipment and manner of conducting same from the bird's eye view which includes barn, silo, cook house and three ferret BARNS AND SHEDS. 47 barns. Each of the three barns are 200 feet long, 12 feet wide Avith a 4 foot aisle and contain 200 pens 4 feet long by 2 feet wide and 30 inches high. The front or aisle end of each pen has an 18 incli< strip of f inch netting. In the center of each barn is a straw shed 12 x 18 and 8 feet higher than balance of barn where straw for the ferret pens is stored making it convenient to get when needed. The barn and silo are important parts of the ferret colony for in the barn cows are kept and in the silo cow feed thns snpplying milk for the ferrets. Tha cook honse ( the bnilding Avith the chimncA^) is IG x 30 feet, tAA o stories. First floor is nsed for cooking, grinding meat, and grinding Avheat into graham flonr, etc. ; the upper floor is a AA'ork room Avhere shipping crates are made as Avell as much other aa ork done. At the right hand side, and near the front of the cook house, is a shed under Avhich a pit about 5 feet deep, 4 long and 2 Avide has been dug and cemented. When an old Avorn out horse is killed, or one in good flesh is accidentally killed or dies, it is bought. The hide is taken off and carcass cut up, when a layer of meat, then a layer of ice is placed in the pit. This is repeated, layer after layer, until entire carcass is> packed in. The pit has a double cover and meat so 48 BARNS AND SHEDS. 49 packed, even in hot weather, will keep for more than a week. Several fresh horse skeletons lying about bore evidence that these raisers fed con- siderable horse meat, especially during the winter months. A good many people are inclined to brag and overrate their own business whether ferret rais- ing or some other. The Chamberlain Bros. Fer- ret Colony, C. M. Sackett, manager, has been running for twelve years, that is the manager had had that many 3'ears experience Avlien the writer visited them. Chamberlain Brothers, some years ago, evidently saw that the business had great possibilities. One of the brothers is a successful merchant of Mansfield, Ohio, and the other conducts a store on the farm where tlie ferrets are raised. The following description of their buildings and plant is taken from their catalog : ^'Our buildings are of the most up-to-date plans, completely equipped. Fine pens with wire fronts and backs, drop doors, automatic litter carriers with steel rod tracks, for the purpose of keeping the barns clean and sanitary. In our cook house we have an engine, feed grinder, meat grinder, saws (as we manufacture all our own shipping crates), meat pit and Chaldron cookers, also have tracks with feed car running from the 50 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. P.ARXS ANT) SHEDS. 51 COW stables directly tli rough the cook house into the ferret barns. This car is used to move the milk from the stables and the meat and mush from the cook house to the feeding pens, which enables us to do a great amount of feeding quickly and in a sanitary condition. We have GOO pens, which give us room for 4,500 ferrets.'^ The ferret business according to Ralph J. Wood, of Huron County, Ohio, is not learned in a day. Although he is an old hunter and trapper having trapped as far back as the TO's and familiar with the habits and nature of animals, he still learns something new about the ferret raising business each year. In 1900 when he first began raising he kept them in outdoor pens but now he has three buildings each fifty feet long in which are one hundred and fifty single pens. The open or outdoor pens are all right for sum- mer and fall but not to be recommended for winter. CHAPTER V. FEEDING AND MANAGEMENT. CIKE most industries, vocations or busi- nesses the man, boy, woman or girl that makes a success knows what they are doing, — are acquainted with what they are doing. The same applies to successful fer- ret raising. They must know the habits of the animals and be quick to detect their peculiari- ties. Ferrets must be looked after and fed dail}^ This, however, is no more than poultry, pet or other live stock requires. That experience counts for much in this busi- ness the following bears out : One raiser of years of experience, who has raised several thou- sand in a single season, said that he walked through his sheds every evening during the sum- mer months and from the squeal or cry of a young ferret could tell whether it was right or wrong — in nest or out. Sometimes they get out of the nest and into the straw. If quite young, chances are that they will not be able to get into the nest again. In such instances they are dead b}^ morning. 52 p^^ ^^^u ' m/i 1 1 ^^B ' ^l^^^^^^BH^^^^^^^l^H ■l ^^^nt. P"l 1 I 1 BBSH P i r ^M f^^^sSEOB Wk fcj pIp'Vhu^hh ^^M 1 j ^U 1 1 HI 1 1 H ^T ^"^ 53 54 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. The staple food for ferrets sliould be bread or mash, made of whole wheat and milk. If you feed meat in hot Aveather, feed only a little at a time. Do not feed salty meat, as salt is fatal to ferrets. Feed them bread and milk and fresh meat and be careful not to let them have any- thing that has cornmeal in it, as it will in time kill them. Ferrets should be weaned at about eight weeks old as the old ones then will fight them. A good food for them is fresh meat, milk, oatmeal and milk, gravy and occasionally^ fried eggs. Except when the females have young, feeding once a day is sufficient. They should be fed only what they will eat up clean before the next feeding time, which should be in the morn- ing. During hot weather if the same amount of feed sours, it will, be best to reduce the amount and feed twice d^ily, They should have fresh meat once or twic^ a week and should be fed only what they eat up clean. Any kind of game animal, such as rabbit, bird and muskrat are good for them, but it is dangerous to feed the common rat to them. Beef or horse meat, and bread and fresh milk are good, but salt will kill them. Fresh pork is good, but do not give them more than they will eat up clean at a time. In caring for ferrets you should have a clean, dry place and it should also be roomv. For bed- FEEDING AND MANAGEMENT. 55 ding you should use fine liay or rye straw ; never use oats straw ; also liave tlieir feeding part light, When out hunting, the head of game caught is all right to be fed to a ferret. Different foods are fed by the various raisers but it appears to us that the graham mash, fed with milk is the best all-round feed. Bread and milk is also to be recommended. Meat may be fed, although they get along well without it and if fed too liberally may cause ill effects. Salty meat must never be fed, neither should it be tainted or decayed. The chapter on Breeding explains how to feed the female and young. Those who have followed the ferret raising business for years, either on a large or a small scale, recommend the "graham mash" as the principal food. It is made from whole wheat ground or mashed. The mash is made much the same as regular cornmeal mush, that is, cooked with water to which has been added a little salt — about the same as for table use. At feed- ing time this masli is mixed with milk. About a quart a day is sufficient for four, five or six fer- rets or what is usually kept in one pen or hutch during the winter season. Some use skim milk but right there is where many make a mistake. For strong, healthy ferrets, milk as taken from cows should be fed, that is, not skimmed. 56 FEEDIXa AND MANAGEMENT. 57 One of the large and successful raisers feeds as follows : During winter the stock kept for breeding is fed milk in the morning, no mush and meat in the afternoon. In other words milk only in the morning and meat onh^ in the afternoon or evening. After the mating and until young are born no meat is fed but the graham mush. After young are born then the graham mush with milk and ground meat. The young Avill learn to eat the mush and milk also the ground meat as soon as they leave the nest. Many ferrets are killed by too much meat and young especially must be fed but little at first. A piece as large as a hen's eg^ ground up is ]3lenty to begin on for a litter of five or six. Where large numbers are kept, the graham mash fed with milk is not only the cheapest but most convenient feed. Some feed meat occasion- ally but during hot weather it may cause bloat. Ferrets are very fond of horse flesh and the larger ferret establishments buy old worn out horses for about |5.00 each. The hide is worth considerable so that the meat costs little or noth- ino- other than the work connected with the slaughtering and feeding. A piece as big as a hen's egg is enough for each ferret. Remember that it is best to feed meat but once or twice a week. Some successful raisers feed little or no 58 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. meat, finding the graham mash a splendid all year round feed. Pans used for feeding should hold only about a quart. They can be six, seven or eight inches in diameter but should be only about one and one-half inches high. The experienced raiser knows how much they will eat up clean, but does not overfeed, yet they "lick the platter clean" before next feed- ing time which does away with all washing of pans. If this was not done, that is all the food eaten, pans would require washing before each feeding. Ferrets learn when they are to be fed and will come when called. This, of course, they only learn after becoming familiar with the call of the owner or one in charge. In the ranches where ferrets are kept over winter they come readily at their call. This may be bun! bun! bun! or ferry! ferry! ferry! or whatever suits. They soon learn just as cats come to the call of kitty ! kitty ! kitty ! FEEDING PANS. FEEDING AND MANAGEMENT. 59 Never handle a ferret roughly ; pick them up geiith^ and in so doing you will have very tame ferrets, as they like to be handled in a gentle way. When a ferret comes out of a hole, do not make a grab as soon as her nose appears, but wait until she gets all out and then pick her up. If not, you will have one that will become shy and not come out as it should. Their average life is from three to five years. A ferret's natural diet in its wild state is meat, but bread soaked in milk is a good food. For one ferret give about a cup of milk with a small slice of bread broken in it once a day, also a small piece of meat two or three times a week. Keep all salty food away from them, as salt is hurtful. People in general seem to think the ferret is a wild, unknowing animal; but experience has been to the contrary. I have known ferrets to be raised under an old barn and when milking and feeding time came, could be called like cats. It is very important that hutches, boxes and other places, or enclosures be carefully watched and kept clean. They must be so built, arranged or located that they are warm during cold and wintry weather. Ferrets are very susceptible to cold. A window or other opening allowing draft will prove fatal. The hutches or building where 60 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. kept must be on dry ground. It is also best to have the floor a foot or so above the ground. Northern Ohio, so far, has been the locality where the greatest numbers are raised. This is not because that particular locality offers the best climate or other advantages for successful raising, but rather from the fact that there is where the industry started and many others soon followed. No doubt there are other portions of Ohio and other states as well that are better adapted to the business by having a more favor- able climate — not so much changeable weather. Again there are localities where there is much rain, air continually damp or changeable so that the business would not be apt to be successful or profitable. CHAPTER VI. BREEDING. PROPER care and handling from the time the female comes into heat until the young are old enough to wean, is a critical period in ferret raising and here generally hinges success or failure. Methods followed at the various ferret farms are somewhat different, partly owing to numbers kept, yet the general procedure is much the same, whether a few jills (females) only or hundreds are kept. When the farm or ferret colony is an exten- sive one, the female (also known as doe or jill) is put in with the buck and left for 24 hours. The coming into heat signs are much the same as a bitch. One breeder says that during this period the female resembles a sow pig. The period of swelling lasts a week or longer. When the proper time arrives to take the male, the exposed swollen part of the female will be about as large as a grain of corn. To further explain we will take a farm where say 100 females and 20 males are kept. Straw Gl 62 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. and other litter should be removed from the floor of a buck's pen or hutch, before a female is put in. Suppose ten are in heat and are put with ten males in ten separate pens. They are left to- gether for 24 hours when the females should be removed and placed in two pens, five females in each. Next day select ten more females but put in with different males. Keep this up until all have been bred. The object in using bucks every other day is to allow a day's rest. Experienced breeders say this means healthier and stronger stock as well as larger litters. Record should be kept of the date bred and in a week all females should be again examined. If they are not with young, swelling remains and the female is put with the male again. There is no difficulty in determining whether it is necessary to put with the buck the second time. The object in putting five females together in one pen or hutch after being served b}^ the buck is for convenience in feeding and caring for them. They can be left together for thirty days. At the end of that time they should be separated, each placed in a pen or hutch about 3x4 feet, provided with a nest box about 12 x 14 inches and 10 inches high, filled with wheat straw. The BREEDING. 0)3 nest box has a hole in one end near the bottom, large enongli to run 3^our hand and arm in. This box is filled with straw which should be pressed down firmly and a sort of a nest made. The female will now BREEDING BOX, , , . t i i • OR NEST FOR take possession. As she begins MOTHER AND to shed about ten days before YOUNG. XI 1 1 1 • the young are born, she begins to line the nest with her hair and fur. The nest is nicely lined and completed in time for the young — a provision of nature. All straw other than in the breeding box was removed when the female Avas put in the pen or hutch 12 days be- fore the young were born. The female carries her young 42 days. Breeding females should be fed twice each day while with young and the same after they are born. The date that mating should begin is quite important. Those who are experienced are of the opinion that it is best not to mate until the period of heat or swelling has developed several days for large litters. Some females, mainly large, healthy old ones may come in heat late in February, but where large numbers are raised, the first are bred about the middle of March. One large and successful breeder makes it a rule 64 FERRET FACTS AND FAXCIE8. to breed the first on March ITth, St. Patrick's Day. As the females are pregnant 42 days, the man who makes a business of raising ferrets watches closely when they are born and evens up the young. The number produced in a litter varies from 1 to 15, seven, eight or nine being common, with now and then one producing ten, eleven, or more. Others vary from two to six. A female, having only one, two, three or four, if strong and healthy, is given one, two or more from another litter. This should be done within 24 hours after she litters for best results. The female usually has only six or at most seven teats. Any not sucked will soon dry. Therefore it is best to place all young intended with her soon. The object in distributing the young is that each little fellow may have a teat of his own. When a second litter is desired, wean as soon as the young are old enough to eat. The female will come in heat again anywhere from ten days to two weeks. The young are grown at three months and can generally be weaned at about two months or as soon as they eat. Before wean- ing " straw up,'' when the mother will make a nice nest for her young. The only straw that had been given was in the nest box but before BREEDING. 