1 rv’„r- : - ..loo
c' ■:* old sort. of jwrate-in
t --J -4-ii of ;cr.l r-.djou
- of *. 1 o' s* range and
*: countrse* tilled with
tt* Stwr that, ha* drawn taen
■-re; tf t-e,;.nu:ug at time—
_♦ n; »« away It U
lew wed so* by the romance
at iron and steel, the romance
«•: « -* , 'otr*.. of a «i*:luaiica that
i» '*•* rushing out the la*: vestige of the
j-f.m-tn. and .- ag .a-1 day new chapter*
to • wr» marts.su* a L.evetnents I: *eem*
laae a f '-ng <V- .. g Jute that :he oldest
.aatd mom tmmmaxk at all the Industrie* of
■Utt with th <1 . : . - -t hr *
tor toed *h . i b. t hr la*: ic die There is
s j.- ;n.- . . U* .n iwy when it
is :«xn!cd out te _* it w as jointed out
^ (, L*.r and Mount Royal.
• -i 4 * -re.- ii-..job’s Bay Comjsany.
w:j» at; i T1 - Isat • -a; • r la the romance
’ > I*-.*. T- *»s 1: ha* been a gior
ac* story — a giorton* story “
-* " " ■ th. ■ _>.i.the jteit* . f wild
*’» uat«- j . ; . thu ; art in the lire* of
torn Par the last ten enlanes fur in*
• a _n c ,*r..K j-urt -n :. -ry It ha*
* • — oa » lure ot roman , of —dventure
—4 tdf It to* caaaed war*, and * •»* led
* the .rn-ot. r of new land- Fur hunters
; a»e don. mure ei. ortng than any other one
«—*» -.4 tarn It was th- heaver that lured
m.n free, th S: Lawrence to the Mississippi.
au.4 then., to the Kola* opening up a con
l-ie-a* 1* w a* • n* sable that drew the tribes
men of Asian Russia across to far Kam
Lataju and the »a otter that led the F;>an
lafr and the thpWl all around the world In
crwxy rraJ' and gave u* our first know ledge
U the Pacih. coast from Alaska to California.
' »*• * »ay k * h 1C a wandering and
adven-arous Frenchman by the name of Grose
Iki- hr. 4 Prin-e Rupert's tmagtnatu-a with
t.cwtng tale* of a land filled with priceless
* '* »hd _ *e company was formed with a
Apita: at t * he did not dream that his
* til ;tu> - mean. tfc» ojetlng up of a ooua
tr.i - .o*o*t as 1st— a* the whole of Europe
and ''he beginning of an adventure which was
te run through cen-trv* It was thl* little
(tn^art of ' rsfettie adventurer*- who
f. -mod w hat is today the Hudson * Hay com
J*hj the greatest landed rs>rp-oration on
#urti -something w. . h will remain for all
'■» ~ • istor* as a ccturtaph to the tremeu
c...us [art wtu h tis furred thing* of forest
and mountain and sew have played in the
fortunes at men
La*' f«*r the raw fur industry of the world
ainmi:<-i to :»—■ million dollars. Next year
Y w:h W tf*y mi! -■&. and the year after that
the figures will be larger itil Fire years ago
It wa» lews *.Ut twenty millions Vet in
<* tbtms figures--to the face of the fact
"—att the fur • r«a#vre of the world is lorn ma
in* is value ewch year, and will continue to
increase for perhaps another decade, the
farre. It.tp of the earth are fast booming
esnnrr
A year ago a b"g f^ondon fur buyer, whose
I nlaisss amount# to over a miUoa collars
r nasal!* said to me "Within another fire
■ears only a very lew people of moderate
menu# wr: be toying fur* Only the wealthy
w-fB be abi* to aSorl those furs which are
cheapest today and even the muskrat, whose
peit sold for five and sis < rats s few years
ago will be jetaed as a luxury "
Tra a«'i» did &u<h to verify this fur
coalers statements Within that time raw
peit* advanced from twenty to one hundred
per on* A Mewl foal dealer who purchased
.tov muskrat skins at tw#u*y onus per skin
a year teteee sold them in 1-option for seven
ty A month later they had gone to eighty.
