Thus far no widespread disease among foxes has made its appearWhen diseases occur they mainly affect the digestive organs, and usually can be traced to improper feeding. Indigestion and inflammation of the bowels are not uncommon among cubs. Isolation in clean, dry quarters is the first step toward a cure, and rest and fasting are better than medicine. A spoonful of milk diluted with six spoonfuls of boiled water will quench thirst and aid in maintaining strength. The feces should be examined daily. Constipation is frequent, and it is especially dangerous to vixens during the first three days after the birth of their cubs. It can generally be corrected by a laxative diet, as milk, liver, or veal, but in extreme cases a dose of castor oil or an injection of soapsuds may be necessary. A protracted attack of diarrhea can usually be checked by a purge of castor oil followed by small doses of laudanum. Generally, however, a day or two of fasting followed by short rations of cooked milk or milk and eggs, at intervals of two or three hours, will effect a cure. During such an attack vitality runs low, and care must be taken to keep the afflicted animal in a warm, dry place. It should have access to water that has been boiled. Growing cubs are frequently subject to weakened and distorted legs. This disease, known as rickets, can be prevented by including ground bone in their meat rations and by adding limewater to their milk. The bones of calves and those from the briskets of beeves are comparatively easy to crush so that foxes can swallow them.

At quarantine stations where imported animals are examined, particular attention is directed to symptoms of rabies and mange. The fact that rabies, or hydrophobia, is communicable to man makes it doubly dreaded. Fortunately it has not appeared among domesticated foxes so far as known. Mange is characterized by a loss of fur. It is caused by a tiny parasite, somewhat like the itch mite. and is, therefore, very contagious. Were it to obtain a foothold among domesticated foxes, it would seriously hamper and perhaps ruin this branch of the fur industry. All animals showing a tendency to have bare spots should be isolated at once. The diseased parts should be treated daily with ointments, as petrolatum or a mixture of lard and sulphur.

Foxes serve as hosts for a number of other parasites. Lice and fleas infest their hair and skin, while roundworms and tapeworms drain their vitality from within. The death of a fox has occasionally been attributed to lice. Even if not fatal, lice and fleas diminish the vigor of their hosts and should be persistently combated. Some fox breeders dip all their animals in a nonpoisonous bath such as is commonly used for dipping sheep. It is well in any case to dust the dens with sulphur and insect powder at frequent intervals.

The intestinal worms infesting foxes are difficult to eradicate. Probably more young foxes succumb to the effects of roundworms than to any other cause. These worms are whitish and cylindrical, tapering toward either extremity. Among the symptoms indicating their presence are dullness, barking, frothing at the mouth, dragging the body by the forelegs, and convulsions. The flat, jointed tapeworm, often a foot or more in length, is a less fatal as well as a less common internal parasite, but animals suffering from them are emaciated and lack overfur or guard hairs. As a cure for worms one breeder of long experience frequently gives his cubs a meal of crushed flaxseed and milk, alternating now and then with six or eight drops of spirits of turpentine in milk. Another doses his cubs every fortnight after they are four weeks old with a proprietary vermifuge put up in gelatine capsules for puppies and pet dogs, beginning with half the contents of one capsule. Castor oil containing a few drops of turpentine is also recommended. Any remedy administered by hand must be pushed down below the base of the tongue, when it will be involuntarily swallowed.

A fox sometimes dies from no assignable cause. More often fatalities can be traced to a lack of care or foresight. The dishes from which the animals eat and drink should be washed daily and scalded frequently. The water should be clean and changed daily. The food should be varied and wholesome. Danger from unwholesome food is well illustrated in the experience of one ranchman who lost several of his choice breeders through feeding them spoiled fish; and another who lost $100,000 worth of cubs as a result of thoughtlessly exposing meat overnight to the fumes of gasoline in his slaughterhouse. The appearance of each animal should be critically noted every day. On many of the larger ranches a doctor is regularly employed to look after the health of the stock. In the care of foxes an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

IMPROVED STRAINS.

The fact that domestic animals originated from wild stock and that improved strains have from time to time been secured makes it reasonable to assume that other wild animals can be differentiated and improved by the same method, namely, selective breeding. So far as foxes are concerned, this has already been done. The pioneer fox breeders began with ordinary silvers, which have a tendency to produce red as well as silver progeny. At that time dark pelts were more valuable than light-colored ones. By regularly disposing of the less desirable cubs and breeding only from the best, the tendency to throw red was soon eliminated and the color of the fur greatly improved. Within 16 years from the time the two pioneer fox

breeders built their ranch they were sending to market the finest fox pelts in the world.

The tendency of wild silvers to produce red progeny is accounted for by the fact that owing to their scarcity probably only one in a hundred can have a silver mate; perhaps three in a hundred may mate with cross foxes, which are merely hybrids, or descendants from hybrids, between silvers and reds; and the remaining ninety-six must mate with reds. In any event, although some of the cubs may be silver, all of them will inherit from their red ancestors a tendency to throw red. As has already been pointed out, however, this tendency very soon disappears under the influence of careful breeding. Generally speaking, pure strains of silver foxes breed true. So also do pure strains of red. When a red and silver are mated together, the color of the progeny can not be foretold. The cubs may be red with black throats, or they may be crosses, or a mixture of the two. One or more may be silver, but this is unusual. Random breeding from silvers and crosses of unknown pedigree is equally uncertain, as is shown by the following results:

A silver mated with a red produced two crosses, which when mated together produced one red and four silvers. A silver and a cross produced three silvers and two reds. A cross and a red produced two crosses and two reds. A cross and a cross produced two silvers, two crosses, and one red. Another pair of crosses produced nine

A red of silver-cross parentage mated with a red of silver parentage produced one silver and two crosses. A silver and a red produced in two successive years thirteen silvers. A pair of reds from the same litter as two silvers produced three silvers, one cross, and two reds. A pair of silvers produced one silver and five reds, two of which, when mated together, produced three silvers and one red the first year and two silvers the next year. Another pair of silvers produced four crosses, while a silver and a cross produced a litter of all silvers.