65 removing the mother and nest box, straw should be placed to a depth of two or three inches in the pen. Here, the mother, as already stated, will make a nice nest. Wheat straw is the only kind that should be used. Nature does wonders. A big litter will usu- ally open their eyes in four weeks while a small one may not until they are six weeks old. Why? Because the mother is not able to supply the large litter with nourishment and in the wild condition they must hustle for themselves, which is impossible until they can see. The box is taken away after the young are big enough to run around. Young ferrets are carried by the old one in the same manner that a cat carries kittens, by the nape of the neck, if she wishes to remove them. First litters, where rightly handled, gen- erally run 7, 8 and 9, whereas the second are apt to be only 3, 4 and 5. Sometimes a third litter has been produced within a year. While ferrets live to be six or eight years of age and maybe longer, yet they are a short lived animal. The best success in breeding is with yearlings. If two-year-olds are bred the per cent of deaths will be greater than with the yearlings. A successful breeder said that if he kept two hundred females for breeders, one hundred one 66 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. year old and the other hundred two years old, that the number of deaths would likely be twice as many among the two-year-olds. Further he said that the yearlings would raise as many if not more young than the two-year-olds. In some parts of the Old World, where fer- rets have been bred and raised for hundreds of years, a report has been spread that a female in heat not allowed to be with a male will die ; also males not allowed with females will die. In- quiry among breeders in America does not bear out such reports. The fact that ferrets are short lived, whether bred or not, probably was the foundation for the assertion which seems to have originated in Europe. Judging from the fact that the first litter is about double that of the second for best breeders, females from the first litter should be kept. The fact that some ferret raisers produce an average number of young per female much larger than others, leads to this belief, although no one so stated. In fact there are certain things in con- nection with the business that raisers seem to wish kept from the public. For large litters I am of the belief that both females and males selected from the first litters should be kept. True, this will mean keeping a few months longer than if taken from the second, BREEDING. 67 but the larger average in number produced will surely more than make up the additional keep- ing expense. Ferret raising, to be successful, on either a large or small scale, requires head Avork as well as much manual labor, yet the business is one that offers more than ordinary wages. The information so far applies more especially to those raising large numbers. By far the major- ity will begin in a small w^ay, keeping say from one to a dozen females, so that the balance of this chapter will mainly be of interest to begin- ners or those who keep a few only. Much of this information was gathered from observation as well as correspondence so that there is consid- erable repetition of methods already explained. The male and female must be kept separate in the breeding season and only one ferret in the pen with the young, or they will destroy them. They will breed three times a year if handled right, but it is not advisable to breed more than twice, as the third litter would be too small for market during the hunting season and would have to be kept about a year before they could be marketed, which would not pay. When a ferret has young ones, they must be watched so the mother will not cover them too deep in the straw, as this causes sweat, which is o H H \^ W w o ;^ Pi I— < o M 'XI Q w • < 2; pq O r< 'ill allow end of nose to come through less than an inch but so that holes come over the animal's eyes. If rightly adjusted the ferret will not be able to open mouth wide enough to catch. Holes are cut or punched in the leather through which a string is run and tied around neck just back of head. The longest or top part extends back several inches and is tied back of the forelegs as further precaution to keep on. Ferret Harness — This is a simple arrange- ment. It consists of two strips of light leather •J-inch wide and 6 long. These go around the FERRET CONTRIVANX'ES. 133 HARNESS FOR FERRETS. body — one in front and the other back of the shoulders. The length of each of the two cross strips is 2f inches. One of the cross pieces has a hole in which a string- can be attached. Some nse this or sim- ilar harness for train- ing and working ferrets but if they have been rightly handled there is little or no need of such an arrangement. Har- ness are used principally on slow ferrets or where time cannot be spared. The illustration Avill tend to make plainer should you wish to make or use. They are easily put on and taken off and are not so bothersome or disagreeable to ferrets as some other "contrivances.'' Instead of the harness as shown some have simply tied a string so it will not slip around the ferret's neck or foot. In this connection the following from a party who has had experience may be of interest and value: "Some ferrets will hunt all right without a harness or string, but it is safest to use a means of inducing them to come out. Always keep the ferret warm, as it may not want 134 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. to come out if it is cold. I once had a ferret that would always kill the rabbit in the hole and would not come out. I broke her of this b}^ feed- ing just before starting out for a hunt. Some claim that their ferrets will drive out mink or skunk but so far I never have been successful in this although I never tried much. If you come to a hole in which there are a great many roots it is safest to let the ferret go in loose rather than harnessed or string attached, for string or harness is apt to get caught." CHAPTER XIV. LETTERS FROM RAISERS. CHE following letters are from those who, as a rule, have raised small numbers only. Several points are brought out by these not mentioned elsewhere that are of espe- cial interest. It will also be learned from these writers that ferrets are successfully raised in Canada, Iowa, Nebraska, West Virginia, Penn- sylvania, Illinois, and New York. While Ohio is the center of the industry there are in Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, New York and probably other states those who raise hundreds, possibly thou- sands, each year. My father is a great ferret breeder and I will try to tell about some of his ways. I came from England to this country in February, 1910, and always worked on a farm. My father has kept ferrets since he was 18 years old and he is 53 now, and he still keeps them. Perhaps this country will be a little different for ferrets from England. The ferret will come in heat in March and if they are not mated with a male they will die. 135 136 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. They have from two to nine in a litter and I never knew of one to breed twice in a year. The best tiling to feed them is new milk and dog cakes and flesh of all kinds bnt they like birds tlie best. But when they have yonng ones, never give them any flesh until the young are a month old, as the blood will get on them and that will entice the old one to eat them. I never knew of anyone using fine gravel. The best thing to be used in their pens is clean saw- dust for they must be kept clean. Never give them anything with salt on, as salt will kill them. G. W. Fradley, Canada. Ferrets usually breed in April but have been known to run until Ma}' or June. The}- have from three to eleven at a litter but I have had them have as high as fifteen. They carry their young 42 days. Always keep the male away from the female as they will kill the young. I feed my" ferrets bread and milk tw^ice a day and a little fresh meat once a week. Do not feed them very much meat as it makes them mean and hard to handle. Ferrets are born blind and remain so for about five weeks. Fix the nest for the female about a week before she has her young and do not bother her until the young are about two LETTERS FROM RAISERS. 137 weeks old. The ferrets hide their young until about that time. If the young get to squealing and crawling about at this time, soak a small piece of bread in warm milk and place it in the nest, as they are hungry. They will soon find it and suck all the milk out. I have been a breeder of ferrets for twelve years and h^A^e had only one ferret that raised more than one litter a year. This one had a lit- ter in June and another in August. The first litter contained nine and the next one eleven, and she raised nineteen out of the twenty. Always keep ferrets in a dry place with three or four inches of dirt in their pen for them to dig in. If you don't they will get a disease known as the foot-rot and that soon kills them. C. E. Wynn, Webster Co., Iowa. I have had ferrets for five years and they are very useful in catching rats or rabbits, if they are properly handled. Ferrets should, by all means, have a warm, dry place to sleep and a cool place in summer, for they will get overheated sometimes if kept in a close place. I lost a fine female in this way last summer. Let me speak again about the necessity of cleanness in raising ferrets. If they 138 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. are kept in a damp or dirty place, they will get the foot-rot. They are easily cured by applying kerosene and turpentine to the sore parts twice a day, for three or four days. Ferrets have from five to seven at a litter and they have been known to have fifteen. I had one last summer that had thirteen, but this is too many for a ferret to raise. Their breeding season is from the last of March to the first of October. As soon as the period of oestrum comes upon the female, place her in the hutch with the male and leave her there two days; then separate them again and give the female plenty of good, rich food to eat, such as milk and mush oatmeal, cooked potatoes, birds, foAvl or raw animal food of any kind. Meat may be given two or three times a week, but always keep your ferrets a little hungry. When handling ferrets keep them tame. Never make a quick jerk at them or hit them in any way. You should use a string and harness for them when driving out rabbits. Clifford Martin, Webster Co., Nebr. I will give my experience with ferrets as I have raised them for fifteen years. The cement floors are all right in the summer season, but do LETTERS FROM RAISERS. 139 not keep them on concrete floors in the winter for they are a cold natnred animal and should not be on anything that draws frost or dampness. For a house in the winter take four posts, drive them in the ground, letting them be about 18 inches high. Now take sleepers and make them one foot from the ground, put the floor on them and make the house so as to rest on the floor but WINTER FERRET HOUSE. make it so as to pass between the post. Now take a pair of hinges and fasten to the floor, then set the house on the floor and nail the hinges to the house so it will set in the proper place. Cut your door in the end. A house of this kind you can lay over and scrub. It is the best way I have found yet. In the summer time they want a cool, light place with sand on the floor as they will mix the sand 140 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. and keep tilings clean themselves. The summer house should be made of strips about one inch apart. Feed them meat, such as rabbits, birds, sweet milk with bread in it. When they have young ones don't finger them or feed them while they are nursing. If you do the mother will eat the bunch and look for more, and when one of them gets sick, don't doctor it for it is going to leave you sure without cure and to cure it is out of the question. P. H. Doss^ West Virginia. I began raising a good many years ago real- izing that many more ferrets could be used to advantage in flour mills, elevators, freight and express offices, as well as by the land owner or farmer. This was evident to me from the grain destroyed by rats gnawing holes in bins and sacks containing grain as well as playing havoc in general in freight, express office or store. Again tlie use of ferrets has been most too general in some localities — near towns and cities for instance— 'where scores of ferrets are used by rabbit hunters, not only in season, but too often at all times. It is pretty hard to catch' the ferreter as the animal can be so easily concealed. Ferrets are useful, in their place, but can be made very destructive on protected game which it seems some ferret owners and users stoop to. LETTERS FROM RAISERS. 141 Land owners and tenants are generally given permission to use ferrets where rabbits are doing an injury and with this leeway many use ferrets, at times, where they have no lawful right to do so. I have always found ready sale for all raised, selling mostly in this state — Pennsylvania — for rabbit and rat purposes. Some have asked for mink and skunk driving ferrets but having never tried or experimented with ferrets on those ani- mals I do not know whether they would do the work or not. Some of the diseases of the ferret are: foot rot, which is cured by dipping the feet in kero- sene ; scurvy is the same as foot rot, only all over the body and can be treated similar to the feet. Young ferrets have what is called sweating, on account of the mother ferret covering the young too deep with straw. Most of the straw should be taken out of the box, leaving only a little. Lump jaw is a disease like a boil and should be lanced. Distemper is a hard< matter to cure and all of them should be separated at once and taken out, but better kill all that are sick than to let it run. They can be cured by using skunk oil and sulphur, by pouring it down them and plenty of it. If given good care, they are not hard to raise. A Northern Pennsylvania Raiser. 