Two months later they were bringing a dol
lar la a aingk season the ralue of the
worlds annua: '.radix-tiro of fur Wiped from
fjf to over i«> M* 1 had Just
come down from my last trip to the Barren
Lands, where I bad spent eight weeks among
the far northern fox fcunterw. when word was
passed from jew* to post and from trapper to
trailer 'hrvagnout hundreds of thousands of
*daar* mile# at Canadian wilderness that a
for famine bad struck London and Baris, the
fur craters at the world, and that from Winni
peg Ottawa. Toronto and Montreal both the
•adependmts" and the. agents of the big
uapame* wore making fabulous cfiers for
r«dta
It Will be teteras-iag to not* the conditions
that this famine will bring about during the
or** two or three years Million* of women
are as yet unaware at via: the great fur
OraW I have *oot*d above desenb* s as “the
mine that Is about to explode under their
•*-e» “ It cannot be said however, that they
have not hod some warning The woman who
** -gb» * mink e* iff for twenty dollars five
years ago pay* sixty for the same grade of
ir: Is today; she will pay from seventy to
e_gh»y fer it this coai '.s *e? sen—a tund»d
or acre two years from cow
These statements are net made at random,
but only after the closest personal investtga
tloc of the fur situation as it exists today,
and af*er a Jong acquaintance with the great
fur companies, buyers, and trappers. But a
few fin *s are necessary to show at what ruth
less pare the slaughter of fur animals has
gone or. during the past decade. It was not
lone ago that 1 skins of the sea otter
were taken from the Aleutian Islands each
rear Today there are less than 400 skins ta
ke r. annually. Ten years ago sea otter was
a ; opular fur; today It Is worn only by the
royal blood of Europe Twenty years ago It
was estimated that seal herds of the Pry
hiloffs numbered over five millions. Today,
in sp:*e of international treaties for their
protec-ion. there are not more than 150.000
seal# on the island' About 10.000 skins
were taken last year, and so relentless was
the slaughter on account of the princely sums
offered for the fur that 10.000 baby seals died
during the season, chiefly of starvation be
cause of the death of their mothers.
The glossy little wood marten is dying out.
Four years ago I met two Canadian trappers
who were coming down from the upper New
Ontario game regions with 300 marten, worth
then from four to five dollars a skin. Today
they are worth twenty-five dolars. and a half
a down are a big “catch" for any one man In
a single season Five years ago 1.760.000
foxes were killed to supply the world's mar
ket. Three years ago the number had fallen
to 1.200.000. Last year less than a million
were caught. From two dollars a skin the
red fox jumped to twelve; the ‘‘cross’’ fox
from twenty five to as high as a hundred, sil
ver and black fox to prices that made their
skins ten times the value of their weight In
gold;
The silver and black are now so rare that
they are "bid" for only by dukes and
duchesses, the rulers and the heirs of king
doms and empires. Seldom does one sell in
the London or Paris markets for less than
from JTiiA to f 1.000. A year ago one pelt sold
for S4.0*v' In this same way are going the
black *able and the little white ermine whose
pelt has been worn In the robes of royalty
for more than seven centuries. It was not
long ago that 100,000 skins of the black sable
found their way into the market each year.
I.as* vear this number had dwindled to fifteen
thousand'
The "signs of the change" are now at hand
in another wav. and as a consequence never
in history will the women of the world be
"up against" a greater assortment of substl
tutes in the fur line than during the coming
seasons.
The world’s prosperity and its rapid in
crease in population are. of course, the chief
causes of the extinction of fur. As recently
as ten years ago the people of the United
States were not counted among the great
buyers of fur. Now the majority of women
among ninety million people are purchaser*
of fur of one kind or another. Fire years
ago London was the world's greatest fur cen
ter. with Paris a close second. Today, so
enormous has the demand for fur become in
this country as well as across the sea. that
-there are over 3.000 establishments for the
treatment of fine furs and the making of fur
garments in New York City alone.
London and Paris hare now taken second
and third places in the actual making of fur
garments, though London handles more raw
fur than the other two combined. Last year
the value of New York’s "finished’’ output was
nearly $20,000,000. and fully sixty per cent,
of this was represented by the furs which a
few years ago were considered almost worth
less.
"Three years will clean out the cheaper
class of fur,” said a Montreal buyer to me,
“and then the real famine will be at hand.”