These results indicate the uncertainty of breeding at random, but they show also that if a fox of any color whatever has a silver strain, the silver can be made to appear in succeeding generations by selective breeding. This fact is most important. Suppose a breeder has a strain of silvers lacking in size, or fecundity, or in some other desirable particular. He can introduce specimens having the desired qualities without having to consider color. A red fox can be used if one of better color is not available. In the course of three or four generations the silver can be fully reinstated. Among the features to be considered besides color are size, fineness of fur, fecundity, docility, and hardiness. Fecundity appears to be a hereditary trait among foxes, daughters of prolific mothers being themselves generally prolific. How rapidly other desirable characters can be in

corporated remains to be determined. As with poultry, horses, and other farm animals, so it is with foxes. Each breeder should strive to perfect his animals according to some standard. Eventually there may be several standards based upon varied uses or requirements.

The process of developing improved strains can undoubtedly be shortened by taking advantage of local variations in foxes. One of the lines of investigation conducted by the Biological Survey includes the geographic variations of North American mammals, and from this it is possible to say not only where silvers and crosses occur most frequently, but where the largest and the best-furred foxes are found. Upward of 20 species or subspecies of red foxes have been named in the United States and Canada. The medium-sized foxes along the North Atlantic coast are notable for their fine silky hair. The largest foxes are in Alaska and on the Plains northward from Minnesota and North Dakota. The large size of Alaskan coast foxes is offset by long, coarse pelage, which is decidedly longer on the shoulders and back of the neck than on the back and hips. It remains to be seen whether in crossing them with the smaller, finer-haired animals the progeny will be large or small, coarse-haired or fine, or intermediates. There can be little doubt, however, that in the long run. such a cross will result in larger fine-haired foxes than any now existing. The northern part of the red fox's range has, as a rule, a larger proportion of silvers than has the southern. An exception is found. in the Cascade Mountains in Washington, Oregon, and California, where, judging from specimens in the National Museum, the percentage of melanistic specimens is very large. They have little to recommend them besides color, however, as they are small and have rather coarse fur.

Black and silver foxes are found in North America practically throughout the range of the red fox. The best-furred animals do not occur, however, throughout this range, but are obtained mainly in restricted areas. For instance, skins from the Tanana River district in Alaska and the adjacent part of Yukon Territory, from certain other parts of northern Canada, and from the North Atlantic coast from Maine to Labrador, including Prince Edward and other islands, are of about the same grade. This is recognized by the leading London furriers, who report that "in our opinion fox skins from Labrador, Newfoundland, or Alaska are equal in quality to those from Prince Edward Island."

It is not known that any particular geographic race of foxes is especially characterized by fecundity or docility. These qualities are probably individual, occurring in about the same proportion everywhere, and while of secondary importance, in the long run they are sure to be favorable to success in fox farming. Already prolific pairs bring much higher prices than those which have thrown

small litters or have not been tested. Inasmuch as one of the main causes of loss among young cubs is the timidity and nervousness of vixens, the development of more docile strains will result in corresponding increase in the birth rate. Some male foxes are much better mates and sires than others. In selecting breeders the temperament of males as well as of vixens should be considered. The physical development and potency of males are also essential factors. Young males that are not strong or not well developed when six months old are not likely to be of use in the breeding yards the first year and should not be selected for sires.

Food is recognized as a very important element in the development of good animals. The finest specimens of domestic cattle are those which have been fed most wisely. As regards foxes, much remains to be learned concerning the effects of different rations upon such matters as fecundity, character of fur, and rate and limits of growth. It should be a part of every breeder's plan to discover all he can about the relative values of foods and methods of handling, as influencing the process of selective breeding. Ultimate success or failure in fox farming depends largely upon the aspirations of those engaged in it. If breeders earnestly, consistently, and indefatigably endeavor to improve their stock and to produce pelts that are larger, softer, and more uniformly colored than the usual run, there can be no question as to the result. There will never come a time when an extra fine silver fox pelt will not command a good price nor when a breed producing such pelts will not be in demand.

ACCESSORIES.

Contentment and vigor of the animals within a ranch is of the utmost importance. Whatever contributes toward increasing these qualities should be incorporated if possible. It is well to test young foxes with such toys as a ball, a tin can, or a piece of woolen cloth, with a view to amusing them and exciting a spirit of playfulness. A variety of objects in which they can hide and upon which they can mount for a survey of their surroundings, as hollow logs, stumps, brush piles, or open barrels, is desirable.

While the suggestions given under this heading apply primarily to persons having large capital invested in fox farming, they will also be found helpful to those operating on a small scale. The present value of silver foxes is so great that every precaution is taken to prevent accidents, sickness, or other misfortunes. Watchmen are kept on guard day and night. The keeper's lodge is just outside the guard fence. In addition there is sometimes a tower, from the top of which a view can be had of all the yards. Here are recorded the progress of events in the breeding season; and from here quarrels, accidents, or signs of sickness can be discovered without alarming the animals.