142 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. In reply to your inquiry about ferrets would say that 1 have raised them for about twenty years and do not know it all yet. Will try and answer some of the questions asked. Have raised 12 in one litter and have had some with as few as 2. I consider 6 or 7 a good fair average. Ferrets have been known to live ten or twelve years but more of them die before four or five have been reached. I always use young ones for breeders. A disease commonl}' known as foot rot is the worst thing I have had to contend with, but have learned how to avoid it, namely, keeping ferrets feet healthy by applying common kerosene occa- sionally and keeping pens clean. Bert R. Northrop, Chenango Co., New York. One must keep the ferret house very sanitary (clean), otherwise it will soon be stricken with some sickness, then it is almost useless to try to save the little animals. Ninety per cent of fer- rets die when once sick. When the female is going to have young, the male should be kept some distance from her. If left together they may devour the young as is sometimes the case. LETTERS FROM RAISERS. 143 Old rabbit bunting ferrets sbould bave tbeir teetb clipped off occasionally. Tbis will often save many bours trying to get your ferret out of a bole, wbere it bas caugbt a rabbit. In bunting skunk and sucb animals, tbe longer tbeir teetb, tbe better. If a person wants fast bunting ferrets tbey sbould not play witb tbem wben starting on a bunt. Of course I must say tbat tbere are wortb- less ferrets, just tbe same as tbere are good for notbing dogs. Ferrets must bave a variety of food, tbis, too, must be strictly fresb. Ricb milk, not pure cream, witb bread crumbed in it is good. Meat occasionally, sucb as tbe lieart, lungs, fresb blood and a piece of tbe liver tbat is free from bile, are all good for ferrets. John C. Siburt, Marsball Co., West Virginia. Tbe first ferret I ever owned was a brown female, medium size, gentle and a fine bunter. Wben spring came I decided I would try and raise some 3^oung ferrets from ber. I did not knoAV any more about it tban a bog knows about religion, but wben I tbougbt tbe riglit time bad come I got a large broAvn male ferret from a neigbbor and put bim in witb tbe female. I took good care of tbe female, kept ber clean, fed ber 144 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. well and in forty-two days she had eleven fine young ferrets. The female was tame and I would handle the young all I wanted to, which was every chance I had. When the young were grown I had as nice a bunch as I ever saw, all tame and gentle as kittens. I would play with them, throwing them from hand to hand, put my fingers in their mouth, but I never had one offer to bite me. I never had to put on a heavy mitten or glove, or use a long stick with a hook on one end, to handle my ferrets with, as I have seen some ferret breed- ers do, who never handle the young until they are large, when it is a very hard matter to tame them. Some people have ferrets die when they are about three or four weeks old. I believe that they die because they do not get enough to eat from the mother. When they are hungry they will crawl around in the nest and cry something like a young mink or rats. When mine began to act hungry I got a shallow dish and filled it with sweet milk and soaked some bread in the milk. I then took all the young ferrets out of the nest and put the little ferrets' mouths right down in the milk for an instant. It won't be long before they will drink alone. A little time and patience will save a good many that otherwise would die. LETTERS FROM RAISERS. 145 I feed my ferrets bread and milk twice a day and a sparrow or some other kind of meat once a week when I have it. I also feed them corn, w^hen it is in the milk or good roasting ear time, watermelon rinds and pumpkins, when they are ripe. I feed the pumpkin by making a hole in them near the bottom, large enough for a ferret to go through, and put it in the pen. The ferrets will eat until there is nothing but the shell or outside rind left. Rats will not stay on a place where ferrets are raised. Before I kept ferrets our farm was overrun with them, but after I had ferrets six months we never had any trouble with them and none could be found. We never used tlie ferrets to hunt them with but they left, we think, be- cause they disliked ferrets. Ferrets and rats are natural enemies. The best pen I have ever had for a female and young I will illustrate and describe : The pen is 6 feet long, 3 feet wide, 2 feet high. First dig a trench the size of the pen, one foot deep, and line this with boards on bottom, sides and ends, using boards 14 inches wide for the sides and ends. Be sure and have the boards fit close together so a ferret cannot get through. Now get four scantling 2x4 for corner posts, long enough to reach from bottom of the trench to two feet 10 146 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. above the level ground. Nail the four posts ( one in each coner) firmly in place. Next join the four posts together by nailing strips 1 x 4 to the posts at the top, all around the pen. You now have the frame. Now shovel the dirt you re- moved to make the trench, back in the now board-lined trench, until it is level with the side PEN FOR FEMALE AND YOUNG. boards. Now get some fine meshed wire, not larger than 1-inch mesh (f-inch is good), two feet wide and staple it firmly and tightly all around the frame and over top, leaving a space on top for a door to feed, etc. ; also make a hole 4x1 inclies at the end near the bottom of the pen, through the wire, for the ferrets to go LETTERS FROM RAISERS. 147 through, to the hutch, making the hole in the hutch the same size as the hole in the pen. Put the hutch up close to the pen so the holes in the hutch and pen are square together so the ferrets can pass through the holes from the pen to the hutch. Ferrets can dig in the dirt floor to boards but they cannot get through. It will never be wet or damp if the dirt in the pen is kept a little higher than the dirt outside, and the ferrets will also be healthier than those raised on board or cement floors. The pen is stationary and cannot be moved, but if built in the right place, prefer- ably under some shade trees, they will last a long time if built right. I keep my ferrets in them winter and summer, but they should have lots of bedding in the winter. For hutches I use common dr}' goods boxes made of 1-inch boards about 2 feet wide, 4 feet long, IJ feet high. I put on a good cover or roof and a door in the back end about 10 x 10 inches to clean, etc. Some hunters have trouble with their ferrets not coming out of the hole and use harness or strings on them. I have found a way to get fer- rets out: Get some shells for your shotgun, loaded with black powder, remove the shot from the shells and carry a feAV in your hunting coat pocket. When your ferret decides to stay in the 148 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. hole and won't come out, just put one of these shells in your gun, put the barrel in the hole as far as you can and fire. Your ferret will soon be out. (This method is not very safe and unless large den or -small load of powder is apt to burst gun barrel. Author.) Arthur N. Anderson, Boone County, Illinois. CHAPTER XV THE FERRET IN BELGIUM, EUROPE. TWILL tell you liow the common rabbit is hunted with a ferret in Belgium, Europe. It was in the year of 1911, in the month of January, in the village called Aywaille, close to Liege, a city you will have no trouble in finding on the map. The country around this part is very rough and hilly and pretty well cov- ered with young timber. In this country they cut down the timber every three years and use it in the baking ovens. On this fine morning I loaded m3^self down witli thirty pouches, my fer- ret, a light colored one, large and gentle as a kitten, which I placed in a box a little larger than a cigar box. I carried it under my arm, under my cape and no one could tell that I had anything. I also placed hay in the box for a nest. A half mile took me to a friend who was going with me. We got started from his place at 4 a. m. There was about ten inches of snow that had fallen the night before. Two miles took us to the first rabbit den, which consisted of four holes. Here I had better explain about the rab- bits' holes in this country. They are not as lazy 149 150 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. as our own rabbits, who rarely ever dig a hole of their own but use other animals holes or hollows in trees. But in Belgium it is different. They dig their own holes which are from three feet to 100 yards long. All of the holes connect together in the ground. Sometimes there are only two holes and again there are as many as a hundred holes, all of which are connected. A den of one hundred holes probably would cover an area of one-half acre and underground it would be pretty well tunneled. We took our four pouches and spread them over the holes and slipped the ferret in one of the holes, but he was barely in when two rabbits shot out of the same hole. The first one was caught but the second one got away, as we had no chance to reset the pouch after the first one was caught. I set another pouch over the hole again while pard took out the rabbit, which took but a few seconds. Then the ferret came out. I set the box down and he crawled into it, then we gath- ered up our pouches and set off. We traveled about forty rods when we came to a hedge where we found a den of six holes, all in the side of the bank among the hedge, a very diflficult place to set the pouches. Finally we got them set and placed the ferret in one of the holes. We heard them making an awful fuss, then out THE FERRET IN BELGIUM, EUROPE. 151 shot a rabbit through a hole we had not found. We quickly set a pouch over the hole and again waited, for we could hear the noise. We did not wait long when a rabbit landed in a pouch, and while pard took him out, out shot another rabbit through a hole that we had not seen. We could not get at the hole to set a pouch so we had to let it go. We waited a little while longer and the AN EASTERN WHITE FERRET. ferret came out and crawled into his box and we started off again. We went a mile this time before we located another of 22 holes. We found blood in several places, human tracks, and decided that there had been hunters there with ferrets before us, so ^e took the opposite direction so we would not be ^^stung" again. This time we came to a den of 152 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. 42 holes, rabbit tracks by the wholesale and no human tracks to be seen. We fairly went wild at the sight and whooped and hallooed. After ten minutes' prancing around we began to set pouches. We got the thirty pouches set that we had and then began filling up the other holes with rocks, chunks of wood, in fact anything that would keep the rabbits from coming out of the holes. The den covered an area of 100 yards long by 30 yards wide, among rocks and timber, some of the holes being very difficult to find. Everything ready, we placed the ferret in one of the holes but in a second he stuck his nose out of another, then back he went at lightning speed. We waited for at least ten minutes, then we heard a slight noise, then we saw the ferret at one of the holes. He nosed around a few minutes then went back in the same hole. He was hardly out of sight when out came a rabbit and landed in a pouch. Then the work began, to take out the rabbits and replace the pouches. In a half hour we had six more, then we waited another half hour and got no more. Then we packed up our pouches, rabbits and ferret. As long as the ferret is willing to stay in a hole you may expect another rabbit, but when the ferret does not go back in the hole of its own accord, you may rest assured that there are no more rabbits in the EUROPE. 153 holes and you might as well pack your traps, for that will be all that you will get. We traveled through a timber and found a den of only two holes. No tracks could be seen, but on close examination we found that the snow around one of the holes was melting, so we con- cluded that they might contain something. We hardly thought that it could be a rabbit and hesi- tated to put the ferret in. We feared that there was a mink in the hole, but as it was a short one we concluded that we could help the ferret out of the scrap should it happen to be one. I placed the ferret at one of the holes while pard held his hands over the other one. I had barely let loose of the ferret when out shot a rabbit, pard nearly letting it get away. It was so sudden that he was not ready for such a lively performance. By this time we had twelve rabbits, so we loaded up and made a bee line for home. We felt that we could eat a half dozen of them as soon as we got them cooked. We saw a couple of other places where ferrets had been, so paced right on, arriv- ing home at 3 p. m. Jules Burton. CHAPTER XVI. FERRET RAISING IN A SMALL WAY. CHERE is no better way to explain how to handle a few ferrets than to give the methods as followed by those who keep a few only. While there may be better ways than the following yet it explains briefly much of practical valne. This raiser is located in Oce- ola County, Michigan, which is more than half way up the state being in latitude 44 degrees, showing that they do well even that far to the north : *'In October, some years ago, I bought a pair of ferrets, paid |3.50 for them. They were broTvn and the male was larger than the female. When I first got them they were wild as they never had been handled any and they would bite if you touched them, so the first thing I did was to go to a store and buy a pair of leather gloves to handle them with. The gloves cost 50 cents, making a total of |4.00 for the ferrets. I got them home and then I had to make a box to keep them in, as I didn't have one ready. While I was making the box the ferrets slept peacefully in a barrel. For the benefit of those 154 FERRET RAISING IN A SMALL WAY. 155 who have had no experience with ferrets, I will tell yon how I made the box and I might say now that it has given good satisfaction. First I got a box from the grocery store about 32 inches long, 20 inches wide and 14 inches high. I nailed a top on it and made a door for feed and such like in the top about 7 by 10 inches. Then I put a door in one end about 15 by 8 inches. This door I use wiien cleaning out the box. For light, I tore off a board from the side and then nailed two thicknesses of com- mon screen over it. This left space for light 4 inches wide and extending the whole length of the box, giving plenty of light and ventilation. To take up the moisture I put in about 1^ inches of dry sawdust ( I like this better than dirt ) and about one inch of wheat straw on top of the saw- dust. This brings the floor up to a level with the bottom of the screen. In one end of the box I put a handful of wheat straw for a nest. This makes a nice cool place for them in summer, but in the winter I nail a board across about 10 inches from the end where the nest is, and then I nail another board from the end of the box to the one nailed across and fill it up with wheat straw. This makes a nice warm nest for them. You should leave a 156 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. hole at the bottom of the cross board for them to go in. I clean the box out once a week and put in fresh straAV and sawdust. I also take out the droppings about once between the times of clean- ing the box, and put fresh straw in the place where I cleaned. I also put in fresh straw for the bedding every two weeks. This keeps the box from getting damp and sour and the ferrets are not bothered with foot rot and weak eyes. For a dish to feed them out of, I use a tin basin about IJ inches high. I give them bread and milk morning and night and fresh meat twice a week. Never feed them anything salty^ as salt will kill them. I don't think tainted meat is