This passing of the old romance of fur Is
marked not only by the pathos of the furred
things themselves, but by that of the wild
and picturesque life of those thousands of
wilderness people whose centuries-old voca
tion must go with the things which gave it
birth. There is some comfort for the lover
of the wild and what it holds in the thought
that at least in a great part of the far Cana
dian wilderness the picturesque fur-hunter
will never, like the courier du bois. quite die
out. In a country one-third as large as the
whole of Europe railroads and civilization will
never go. This vast wilderness region, long
described as a "waste.” stretches from the
coast of Labrador, through Ungava. skirts
Hudson’s Bay and swings north and west to
Mackenzie Land and the polar seas.
It Is a land where for six months out of the
year man's life is a bitter fight against deep
snows and fierce blizzards—against hardships
of all kinds, starvation, and a cold that
reaches sixty degrees below zero and which
is so “dry" that one may freeze almost to the
point of death without being aware of espe
cial discomfort or pain. It is. as Lord Strath
cona says, “the last great trapping ground.”
Out of this trapping ground there has come
a constant stream of treasure for nearly two
and a half ceuturies. Last year, according to j
Canadian export figures, this treasure amount- i
ed to $2,71$>.S£2, but no credit was given for
the enormous home consumption of raw pelts.
The actual catch was worth at least $.7..>00.- j
000. The coming season will see $7,000,000
worth of furs caught in Canada, in spite of
the fact that the actual number of skins will
be at least a quarter less than a year ago.
when the lives of between thirty and forty
million wild things were taken that Milady
of civilization might have her furs.
As recently as eight years ago. when the
writer first began his journeys into the north
land. one struck the great fur country as soon
as he crossed Lake Superior From there it
ranged to the Antic sea. Less than a decade
has brought about a tremendous change, and
now one travels a hundre d miles farther north
before be enters the "last great trapping
ground." Front this great trapping ground
comes seventy per cent, of the better class
of furs worn by the American woman and her
Canadian sister.
In a vast desolation one-third as large as
the whole of Europe there is no railroad, no
white man's village, and its population is less
than that of the Sahara Lesert. In its cen
ter is Hudson's Bay. the great "ice box" of
the north- nine times as large as the state of
Ohio Over this vast territory at distances '
of from one to three hundred miles apart are
scattered the Hudson's Bay Company s posts
and those of its French competitors, the Re
veiilon Brothers In most instances a post
consists of nothing more than a company
"store." the factor's house, and two or three
log cabins. Except during the months of the
trapping season these are practically the only
points of human life in a country that runs
two thousand miles east and west and from
two to eight hundred north and south.
With the first breath of winter the fur-gath
erers begin to bury themselves in the vast
desolation about them, traveling one and
sometimes tw-o hundred miles away from the
post to their old trapping grounds.
From the moment he leaves his door to go
over his line three days' supply of food and
a thick blanket in his pack-sack, a knife, a
belt-ax and a rifle as weapons, every hour is
filled with excitement for the hunter of fur.
On his snowshoes he speeds swiftly from trap
to trap, every mile of snowy forests and
swamps revealing the mysteries of the wild
things to him as plainly as a picture-book.
In one trap he finds a great white owl. and
cuts off the beautiful wings for the wife and
children back in the cabin. In the next there
is a huge snow-shoe rabbit, frozen stiff as it
had died. And then, from through the thick
and gloomy balsam ahead, he hears the faint
clinking of a chain. His blood leaps now. for
this royal sport of the wilderness never grows
old to the fur-hunter. The chain clinks loud
er. and he draws in quick, excited breaths as
he lifts the hammer of his rifle and stares
ahead. He comes suddenly upon the next
house. and there is a snarling, leaping, thing
in the air before him. a great silver-gray
furred thing, lithe and beautiful as it crouches
at bay—a lynx And a magnificent specimen,
its six-inch fur. as fine as a woman's hair. j
crumpled and lying richly upon the blood
stained snow as it waits for the man to come
within springing distance. But the hunter
knows better. He aims carefully for a spot
where he can sew up the bullet-hole, and fires.
Only a short time from now some gently nur
tured beauty of civilization will press the
warmth and regal loveliness of that thing to
her face, and—is it possible that a vision of
this wilderness tragedy will come to her then?
No more than the dark-faced hunter sees a
vision of that woman's loveliness as he skins
his catch and hurries on. To each is given
but a part of the picture.