good for them^I always feed mine fresh. I scour out the dish in Avhicli I feed them milk every two weeks. It may not seem necessary to some of you to clean the box so often, but T like to keep it clean and as I have the straw and the time, I do it. I kept my ferrets in this box all winter, and up until about ]\Iay 10th, when I made an- other box to put the female in, as I was expecting young ones. I made this box ditferent from the 'first, it being about 2 J feet high and 3 feet square. I put a screen in front and a lath cover on top. For her nest I got a box about 14 inches FERRET RAISING IN A SMALL WAY. 157 158 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. high and packed this full of straw. Then I made a hole near the bottom with my hand. To tell when to separate the female, she be- gins to shed about two weeks before she has her young. One morning about two weeks after I put her in this box, or to be more exact on May 27th, I found four young ones in the nest. They were funny looking things, with their eyes shut and no hair to speak of; I might say they resembled rats, except in size, for they are longer and more slim than rats. These ferrets are sixteen days old now (June 13th) and they are dandies. They haven't got their eyes open yet — they don't open until they are six weeks old. The mother is as gentle as she was before she had her young." Methods explained in handling the large ranch, colony or ferret establishment at breeding time can be followed by the small raiser to a great extent. (See chapter on Breeding). Some of the things for those who have few as well as those raising many to remember are: After mating the female goes 42 days before young are born; thirty days or thereabout after mating make the female a nest in a box filled with wheat straw; separate the breeding females, providing a box and pen or hutch for each. FERRET RAISING IN A SMALL WAY. 159 The female comes in heat from about the middle of March to the last of April, depending upon the season as well as how she has been kept and handled. Suppose the date of mating is April 25 the young will be born 42 days later, or June 6. If a second litter is desired the young can be weaned a few days after they open their eyes and have begun eating milk from the pan with the mother. The female is now taken from her 3'Oung and placed in a pen until she comes into heat again which will be about two weeks. This period can be easily told as the conditions are much the same as the dog family, that is, the part swells, remaining in that condition for a week or longer. The male should not be put with the female until the swelling is quite pronounced, which will not be for several days after it begins. Second litters will be smaller than the first, that is, instead of five to ten, the number will more than likely range from three to five. The second litter will be grown in time' for last of December and January rabbit hunting. Prices at which ferrets will sell during the season is usually known by August. Values are governed by the anticipated supply and demand. Unless overstocked it will generally pay to keep until late in August or September before selling 160 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. as prices are apt to be higher as the rabbit hunt- ing season draws nearer. On the other hand there is always danger of disease and death, and again the purchaser who buys early has longer to get his ferret or ferrets accustomed to his meth- ods of handling before the hunting season is on. Prices, however, usually show advance in Sep- tember over August, and October values are higher than September. A party in central New York, who began in a small way, but having since built up quite a business, priced his ferrets as follows : July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Single, female $3 00 2 50 5 00 $3 50 3 00 6 00 $4 00 3 50 ■7 00 Single, male Pair From figures given it will be seen that this raiser advanced values 50 cents for September over August with same advance for October sales over September. November and December prices were left blank for various reasons. One being that stock might be all sold ; another that supply might be short and prices higher. July sales would generally mean special prices as such would be old stock. Further information as to prices will be found in next chapter. CnAPTER XVII. FERRET RAISING AS A BUSINESS. CHE raising of ferrets as a business is one that apparently has not yet been overdone, judging from letters written by ferret rais- ers who advertise in the hunting and trap- ping publications. Some of these report their stock gone from one or two insertions of their advertisement. One dealer said that he had hun- dreds of ferrets in the fall but that he disposed of them all before Christmas. The demand seems always greater than the supply. This is usually more noticeable in the months of January and February. Among those who use ferrets are farmers, mill men, merchants, etc., on rats, and boys and hunteis* to chase rabbits from dens. A good many ferrets are lost each season, by rabbit and other hunters, few if any of which live until spring. A demand is also springing up for fer- rets to be used in locating mink and other fur- bearers in their dens. While they don't always drive from den yet if a skunk it generally "raises a stink." They are also sold to ranchers and others, mostly west of the Mississippi river, to be n 161 162 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. used on ground squirrels, gophers and prairie dogs as well as for rats and rabbits. A party who has followed the business for a good many years says : ^'Tlie demand for ferrets, at the present time (1914) is so great that deal- ers all over the country turn away orders that they cannot fill. Ferret raising is a good pay- ing business and they can be sold every day in large or small lots. Most of the leading sporting magazines contain advertisements wanting to buy or sell in large or small lots. In the state of Ohio I should estimate that there was more than 100,000 ferrets raised and sold and by December it was a hard matter to buy one dozen from any raiser. They are sold to smaller dealers all over the United States who sell singly or in pairs at good prices. I know of different parties who started with one pair of ferrets and today they raise every year thousands and sell them all.'' During my many years experience in the pub- lishing business there has not been a season but that numerous inquiries have been received from those wanting to buy one or more ferrets. At first I referred them to some advertiser but they "came back at me" with the information that they had written all the advertisers in a certain magazine, all replying that they were sold out. FERRET RAISING AS A BUSINESS. 163 Under these conditions it appears that the ferret raiser or breeder will have but little trouble to dispose of his stock. In this connec- tion I might further mention that during the time I published hunters and trappers period- icals, on more than one occasion, subscribers wrote that they were ordering a ferret or ferrets from such and such a raiser, but could get no reply. In several instances I wrote the raiser asking if he had received an order from so and so. A reply promptly came saying that his stock of ferrets was all gone but that he was trying to buy from another dealer to fill the order. This tends to show, as well as personal visits to sev- eral ferret ranches, that up-to-date business methods are not always adhered to by ferret rais- ers and sellers, yet as more enter the business those who treat customers shabbily will lose out. The foregoing is evidence that the ferret raiser who knows the "ins" and "outs" of the business has no difficulty in disposing of what- ever stock he cares to sell. A breeder and raiser located near the Twin Cities — Minneapolis and St. Paul — says that he can sell ferrets in the fall as fast as he has them to offer for |3.00 to |5.00 each. 164 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. Although the heaviest demand and most sales are made during the months of October and No- vember, prices in a general way, at least, are known by August. This is determined by num- ber raised as each ranch or colony ^'keeps tab'^ to a certain extent on the other fellow by corre- spondence and otherwise to learn number raised, and sizing up demand from various parts of the country. The party who raises large numbers generally begins selling in August to smaller dealers, bird stores and other sources at about |2.00 each or |24.00 a dozen and advances values about 50 cents a head per month. Thus if the price is |2.00 a head in August it will be |2.50 in September, ?3.()0 in October, |3.50 in November, 1 1.00 in December. Of course conditions govern tlie price to some extent and they will vary from figures given, yet they give a fair illustration of values for years immediately prior to 1915. The advance from August is to pay for the trouble and expense of feeding. Ferrets born last of April and early in May are full grown by August as they attain their growth in about 90 days when properly cared for. It is a good idea for a prospective user to buy early so as to get his ferret or ferrets somewhat familiar with him. Weight of a large male ferret is seldom as much as two pounds. Females are smaller by FERRET RAISING AS A BUSINESS. 165 one-fourth to a third than males. The shipping weight of a dozen, generally both males and fe- males, including weight of box is around 25 pounds. A single ferret, including box, 3 to 4 pounds; pair 5 to 6. Shipping weight of ferrets varies, not so much perhaps in actual weight of the animals raised by the different parties, as in the size and thickness of shipping crates. One large breeder and shipper uses the following dimensions for his crates or shipping boxes : Single fer- ret, 12 X 6 x 5J inch es, w eight 4 pounds. Pair fer- rets, 12xlOx 5^ i n c h es, w eight 6 pounds. Dozen fer- rets, 32x16x5^ inches, weight 24 pounds. These crates were made out of J-incli lumber and weights given are read}^ for shipment. The crate for dozen lots have a partition through center and six are put in each side. Another dealer gives the following weights : One ferret 3 pounds; two ferrets 5 pounds; six ferrets 15 SHIPPING CRATES. 166 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. pounds; 12 ferrets 25 pounds. This party evi- dently uses lighter material for shipping one or two than he does for one-half or dozen lots. When shipping it is advisable to keep old ones by themselves. Females will fight young males and the animals may reach their destina- tion considerably chopped or bitten up. It is best to keep young by themselves when shipping. There is heavy expense in connection with keeping say 500 females and 100 males through the winter, spring and summer. After the young become any size, say by June, it will require the milk from something like 40 cows to supply them. This is assuming that each of the 500 females will have an average of six young. It will also take 300 or 400 bushels of wheat during the year to feed this large number and the young until sold. Some feed little or no meat while others buy all the old horses they can or even those that have died with any disease, other than blood poison or contagious ones. Northern Ohio is the center of the ferret rais- ing industry. The business was first extensively carried on near New London, Ohio and while the first raiser is no longer engaged in the industry to any great extent others in the same locality are. In several places in Ohio the business is now being pushed as well as having spread not FERRET RAISING AS A BUSINESS. 167 only to adjoining states but westward beyond the Mississippi river. There is room for more, especially in and near ^^ratty places''. The ferret industry is one of much more im- portance than generally supposed from the fact that probably fifty times as many of the animals are in use as those not familiar with their uses realize. In thousands of buildings ferrets are doing much good in destroying and keeping away rats, the great pest not only in dwellings, but mills, elevators, granaries, barns, etc. In states where rabbit hunting with ferrets is lawful, many are used, as rabbits driven out and caught are not shot up or damaged as is often the case when killed by other methods. The fer- ret user, who hunts for market, puts his animal in the den and catches the rabbit in his hands, net or a sack, placed over the mouth of the den, as it comes out. So far ferrets have mostly been used for rats and rabbits. During recent years a few have been used for fur hunting, principally on mink and skunk. There is also more or less call, prin- cipally from west of the Mississippi river, for an animal, or other means, of destroying ground squirrels, gophers, prairie dogs and other small animal pests. Where large, old and several fer- rets are used they are of considerable value for 168 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. such purposes. The ferret is a scrappy fellow and many much larger animals will run from it rather than fight. It may be that the smell or odor of a ferret strikes terror to them — it does to rats. Some objection is made to those breeding, handling and selling ferrets on the ground that they are often unlawfully used. No doubt such is the case. No one surely is so narrow minded as to say that dogs should not be raised or sold because some use them during closed season. Neither would they say that fishing tackle or gun manufacturers should close their plants because some that bought are using them unlawfully. Ferrets are used unlawfully to some extent, but indications are that the law is generally as well observed by the user of ferret as those who hunt with dog and gun or gun alone. The native American animal that most re- sembles a ferret is the weasel which animal is also bold and bloodthirsty. The weasel is dif- ferent from the ferret in that it can not, or at least is hard to manage and train to hunt game. Ferret raisers say that the weasel and ferret will not cross. Even should later experiments prove successful it is doubtful whether such a "breed'' would be an improvement or otherwise. FERRET RAISING AS A BUSINESS. 169 For hunting purposes probably not. Perhaps a cross of this kind would mean a better fur pelt, but at the same time a somewhat smaller body enabling it to enter smaller dens thus being able more easily to "ferret out" the smaller rat dens. From the foregoing it will be seen that there are various uses and demands for ferrets. Chap- ter XIX — Ferrets as Fur Bearers — will also be of interest to raisers and prospective raisers. So far very few ferret skins have been sold in America, but in Europe where the animal is known as fitch a good many thousand skins are sold each year at prices ranging from about 15 to T5 cents. The fur value, as yet, is low but should some fatal disease appear during the winter season it would pay to skin and save the pelts. The business of raising ferrets is one of more or less risk for the animals are susceptible to dis- ease, can not stand severe cold and are short lived. On the other hand there has always been a cash market for all raised, they produce good sized litters, breed twice a year if rightly han- dled, and food on which they thrive is not expensive. CHAPTER XVIII. HOW TO SELL FERRETS. no doubt one of the best, quickest and cheapest methods of selling is by plac- ing advertisements in the classified col- umns of the hunting and trapping pub- lications. Some of these carry considerable dog, gun, ferret and other allied business and some- times have a Ferret heading in the classified department. If so there is where your notice of sale should be placed to bring best results. The cost of advertising, in the classified col- umns, varies about one-half cent a word each insertion, in your local or county paper ; in large dailies about one to two cents a word; in hunt- ing and trapping magazines (which will be your best mediums) from two to five cents a word. Don't let this higher price keep you out for they will undoubtedly sell so many more for you that they will prove the cheapest although first cost was higher. To further illustrate : Suppose you use 20 words three times in a local paper at a cost of one cent a w^ord each insertion, or 60 cents for the three times. A local or county paper circulates mainly in the county where 170 HOW TO SELL FERRETS. 171 published and if you sell six ferrets the adver- tisement has done all you could expect. A 20 word advertisement in say Hunter-Trader-Trap- pevy Columbus, Ohio, would cost fl.OO a month or |3.00 for three insertions, or five times as much as the local paper. To. equalize cost you must sell thirty from the latter. It may come as a surprise to you, but true nevertheless, that more than one hundred have been sold from |3.00 worth of space in the Hunter-Trader-Trapper. Why? Because that monthly magazine reaches and is closely read largely by just the class of people that the ferret seller wants to reach — hunters, trappers, sports- men, farmers, elevator and mill men, ranchers, etc. Other magazines along somewhat similar lines are: National Sportsman^ Boston, Mass.; Outdoor Life, Denver, Colo. ; Sports Afield^ Chi- cago, 111.; Rod and Gun, Woodstock, Ontario, Canada. These should all prove good mediums to use. Leading national farm papers such as Farm JournaL Philadelphia, Pa.; Successful Farming, Des Moines, Iowa; Farm and Home, Springfield, Mass.; Farm and Fireside, Spring- field, Ohio can all be used to advantage where the raiser has large numbers to dispose of. These papers and magazines, owing to large circula- 172 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. tion, close their forms from three to six weeks in advance of publication and mailing. Those you are anticipating using it is advisable to send for sample copy and advertising rates. These w ill be mailed you promptly giving all informa- tion as to rates, closing dates, etc., that is de- sired. If you wish to make sales in your own and adjacent states mainly I would advise your using the leading state weekly newspaper or leading weekly farm paper of your state. Their rates will vary from about 25 to 75 cents a line. Usually they do not accept display advertise- ments of less than three lines. Of course those containing a classified department will usually accept a notice of as few as fifteen words. Poultry papers are also pretty good mediums. Any publication that you are thinking of using it is advisable to write asking for sample copy and advertising rates. These will be sent you at once. Look them over and if in the Ferret selling season they are apt to be running other ferret advertisements. Don't make the mistake of trying to get into publications having no fer- ret advertisements thinking that such will be the best ones. As a rule experienced ferret raisers and sellers have tried all of them and are now using the best ones. Remember that some publi- cations do not reach a class of people that are HOW TO SELL FERRETS. 173 174 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. interested in ferrets and it would be a waste of money to go into such. Again some of the very best mediums for you may contain no ferret ad- vertising during the off ferret selling season. My years of exj^erience in the publishing bus- iness and close observation of the methods of the most successful advertisers, of not only ferrets but other lines of advertising as well, has proven to me that it is best to begin the advertising sev- eral weeks in advance of the active or best sell- ing season. Why? Because this gives time for prospective purchasers to write for prices, etc. Be prompt in answering all inquiries for this is one of the great secrets in being successful in aiiy line. Some ferret sellers wonder why they seldom, if ever, get repeat orders. Nine times out of ten the reason can be traced to their treatment of customers. Orders are not filled promptly some- times, being held up for days or even a week. I have known certain raisers and dealers, who did not have ferrets on hand when the order was received, holding same for a week or two, bm ing elsewhere to fill it. Business is business and any ferret raiser, handler, seller and advertiser who offers stock for sale has no right to hold up an order for an unreasonable time. Prompt ship- ments mean within 24 hours after received. HOW TO SELL FERRETS. 175 Some make it a rule to get every order out day received or write customer why shipment Yv^as delayed a day. Of course the buyer should take into consideration time in the week that the or- der is received. It is not advisable to start fer- rets hundreds of miles on Friday or to some near points later than Thursday. Many express offices are closed on Sunday and for this reason shipments should be started to reach destination not later than Saturday. While most raisers fill orders carefully and promptly yet there are others who seem to think customers can wait. The latter seem to think that as they have the money the customer can wait until it suits their convenience to ship. If for any reason an order can not be filled for a couple of days v.rite the party. In fact it is busi- ness to acknowledge all orders as soon as re- ceived stating that same are being shipped and how (by what express) or will be on a certain date. As already shown, the business is one that can be enlarged or expanded, as the demand so far has generally been much greater than the supply. When conditions are the reverse, that is, when the supply is larger than the demand, tlie most successful must not only know how to raise ferrets but must be a fairly good business 176 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. man, one who answers correspondence promptly and sees that orders are gotten out quickly. A seller of this kind is always given the preference. In connection with How to Sell Ferrets the ^'how" of the future is going to be much more difficult than the *4iow" of the past when there was little or no effort required to sell. There is no better place to explain than right here, that of those in the business but few could be classed as good business men, although they may, and most of them do, know ferret raising and han- dling almost to perfection. Selling, in a few years, when more are engaged in the business and the number of ferrets offered for sale yearly is tens of thousands greater, will be a much harder problem than during the past when they really sold themselves. If you are in the ferret business or expect to raise and sell, remember that those who buy, re- ceiving prompt and courteous treatment are apt to tell their neighbors and friends. In this way a raiser's reputation becomes known far and wide and his business flourishes. How about a raiser and seller who does not look after his cor- respondence promptly, misrepresents or delays shipment, days or may be weeks? When a party orders a ferret or ferrets he naturally expects his order to receive prom^^t attention. CHAPTER XIX. FERRETS AS FUR BEARERS. TEW buyers of American raw furs, so far, have quoted ferret skins on their price lists of furs. Some dealers quote the brown weasel 2 to 5 cents; rabbits, Avhole skins, 1 cent each. Squirrels, moles and wood- chucks (groundhogs) worthless. Squirrels, the American kind, have no fur — only hair — and same applies to the woodchuck. Moles have nice, soft fur but being such a small animal have here- tofore had no fur value although thousands have been yearly imported from Europe that appar- ently are no better than those inhabiting the United States. No doubt the American variety will in time have a fur value. In the early days beaver was the staple fur although bear, otter, fisher, marten, wolf, lynx, fox, mink, raccoon and muskrat were all ex- ported in quantities as early as 1750 but not un- til the year 1843 do records show that the com- mon house cat and chinchilla ( a South American animal) were exported. American opossum and fur seal were added a few years later, but not 12 177 178 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. until 1858 was skunk fur used. Such being the facts, in connection with the fur trade, does it appear unreasonable that ferrets will soon be included in the list of fur bearing animals? In reply to letters of inquiry as to the fur value of ferrets two of the leading dealers in American raw furs located in New York City wrote as follows : ^'In reply to yours beg to state that the ferret is the same animal as the European Fitch except that a prime fitch is heavier in fur. I have no doubt that tliey have been sold in Europe as Fitch but the best of them known as ^halbe' in other words ^halves' bringing half price. Their value here has been nominally about 5 to 10 cents for the last ten years.'^ The other letter said: "It is our belief that ferrets, particularly tame or raised, would hardl^^ serve as even an imita- tion of European Fitch. While both are almost of one species the Stone and Baum Marten are THE EUROPEAN FITCH-BROWN. FERRETS AS FUR BEARERS. 179 more closely re- lated to Fitch w li i c li is Avell furred, silky and fine in texture, much like a THE EUROPEAN FITCH— WHITE. yOUUg OpOSSUm. At any rate fer- rets would only be salable in lot quantities at probabl}^ no more than 10 to 20 cents average at any time.'' These letters really show that there is a market for the skins at the present time but at low price. The dealer who said that they would only be salable in lot quantities meant that where they were offered in lots say fifty and up they would sell better than if one or two only were offered at a time. In the spring of 1909 when my book Fur Farming was published it appeared to most people like a book upon a subject of very little importance. They could not realize or believe there was a field for fur farming. Later develop- ments have proven that there was, for during the years from 1909 to 1915 five editions were printed and sold. Maybe those that look upon the busi- ness of raising and selling ferrets as being of little importance would change their views if they 180 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. knew more concerning it. Tens of thousands of dwellings in both city and country are made rat free because of ferrets to say nothing of their use- fulness about barns, nulls, elevators, stores and other buildings as well as along wliarfs and on vessels. They will clean a city dump of rats in short order. As already stated ferret pelts so far have not been quoted by many American fur dealers yet they generally allow a few cents for such pelts when they come in Avith other furs. In Europe the ferret, or a very similar animal knoAvn as fitch, has been used for many years by furriers. In America, no doubt, deahus and manufacturers in general will begin handling and listing the article when sufficient quantities are offered to justify. Ferret fur is somewhat like m a r t e n or mink, that is, as to, length. THE COMMON BROWN WEASEL. j^^''^'^^^ ^,"^'^ 'J^ the brown and white weasel (ermine) an animal which they somewhat resemble in both shape and size. The white weasel became quite an item in the fur trade a few years ago. Brown weasel FERRETS AS FUR BEARERS. 181 have been worth only a few cents each from the fur standpoint but are coming into more general use. The probable value of white weasel fur is from 1100,000 to |250,000 to the trappers of America yearly. The catch varies a good deal but is well up around 500,000 when price of this fur is high. Ferrets are larger, longer furred than weasel with a pelt apparently as well adapted to tanning and manufacturing, with t^tM SOME NICE FURRY AMERICAN FERRETS. wearing qualities better than some skins now used. As the fur bearing animals become scarcer and their pelts command higher prices the gen- eral use of ferret skins will, no doubt, soon be a reality. Some years white furs are most in demand; others black is wanted ; again brown may be the color in general demand. When ferret fur be- comes valuable the raiser can, if his supply is too large, kill off the color that commands best price. 182 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. Who knows how soon fashion's fancy flurry flames for ferret furs may turn? When it does and prices are as much or more than can be had for the animals for hunting purposes skins can be sold. The prime fur season extends from about the middle of November to February so that those not sold during summer, fall or early winter can be killed thus saving the expense of wintering and keeping until another season. Perhaps the principal reason that ferret fur has not been more generally used is that manu- facturers have not been able to secure the skins in large enough quantities to justify handling them. When dealers are assured that there are thousands of the skins awaiting a market it is reasonable to suppose that the pelts will be of value and quoted by all collectors, dealers and exporters same as mink, marten, ermine, musk- rat and skins of other animals having fur value. Not long since a certain manufacturer, in a large eastern city, began using common brown weasel for certain articles. He reported no trouble in selling the furs made from or trimmed with such. These furs looked nice and were sold at a moderate price. Ferret pelts are sure to come into general use and that soon. Why? Skunk fur was not of commercial value or used until 1858. The white weasel (ermine) prior to FERRETS AS FUR BEARERS. 183 1900 was worth only about 10 cents but during the years of 1904-5 was worth fl.OO and later sold as high as |1.50 for the choicest skins. Ferret is undoubtedly the best furred pelt not now in general use. Brown weasel and the com- mon rabbit, both used to some extent, do not com- pare at all with ferret skins. While this article after it does come into use is not apt to command a fancy price or even a moderately high one, yet at 50 cents to fl.OO would offer an outlet should the market for live ones become overstocked, a condition which so far has never occurred. In fact the demand is usually greater than the sup- ply. Again the fur market would be a means of getting rid of any too old for hunters, etc. There is no denying that certain of the fur bearing animals are gradually being reduced in numbers. In fact such applies to nearly all species. On the other hand the use of furs has wonderfully increased of recent years. The hun- dreds of thousands of automobiles now in use mean more furs sold such as fur coats, muffs, gauntlets, robes, etc. Remember that no small per cent of the autos are in use winter as well as summer. Again America's population is in- creasing fast but the wild fur bearers are be- coming less. Many different kinds of fur skins now have a market value that did not a few years 184 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. ago. No doubt were a bunch of several hundred prime ferret skins offered to some manufacturing furrier even now he would see their w^orth and buy. The ferret is in reality a fur-bearing animal, being known to the fur trade in Europe by the name of fitch. Remember that ferrets were brought to America from Europe where they were known as fitch or fitch-ferret. In other words the animal is called fitch in Europe and ferret in America. The fur is called fitch in Europe where upwards of 100,000 skins are used annually, although the price has been low. It may not be generally known, nevertheless it is a fact, that thousands of these skins are sent each year to this country. The fact that fitch or ferret (whichever name is used) are white and brown and that by cross- ing various colors or rather shades can be raised, should not be overlooked. This enables the breeder to raise the colors selling best. When the fur value reaches something like |1.00, even for best, they will offer money making possibili- ties, for the fur only, as two litters can be raised in a year. The raiser for fur will have a cash market for all produced and need not advertise to sell as is now necessary in most instances. Again the raiser for fur will find that the second FERRETS AS FUR BEARERS. 185 litters can be bad mucb later tban wben breeding for bunting purposes. Ferrets attain full size, if well cared for, in tbree montbs. Allow four, and second litters born any time in September, will be grown by January. Most of tbe second litters will be born by August so tbat by December tbey will be ready to kill for pelts. One diificulty with second litters when raised for rats or rabbits is, that should the market be supplied, the expense of keeping another season will be considerable. With a market for fur any and all not sold for hunting can be killed, skinned and pelts sold. As various fur animals are becoming more scarce, ferret fur will gradually rise in price. The day perhaps is not far distant when hun- dreds of thousands of skins will be sold to the fur trade and at prices probably equal to what the live animals sell for now. Ferret pelts to the value of 11,000,000 yearly may be a reality soon. CHAPTER XX. FERRETS — A TO Z. ^S I have been in the ferret business for over ten years I will give a description of the use and care of this little animal. The ferret is a native of Africa. They have been domesticated and raised in confine- ment a great many years. It is a slim, wiry, muscular animal and can kill animals much larger than itself. They resemble the mink and weasel in shape and size, having long slim bodies, small heads and pointed noses. Having very flexible bodies, they can enter very small holes and follow rats in the most difficult places. Their natural disposition is to hunt, drive and kill their own living. They are keen scented and upon smelling rats or other game will enter the hole at once to kill them. Rats will run for their lives as soon as a ferret approaches, and being very cautious, will not stay about a place where ferrets are kept and worked. They are very valuable for. field hunting as well as killing rats. Ferrets are very tame and can be carried in the pocket and handled with the bare hands to 186 FERRETS — A TO Z. 187 chase out rabbits from all manner of burrows and hiding places. When they are let loose they are very active and always want to be on the move. They are of two colors, white and brown. The white ones have pink eyes and are called the English ferret and the brown ones have dark eyes and are called the Fitch ferret. A BUNCH OF CONTENTED FERRETS. There is no difference in the two varieties as to their breeding and working qualities — only a matter of fancy as to color. They are hardy, strong animals and breed well in any climate. The average life of the ferret is from five to eight years. 188 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. Ill breeding, always use strong, active, healthy and hardy animals. Never breed from weak and sickly parents or from bad workers. Always try to have breeders that are good workers and are the true ferret type. Avoid inbreeding as much as possible. They must be wintered well if you expect to get a good, strong litter of young. The average litter is from six to ten, but they have been known to have fifteen or eighteen, but such a large litter is only heard of once in a great Avhile. As a rule, they will breed and raise two litters of young in a season. I had one female that I bred the third time. In the breeding sea- son each male should be kept in a pen by himself, as they will fight if they get together. Watch each female for developments. When you find her ready to mate, place her with the male and leave for a day. You will have no trouble in telling when she is ready to mate, as she will remain in that condition for from one to two Aveeks. Each female should have a pen to herself for two weeks before she has her young. Use wheat straw or fine grass for the nest boxes. The female carries her young for forty-two days. The young are born with their eyes shut and will remain that way for about four or five weeks. When you look at the young, do it when the old one is feeding. When the young are large FERRETS — A TO Z. 189 enough to come out and eat, they can be weaned and in about ten days the old ferret will be ready to breed again for the second litter. Feeding is one of the most important branches of breeding, rearing and working of ferrets. The greater part of the success depends on the proper feeding. The staple food is cooked graham mush, fresh meat and sweet milk. Bread and milk and meat is all right if you only have a few. A matured ferret can be kept in good, thrifty condition on mush or bread and milk, as meat is not an absolute necessity. When feeding meat in warm weather, feed only a little at a time. Do not feed salty or diseased, rotten meat, as salt and refuse will kill them. Feed the old ones twice a day, about what they will eat each time, with meat two or three times a week. When feeding young ones it is best to feed three times a day the amount they will eat up clean and no more. Bread and milk is the best food for the young. A little meat two or three times a week will do no harm. Use good judg- ment in feeding and you will lose very few. Ferrets are naturally tame and with just a little handling will become as tame as kittens. Never grab a ferret as he is coming out of a hole, for if you don't get him the first time, he will become shy; let him come clear out of the hole 190 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIED. and then when you do reach him, be sure that you get him the first time. Better wait a few minutes for it than to have a shy ferret. They are old enough to work on rabbits when three months old and for rats when about six months old. Any ferret will hunt and drive rab- bits from their burrows and come out after they have driven the game out, so you can pick them up. That is all one could desire. Any ferret will do this without training. It is natural for them to hunt, drive and kill and it is just as natural for the rabbit to be afraid of them and so it takes a hike at once. Ferrets will drive out rats, rabbits, mink, go- phers and weasels, and some claim to have ferrets that will drive out vskunks. When you train a young ferret with a har- ness on, the first burrow you put him in, if there is a rabbit in it, have your partner catch the rab- bit at the other end of the burrow and hold the rabbit in the hole until the ferret gets hold of it. In a lesson or two the ferret will be a No. 1 and work good ever after. If a ferret works good on rabbits he will soon learn to kill and hunt rats, etc. The breeding) season of ferrets is from March to September and I have heard that they some- times breed as early as February. Those who FERRETS — A TO Z. 191 breed ferrets are many and differently situated and no general rule will apply to all. The main thing in hutch or pen building is to make a comfortable home for them and to be so constructed that cleanliness of all the aj)art- TWO OLD FERRETS AT BREAKFAST. ments can easily be attended to at any time. The next thing to look after is to have a dry place to build and have them so arranged that they can be properly ventilated in the summer and closed in the winter. You cannot succeed in raising ferrets if you have a damp place for their 192 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. hutches — dryness and warmth are the principal points to be observed. A good size for a hutch is four feet long, three feet wide and thirty inches high. Take a box about twelve or fourteen inches square and make a hole in one end about four inches square and then place this box in the large pen, which is used as a nest box ; this size pen will be about right for three or four ferrets but if you are going to raise ferrets by the 100 or 1,000, larger hutches will be in demand for an old ferret and her young. I make a pen five feet long, three feet wide and thirty inches high and then get some one- fourth, one-half or one-inch mesh woven wire and put on the bottom of the pen and all the droppings, etc., goes through the wire so that the pen is always dry. I would advise putting some good wheat straw on the wire and have a good nest box twelve or fourteen inches square in one corner of the pen. I also have wire in one end of the pen and have a flap of a piece of oilcloth in front to drop down should it rain or storm. This is a good pen for all-round use for those who only raise a few ferrets. I would advise you to have the pen raised about three inches off the ground and keep in a good, dry place. FERRETS — A TO Z. 193 If the pens or boxes in which ferrets are con- fined are not kept free from dampness and filth, the ferrets will become infected with a sort of scurvy, called foot rot. A thick scab forms on the feet and tail. If the case is not attended to, the toe nails grow long and become dr}^ and dead. The cure is very simple. Dip the affected parts in coal oil every few days until the disease is checked and killed; the scab comes off. If the toe nails are grown out, all the dead nail shoukl be trimmed off; the nails will then grow out again and the feet will be as sound as ever. Three or four applications of coal oil usually effects a cure. Sometimes it will be noticed among ferrets that their fur does not look clean and bright and on closer examination it will be seen that the hair is matted together and the skin looks red and is throwing off a sort of red dandruff. If it is not attended to, you will notice in a short time that the hair will come off and reveal a dark col- ored scab or sort of a spongy growth. This dis- ease is caused by filthy pens, etc. A simple remedy that will cure this disease is coal oil. Usually three or four applications will effect a cure. When using the remedy on young ferrets, it should.be put on with a brush; this can be 13 194 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. dipped in the coal oil and applied to all the affected parts. Swelled throat or lump jaw can hardly be called a disease, as it sometimes makes its appearance among the best kept ferrets. The cause appears to be unknown. Some breeders call it a boil caused from ferrets that are thin and in poor condition and have impure blood. The first you will notice, perhaps, will be that the ferret will not come out to eat at feeding time; upon examination you will find that the throat has a hard sweeling or boil which will become soft or ripe. Now provide yourself with a sharp knife or other instrument and lance this swelling or boil, squeeze and press all the matter and blood out that you can. Then it would be well to inject with a small syringe, or dropper, some alcohol. If the cut closes up and matter forms again, open it as before. Generally the swelling subsides and the cut heals up with only one treatment. I would advise you not to keep this ferret's young for breeders ; neither would I keep him or her for that purpose, as we can't be too careful in selecting our stock for breeding purposes. Distemper cannot strictly be called a ferret disease. It occurs among dogs and once in a while the ferret contracts it from the dogs in- FERRETS — A TO Z. 195 fected with it, running around the pens. When it is known that the dogs in the neighborhood are infected with distemper, it is best not to let strange dogs run about the ferret pens. I know of one breeder who lost all but one of his ferrets with distemper this season and the one that had it and lived was in the pen with the others that died, but pulled through all right and raised a litter of young in the same pen. The symptoms of the disease are as follows : The ferret refuses to eat and the eyes become swollen, the lids being stuck together with a peculiar sort of matter; the nose becomes swollen and inflamed, and the eyes will discharge a watery fluid; sometimes the nostrils will be- come closed and the animal dies — apparently from suffocation. Some authorities say that with healthy, well kept ferrets, this disease sel- dom makes its appearance. As soon as this disease is noticed among the ferrets, the infected ones should be placed quite a distance apart from the others. A quantity of good disinfectant should be procured and sprayed generously about the pens. A few drops of sulphuric acid which can be obtained at any drug store, placed in the milk, has been thought to be of avail in checking the disease. 196 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. FERRETS — A TO Z. 197 Fleas never trouble ferrets if the pens or boxes are cleaned out often. Fleas breed in old chaff and straw which has been left unchanged too long in the pens. If fleas appear in the pen or box, it should be thoroughly cleaned at once. If ground floors are used, it is best to remove a quantity of dirt. The pens should be sprayed with a good disinfectant which can be secured at any drug store. The ferrets should be dusted with some good insect powder. When the pens are supplied with fresh clay and dry bedding, they will be in condition again for the ferrets and if the bedding is changed often and no chaff or litter is allowed to remain in the pens, the fleas will disappear. Young ferrets, while they are yet in the nest, sometimes become afflicted with a form of sweat- ing; this occurs when the mother ferret covers the young too deep in the nest in the straw. It affects the young while they are in the nest and nursing. They are subject to this from the time they are a month old until cold weather in the fall or until they are about four or five months old; and in fact, at any age of their life, if the conditions are favorable to produce sweating. First, you will notice that the little fellows will be wet or damp about the head and neck and if you allow them to keep on sweating they 198 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. will soon die. To remedy this, take a part of the nest or bedding away from the ferrets and they will soon be all right again; also be sure and give them a good circulation of fresh air. Ferrets, like nearly all other animals, are sometimes affected with sore eyes. We have concluded that it is nothing more than a cold. This may be caused by changing them from a tight to an airy pen in the cool weather, etc. You will notice that their eyes are running and sometimes it is so bad that they are stuck to- gether so the ferret cannot get them open. Give them a good washing with soap and water and apply vaseline or some other mild ointment ; coal oil is a good remedy for sore eyes. Apply with a brush or cloth ; put it on freely until the eyes are so the ferret can get them open naturally. If they become sticky and close up again, keep on with the coal oil as it is sure to cure them. H. M. Staver, Stephenson Co., Illinois. CHAPTER XXI. DISEASES OF FERRETS. FERRETS like other ani- mals, including dogs and pet stock, as well as horses, cattle, sheep and hogs, are subject to disease. These are few — no more than most animals are liable to, but being virulent (virus) are mostly contagious. Distemper, foot rot and mange are the worst. Swelled neck or jaw, and insects, while they are to be contended with, are not so serious. Some claim that "sweating'' is distemper in a different form but whether a different disease or only a different form, it will receive mention a little further on. Although ferret diseases generally make their appearance in mild form, remember that if not attended to promptly, will not only result in death to the one first afllicted but will spread to others. Any and all sick should be removed sev- eral hundred feet from the others if possible. 199 200 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. The sick had best be kept separate — no two to- gether. True, disease is sometimes fatal, but what animal or fowl is exempt from disease and death? The average age must be considered, which is only about three years. Breeders and raisers of ferrets who have had years of experience say that nearly all diseases are caused by over or improper feeding and allowing hutches or boxes where kept to become filthy. The sleeping quarters and nest must be dry or attacks of distemper or other disease is apt to occur. A draft or current of air, from a window or other opening, has often caused death, as ferrets are very susceptible to cold. Carelessness in allowing the living quarters to remain uncleaned of droppings, sour dishes, with possibly foul nests, either or all may lead to an outbreak or epidemic of disease. Yes, there are remedies (more or less effectual) which are explained under the various diseases, yet sick animals are hard to doctor and the best way to cure disease is to prevent it. Distemper. — Although not strictly a ferret disease, yet it is one of the most fatal to ferrets. Distemper is a very common disease among dogs, from which animal ferrets will contract it, as well as from other sources already mentioned. The symptoms of the disease are : The ferret will DISEASES OF FERRETS. 201 refuse its food; dullness comes over it and the eyes may become swollen, lids stuck together with a peculiar sort of matter ; nose swollen and inflamed; it may sweat and shiver at the same time. If removed from the nest it will probably bow its back and stagger when it tries to walk, often falling over in thq attempt. You will also notice a heavy dullness of eyes, which become swollen. As the disease advances, the head is apt to swell and an offensive running discharge issues from eyes and nostrils. This discharge is sticky, closing the eyes. They must receive at- tention or death is sure to follow and that soon. In the earlier stages the treatment is first to wash the animal in lukewarm water and soap. Eub until thoroughly dry with a flannel cloth, then place in a warm, dry nest with plenty of bedding. Look at it occasionally or if it is cold or chilling, cover or wrap in warm flannels. After being washed give 10 or 12 drops of whis- key in warm, sweet milk. Ferrets not severely attacked will show improvement within twenty- four hours. If no better at the end of that time, repeat both the washing and dose of whiskey. The eyes and nostrils should receive attention first, by bathing in water slightly warm, until cleaned of the sticky matter. After the animal is thoroughly dry, apply vaseline to the nostrils 202 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. and eyes, then replace in the hutch. In an hour or two give 10 to 15 drops of castor oil (depend- ing upon size of ferret) followed by a feed of warm milk to which wheat bread, crackers or still better graham mash (see chapter on Feed- ing and Management) may be added, letting the ferret eat all it will. If it will not eat of its own accord, it is advisable to feed a small quantity with a simoon a few times each day. One breeder says that he has found a few drops of sulphuric acid, which can be bought at any drug store, placed in the milk beneficial in checking the disease. Another recommends chlo- rate of potash in milk, the usual dose being 2 grains twice a day. Food should be given four or more times daily to ferrets afflicted with distemper. Warm milk is about as good as anything. Each day as long as there is any discharge from eyes or nose, they must be washed and vaseline applied as already explained. Distemper, when diarrhoea sets in, is very apt to prove fatal. In early fall, about first frost, is the time that many die, especially if not in good health. If ferrets are in poor condition, that is, thin in flesh, feed more meat and a little sulphur in their milk. Meat will stop the DISEASES OF FERRETS. 203 flux or diarrhoea, providing no otlier ailment accompanies. Sweating. — European raisers are of the be- lief that sweat or sweating is a certain stage of the disease known as distemper, while most American raisers think it an entirely different disease. In Europe where they are all classed as one and the same, they are described as follows : Distemper, sweat or the sweating sickness, is a malady identical with distemper in dogs, usually attacking young ferrets near the time they first open their eyes or gain their sight. As a rule, with healthy ferrets, it takes a mild form; but with poor ones, improperly fed, or otherwise not in good condition it is apt to be serious and very contagious. With healthy stock a change of food and a cleaning of their nests with fresh and clean bedding supplied, will generally be all that is required. If the sweating keeps up it leads to heaviness and dullness, food untouched. The condition and treatment in Europe are much the same as explained for the disease known as dis- temper in America. A breeder and successful ferret raiser, lo- cated in Central Illinois, gives the following description of sweating and the method of treat- ing: "Young ferrets while they are yet in the nest sometimes become affected with a form of 204 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. sweating. This occurs when the mother ferret covers the young too deep in the nest with straw. The whole litter becomes wet and sort of gummed up, so to speak, and is affected with a touch of white scours. This trouble never arises until the ferrets are a few weeks old. The loss from this is small, as only an occasional litter becomes affected in this way. When a litter becomes sweated it is best to remove the nest box from the pen. If the mother ferret is still inclined to pile straw over the nest to hide the ferrets, all the coarse straw^ should be taken out of the pen. That gives the young ferrets a chance to spread out and dry off. If an affected litter is treated in this way, as a rule they will be saved. I have tried washing the young ferrets and then rub- bing them dry. This does not do any good. The conditions must be made right, as has just been described, and the little ferrets will dry off and clean up in a few days' time. If there( is a litter which numbers too many in a nest, it is best to give a part of the litter to other mother ferrets which have litters of the same size and age, but fewer in number.'' Foot Rot. — This disease is one easily pre- vented, seldom occurring where the ferrets are well kept and cared for. The disease affects fer- rets much the same as similar disease in sheep or DISEASES OF FERRETS. 205 other stock. The disease is really one of the worst ferret maladies, for even when cured, after effects or marks are left. The most prolific cause is putting ferrets away with dirty feet after being worked on rabbits, rats, other pests or game. Wet weather or working where ground is wet or damp are especially hard on ferrets. Just as soon as through using they should receive at- tention. Pens, boxes, hutches, or whatever fer- rets are in, must be kept dry and clean, as damp- ness and filth will bring on this disease. Some claim that putting wire netting or perforated zinc in bottom of hutches is another cause. Toes and claws of ferrets may become clogged with fine grass and dirt, which if not removed, will cause the feet to become sore, scabs form, the claws, or toe nails become dry and long, feet may swell to more than double the natural size. In time the tails become afflicted in much the same manner as the feet. Symptoms of foot rot are easily discovered. The toes around the claws are sore and soon be- come feverish. The divisions, or joints, above the toes also become afflicted and proud flesh forms, feet swelling. The tail also becomes af- fected showing much the same symptoms as the feet. 206 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. Treatment varies owing to bow far the dis- ease lias advanced. The most successful and prosperous horse, cattle, sheep or swine raiser watches* his stock closely. The same applies to the ferret raiser. If discovered and taken in hand early, washing in soft soap and water will probably remove the scabby formation, which is all that is necessary. Now wash the feet with water only and then apply a mixture of equal parts of turpentine and powdered sulphur. If this does no good, in a few days, or the disease is getting worse, then the following treatment should be used: Apply turpentine twice daily for three, four or five days; then petroleum (lamp oil) once a day for two or three days ; then wash their feet with soap and water as the object is to get the scabs off. If the scabs do not come off after a week from first application of turpen- tine, it is best that they be removed. Some still apply turpentine and lamp oil after scabs come off. Others wash daily in a strong solution of sulphur and copper, followed by an application of vaseline until completely cured. A Western breeder and raiser who has been quite successful, comments upon this disease as follows : ^'If the pens or boxes in which ferrets are confined are not kept free from dampness and filth, the ferrets will become affected with a DISEASES OF FERRETS. 207 sort of scurvy called foot rot. A thick, spongy scab forms on the feet and the end of the tail. If the case is not attended to, the toe nails grow long and become dry and dead. The cure is very simple. Dip the affected parts in coal oil every few days until the disease is checked and killed. The scab then comes off. If the toe nails are grown out all the dead nails should be trimmed off. The nails will then grow out again and the feet will be as sound as ever. A mixture of sul- phur and lard, to which a little turpentine has been added, makes a good dope for this disease and will cure it more quickly than the coal oil. Three or four applications, however, of either of the above remedies will effect a cure.'' The worse disease contracted by the old fer- rets, according to a New York state raiser, is foot rot, which can be cured with turpentine, coal oil or peroxide of hydrogen applied twice a day. I also find that out of the first litter, several gen- erally die, as the old one is not experienced in taking care of them. I have had ferrets with what is called foot rot, writes an Iowa party. This is caused by not keeping their pens clean and letting filth and dampness accumulate. It is a very hard disease to cure and is contagious. It is much easier to prevent the disease than to cure it. When one is 208 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. detected with it, they should be immediately put to themselves and their feet washed with good soap and warm water each day and thoroughly dried. Now grease them with a good ointment until they become healed and the scabs come off. Their pens should be thoroughly cleaned. Mange. — This disease is generally alluded to as mange, although sometimes called scurvy or scab. The disease is practically the same as in dogs and either dog or ferret may contract it from the other. The symptoms are: A slight reddish eruption, of irritating effect, located usu- ally upon the back and sides. The ferret scratches or bites these and sores and scabs form. One remedy is Spratt's Mange Lotion, 2 ounces mixed with 2 ounces of glycerine. Another rem- edy thought to be much better is : Resin oint- ment 3 ounces; sublimate sulphur 1 ounce; oil of juniper 1 ounce; sweet oil 2 ounces. This when mixed makes a creamy ointment. All fer- rets afflicted with mange must be washed, dried and then this ointment applied for three or four days. One man who has handled thousands of fer- rets describes mange as being similar to foot rot but making its appearance on the head and ears, which becomes red and irritated. In a short time the hair becomes matted, loose and falls out. DISEASES OF FERRETS. 209 Unless receiving treatment a scab forms wliicli will extend over the entire head and body. A simple remedy is to wash with fine (good) soap and warm water, then apply turpentine. This treatment daily, a few times, is usually sufficient. Sleeping or lying in wet or filthy nests is largely the cause. A raiser, who at times has thousands of young ferrets, in alluding to this malady, which others call mange or scurvy, says that in plain words it is foot rot and the disease is usually caused by filth or damp pens. The first you will notice will be scabs on the tail, extending in some cases over the entire body. Cases of this char- acter, if not taken care of, extend to the feet, then take longer to cure. A good cure is made by taking fresh lard, mix with sulphur, thin with turpentine, then add a few^ drops of carbolic acid. Rub this mixture on the affected parts once a day until they are cleaned off. Now clean the pens and give fresh bedding, take a little better care of your ferrets and you will have no further trouble. Another party who has been in the business for a good many years says : "Sometimes it will be noticed among ferrets that their fur does not look clean and bright. On close examination it will be seen that the skin is red and is throwing *14 210 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. off a sort of red dandruff. This is a light form of scurvy and seldom effects any but young and growing ferrets. The treatment is the same as in foot rot, only it would injure the young ferrets to dip them in coal oil or turpentine. It is a good plan to use a stiff brush. This can be dipped in the coal oil and applied to all the affected parts. This works a little oil into the skin and when it is done carefully it does not injure the ferret. One application usually cleans off all the scurvy and leaves the ferret in good condition." Lump Jaw. — This disease is just a common boil which comes on the head, jaw or neck of the ferret. If ferrets are kept in a thrifty condition, they are seldom affected in this way. If they become thin and in a poor condition, the blood becomes impure and the boils appear. When the boil comes on the head or jaw, it usually lasts only a short time ; but when it is deep-seated on the neck and is of the order of a tumorous growth there is but little that can be done for it. When it is discovered that a ferret is affected in this way, it should be watched closely and as soon as the lump comes to a head and gets soft, it should be cut open and the pus squeezed out. Some cases may need this treatment repeated several times. The ferret should be placed in a pen by DISEASES OF FERRETS. 2H itself and it is a good plan to add a little sulphur to its food. If it is fed nourishing food and gets fat and in strong condition, the lump will usually disappear, leaving the ferret all right again. Lump jaw, according to another breeder, is a small swelling noticed on the side of the neck just under the jaw. Sometimes this will be grad- ually growing for weeks or months before coming to a head. When it is ripe the hair will all come off from the center and it will be soft to the touch ; then take a small penknife and stick the point in the center of the abscess until the pus starts, then press with thumb and finger until you get all the pus out that you can ; then syringe out with a solution of carbolic acid, then wash wound with good soap and water. Keep scab greased with ointment. This will usually effect a cure. I have had cases where the abscess would form the second time, and when it does it usually proves fatal. Sore Eyes. — The breeder, raiser, or keeper of many or few ferrets only must keep in mind that these animals are much more susceptible to cold than most of the furred animals. Ferrets take cold easily and the eyes are sometimes affected, often being entirely closed with sticky matter. Wash with warm water until they can be opened and then apply vaseline. 212 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. Ticks. — In the Southern and Central States ticks will be much worse than farther to the north, where they are not so numerous or none at all. Much of the ferret's actual work is apt to be in tick infested places. While one, two or even more will only sap a little of the ferret's blood, yet they should not be allowed to remain on the ferret. It is not best to pull them off but to apply a mixture of 1 part parafftnc to 8 of sweet oil, whicli will either kill or cause the tick to back out. Lice and Fleas. — Unless nests and nesting are changed frequently and ferret hutches and sheds cleaned and disinfectants used occasion- ally, owners are apt to find their stock bothered with these insects. While they will not kill ani- mals, yet they should be gotten rid of. By spray- ing a ferret with spirits of camphor you will kill many of the insects. Those not killed will mostly be in such a condition that they can be readily combed out. The combing should be done over a kettel of boiling or very hot water. Ferrets liav- ing lice will require more than one spraying. The second should be about a week later to get rid of nits which have hatched in the meantime. A third spraying a week or ten days after the sec- ond may be necessary. Sleeping quarters will also need attentioir. The mixture of paraffine DISEASES OF FERRETS. 213 and sweet oil as recommended for ticks can be used for these insects with good results. A man who has been connected witli the fer- ret industry for many years thinks fleas are one of the worst things that the ferret breeder has to contend with. He says : ^'These vermin will sap the life out of ferrets and bother the man who takes care of them. If ferrets are kept on ground floors, it will be hard to get rid of them after they once get a start. What to do : Take Minor's Fluid (sold by druggists), 1 part of fluid to 50 parts of water; wet pens and nest boxes, dip ferrets into the same mixture; this will kill all tlie fleas it touches." Worms. — If not properly fed, that is, right kind of food given, ferrets will suffer to a con- siderable extent from worms. A good remedy is 3 grains of finely-powdered areca nut given in their milk three hours apart. A half hour after each dose of areca give 5 to 6 drops of castor oil. The ferret raiser who is careful and watchful, keeping nests changed and otherwise seeking to prevent disease, may go along for years without a single one of the ailments to which ferrets are heir to, attacking his stock. A party who never succeds at anything thinks that ferrets are a very uncertain animal to keep, being liable .to die with no apparent cause, as 214 PERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. they are to live. He further says: "One may leave them brisk and seemingly all right at night and the next morning they may be dead. About two or three years is the average age, although I have kept them for eight or nine years, but that is rare." Remember that wild animals in captivity must be watched and cared for. Those who know the nature and habits of the ferret and are quick to understand their wants will be successful rais- ers. On the other hand some will fail, the same as in all branches of business. Such failures are due largely, however, to the individual and not to the business. The same applies to the ferret industry. Steel Traps Describes the various makes and tells how to use them. Also chapters on Care of Pelts, etc., by A. R. Harding. This book contains 333 pages, 5x7 inches and 130 illus- trations, printed on good quality heavy paper. Just the book that trappers have long needed -gives the history of Steel Traps, how made, sizes for the various animals w'th detailed instructions on where and how to set. Ihis book contains thirty-two chapters as follows: 1 Sewell Newhouse 2 Well Made Traps 3 A Few Failures 4 Some European Traps 5 Proper Sizes 6 Newliouse Traps 7 Double and Webbed Jaws 8 Victor and Hawley & Norton 9 Jump Traps 10 Tree Traps H Stop Thief Traps 12 Wide Spreading Jaws 13 Caring for Traps 14 Marking: Traps 15 How to Fasten 16 How to Set 17 Where to Set 18 Looking at Traps 19 Mysteriously Sprung Traps 20 Good Dens 21 The Proper Bait 22 Scent and Decoy 23 Human Scent and Sign 24 Hints on Fall Trapping 25 Land Trapping 26 Water Trapping 27 When to Trap 28 Some Deep Water Sets 29 Skinning & Stretching 30 Handling and Grading 31 From Animal to Market 32 Miscellaneous Informa- tion No difference what fur-bearer you wish to trap, best methods of its cap- ture are described. Cloth, 60 cents. Deadfalls and Snares A Book of Instructions for Trappers about these and other home made Traps by A. R. Harding. This book contains 232 pages, size 5x7 inches, and 84 drawings and illustrations, printed on good heavy paper. The most complete book on how to make "home-made" traps ever published. The book contains twenty-eight chapters as follows: 1 Building Deadfalls 2 Bear and Goon Dead- fall 3 Otter Deadfall 4 Marten Deadfall 5 Stone Deadfall 6 The Bear Pen 7 Portable Traps 8 Some Triggers 9 Trip Triggers 10 How to Set 11 When to Build 12 Where to Build 13 The Proper Bait 14 Traps Knocked Off 15 Spring Pole Snare 16 Trail Set Snare 17 Bait Set Snare 18 The Box Trap 19 The Coop Trap 20 The Pit Trap 21 Number of Traps 22 When to Trap 23 Season's Catch 24 General Information 25 Skinning and Stretch- ing 26 Handling and Grading 27 From Animal to Market 28 Steel Traps Building Deadfalls and constructing Snares, as explained in this book, will be of value to trappers. Cloth bound, 60 cents. A. R. HARDING, 75 N. Ohio Ave., Columbus, Ohio Fox Trapping A Book of Instructions Telling How to Trap, Snare, Poison and Shoot. A Valuable Book for Trappers. Contains about 200 pages and 50 illustrations divided into Twenty-two Chapters as follows: 1 General Information 2 Baits and Scents 3 Foxes and Odor 4 ChafiE Method, Scent 5 Traps and Hints 6 All-round Land Set 7 Snow Set 8 Trapping Red Fox 9 Red and Grey 10 Wire and Twine Snare 11 Trap, Snare, Shooting and Poison 12 My First Fox 13 Tennessee Trapper's Method 14 Many Good Methods 15 Fred and the Old Trap- per 16 Experienced Trapper Tricks 17 Reynard Outwitted 18 Fox Shooting 19 A Shrewd Fox 20 Still Hunting the Fox 21 Fox Ranches 22 Steel Traps If all the methods as given in this book had been studied out by one man and he began trapping when Columbus discovered America more than four hundred years ago, he would not be half through. Cloth Bound 60c., Postage Included Mink Trapping A Book of Instructions Giving Many Methods of Trapping. A Val- uable Book for Trappers Contains nearly 200 pages and over 50 illustrations divided into Twenty Chapters as follows: 1 General Information 2 Mink and Their Habits 3 Size and Care of Skins 4 Good and Lasting Baits 5 Bait and Scent 6 Places to Set 7 Indian Methods 8 Mink Trapping on the Prairies 9 Southern Metnods 10 Northern Methods 11 Unusual Ways 12 Illinois Trapper's Methods 13 Experienced Trapper's Ways 14 Many Good Methods 15 Salt Set 16 Log and Other Sets 17 Points for the Young Trapper 18 Proper Size Traps 19 Deadfalls 20 Steel Traps The methods as published are those of experienced trappers from all parts of the country. There is money made in catching mink if you know how. After reading this instructive book, you will surely know. If you only catch one more prime mink it will pay for the book several times. Cloth Bound 60c., Postage Included A. R. HARDING, 75 N. Ohio Ave., Columbus, Ohio FUR FARMING A Book of Information on Raising Fur-Bparing Animals. TelHn g all About Enclosures, Breeding. Feeding. Habits, Care, Etc. THIS book is now in its FIFTH EDITION. It is the recognized authority on raising all kinds of fur-bearing animals. All of the questions asked, or you may wish to know, are answered in detail in this book. It is the only guide for those who are contemplating the raising of fur-bearers for profit, and its accurate descriptions of the animals and their habits, when in the wild state, make it interesting and valuable to all. The information has been secured from reliable sources, mainly from those who have already raised the various animals. A part was taken from the United States Government reports of their investigations. Foxes— More than forty pages are devoted to foxes. The business of handling valuable foxes as carried on in Canada is explained. Mink— The chapter on Mink Raising is more complete than in the earlier editions and as well illustrates a minkery showing: 1st, floor plan; 2nd, end view; 3rd, completed building. Marten— A chapter on Marten Raising has also been added. Skunk— This chapter contains 35 pages of information as well as 11 illustrations. One of the illustrations shows skunk skins and how they are graded. Removing scent sacs is fully explained and illustrated by two drawings or diagrams showing the scent sacs and how far and where to cut to expose sacs and ducts. After looking at these and read- ing explanation anyone can easily remove the scent sacs. Chapter Headings— Read them and it will be seen at once that this is a very practical book, covering the subject of Fur Raising or Fur Farming thoroughly. Book contains 278 pages, 5x7 inches, printed on good paper, with 49 illustrations and drawings. The book contains 16 chapters as follows: I. Supply and Demand IX. Mink Raising 11. What Animals to Raise X. Opossum Raising 111. Enclosures XI. Muskrat Raising IV. Laws Affecting Fur Farming XII. Raccoon Raising V. Box Trap Trapping XIII. The Beaver and the Otter VI. Fox Raising XIV. Marten Raising VII. Fox Rais'ng in Canada XV. Killing, Skinning & Stretching vm. Skunk Raising XVI. Deer Farming If you have ever thought of raising fur-bearing animals, better send for this book at once. Maybe after reading you will conclude to go into the business, for there has been money made at the business and will be for years to come by those who are suited to the industry —the book tells this and lots more. This book bound in cloth will be sent postpaid to any address for 60c. A. R. Harding, 75 N. Ohio Ave., Columbus, Ohio Chapter HUNTING DOGS Describes in a Practical Manner the Training, Handling, Treatment, Breeds, etc., Best Adapted for Night Hunting, as well as Gun Dogs for Daylight Sport. HIS book contains 253 pages, 5x7 inches, 45 illustrations showing the various breeds, hunting scenes, etc. The author in his introduction says: "As if hunting for profit, night hunt- ing for either pleasure or gain and professional hunting generally had no importance, writers of books have contented themselves with dwelling on the study and presentation of mat- ters relating solely to the men who hunt for sport only. Even then the Fox Chase and Bird Hunting has been the burden of the greater per cent, of such books." Part One — Hunting Dogs. 6. Wolf and Coyote Hunting 7. Training— For Squirrels and Rabbits 8. Training the Deer Hound 9. Training — Specific Things to Teach 10. Training— Random Sugges- tions from Many Sources Part II — Breeding and Care of Dogs. Chapter 14. Breeding (Continued) 11. Selecting the Dog 15. Peculiarities of Dogs and 12. Care and Breeding Practical Hints 13. Breeding. 16. Ailments of the Dog. Part III — Dog Lore. Still Trailers vs. Tonguers. 18. The Dog on the Trap Line Music. 19. Sledge Dogs of the North Part IV — The Hunting Dog Family. American Fox Hound 24. Scotch Collies, House and The Beagle Dachshund and Basset Hound 25. Pointers and Setters — Spaniels 26. Terriers— Airedales The contents show the scope of this book and if you are at all interested in hunting dogs, you should have this work. The book is made up not only from the author's observation and experience, but that of scores of successful night as well as daylight hunters. This book will not interest the field trial dog men but is for the real dog men who delight in chases that are genuine. Price, cloth-bound, postpaid, 60c. A. R. HARDING, 75 N. Ohio Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 17. 21. 22. 23. Night Hunting The Night Hunting Dog — His Ancestry Training the Hunting Dog Training the Coon Dog Training for Skunk, Opos- sum and Mink Watch Dogs A Farmer Hunter — His Views Descriptive Table of Tech- nical Terms or . ~-$. SCIENCE OF TRAPPING Describes the Fur Betiring Animals, Their Nature, Habits and Distribution, with Practical Methods «( Their Capturec This book contains 245 pages, 5x7 inches, with more than 40 illustrations, many of which are full page of the various fur bearing animals, also several pages of tracks. The author, Mr. E. Kreps, in his introduction says: "In order to be successful, one must know the wild animals as a mother knows her child. He must also know and use the most practical methods of trapping, and it is my object to give in this work, the most successful trapping meth- ods known. These modes of trap- ping the fur bearing animals have for the most part been learned from actual experience in various parts of the country, but I also give the methods of other success- ful trappers, knowing them to be as good as my own. _ I am per- sonally acquainted with some of the most expert trappers in North America, and have also followed trap lines, and in this way have learned the Indians over their „^ , __ _ . ^^ many things which to the white man are not generally known. This book contains twenty-four chapters, as follows: 1. The Trapper's Art. 2. The Skunk. 3. The Mink. 4. The Weasel. The Marten. The Fisher. The Otter. The Beaver. The Muskrat. The Fox. The Wolf. The Bear. IR. The Raccoon. 14. The Badger. 15. The Opossum, !fi. The Lynx. 17. The Bay Lynx or Wild Cat. 18. The Cougar. 19. The Wolverine. 20. The Pocket Gopher. 81. The Rabbit. 22. Tracks and Signs. ?X Handling Furs. 24. Steel Traps. The chapter on TRACKS AND SIGNS contains sixteen pages — eleven of description and five of illustrations. The author goes into detail, telling where the tracks and signs of the various animals are most apt to be found. This with an accurate drawing of the footprints, makes the chapter on TRACKS AND SIGNS alone worth dollars to the young and inexperienced trapper, while the distribution, nature,^ hab- its, etc., will prove interesting to all. This book is rightly named — Science of Trapping. Price, postpaid. Cloth Bound, 60 Cents A. R. HARDING, 75 N. Ohio Avenue, Columbus, Ohio Bee Hunting A BOOK OF VAI