The forest man knows only that he has
caught a "Number One. Extra” lynx, and that
the Company wil pay him fifteen dollars for
it. His mental visions go no farther than
that. He makes no effort to follow it in the
great ship that will carry it to Paris or Lon
don. where it will be sold at great profit; !
nor to the furrier’s shop, nor to the dainty
girl or the society matron In New York who
will pay $150 for that same fifteen-dollar lynx
—in an “imported" muff. He goes on. keyed
to higher excitement, until the end of the day
comes, and in the first gray gloom of early
night he stops at one of the three or four
small log shelters which he has built for him
self along the trap-line, gets his supper, lights
his pipe, and reviews the happenings of the
day until slumber closes his eyes.
It will take him three days to cover a forty- ;
mile trap-line, and when he returns to his
cabin at the close of the third he is welcomed
by the glad cries of his children and the
laughter and joy of his wrife. who has a ten- !
der roast jorcupine or a venison stew waiting
for him. For two days after that he rests,
smokes his pipe, and tells of his adventures,
while his wife scrapes the fat from his pelts
and stretches them on sticks. Then, once
more, he shoulders his pack, and goes again
upon his round of excitement, adventure and
profit.
Early Marriages Are Best
Te Cron At *e tn Taste* *«2 Hopes
tn« Aims ts Certain in
YoetnTui Pa*r.
Te lay de«a kri sad fast role* oa
a*y wm&Ject la sissy* ndk-aloes Vet.
the fashion to
b* w bole » orid
to acres that
deplore the bad old times when they
were all too common. Yet for so
called "boy-acd girl" marriages there
are many things to be said. In the
first place they are always love
matches. No thought of worldly ad
vantage brings two young creatures
together—nothing save the one thing
that makes marriage holy. Trials are
inevitable, but early youth surmounts
them infinitely more easily than ma
turer years—and troubles borne to
gether bind hearts In bonds that can
never be broken. Besides, to give
and take, to grow alike in tastes and
hopes and aims, is certain in a youth
ful pair. The same '•oneness" Is an
absolute impossibility when both man
and wife have, perhaps, left their 30th
birthday behind them.
It must be acknowledged, however,
that fit subjects for youthful mart
riages are considerably more rare
than they were in the last two genera
tions, and this probably has much to I
do with the prejudice against such
marriages. Husband and wife must
be friends—congenial companions—or
there can be no lasting happiness for
either. Yet it is a moot point wheth
er the welding together of likes and
dislikes in early youth, the mutual re
liance induced by long years of mu
tual dependence, does not make more
for an ideal companionship than all
the knowledge and careful choosing
of those whose first gray hair is not
: far off. The children of youthful pa
rents are certainly the luckier, any
way. With papas and mammas who
are so young that they have not for
gotten their own babyhood, and so
bring a gay and comprehending sym
pathy to childish joys and woes, they
thrive as only in the atmsophere that
suits them children do thrive, and
grow up with never a hint of advan
cing age in their parents to sadden
them. Somehow one feels quite sure
that Darby and Joan, in the dear old
song, married very, very young—Bos
ton Traveler.
IMPORTANT FEATURES OF
GOOD VENTILATING SYSTEM
In Order That Our Dairy Products May Rank Higher
More Attention Must be Given to Health
and Sanitation—One Plan.
Method of Running Ventilator Flues. Fresh Air Is Admitted at the Bottom
and Foul Air Taken Out at A and B.
(By J. H. FRAXPSOX.)
Through mistaken ideas of some
writers, many of our farmers have de
veloped the idea that to keep cows
healthy and comfortable and to pro
duce sanitary milk it is absolutely '
necessary to have expensive barns. As i
a matter of fact many of the dairy
barns where sanitation is the primary j
object are quite inexpensive.
On the other hand if it is to be
conveniently arranged to embody the
most accepted sanitary features, it Is
very essential that some attention be
given to the plans and specifications
of the barn that is to house the dairy
herd to the best advantage. Every
detail of a new barn should be care
fully worked out before actual con
struction takes place.
The iilustration here shown will, it
is hoped, give the builder some new
ideas as to how the barn can bo made
more sanitary.
In building a dairy barn, or any
other kind of a barn for that matter,
the plans must be worked out to suit
different conditions and locations.
Hardly any two sites would permit
exactly the same rlan being used.
If wholesome and sanitary milk Is
to be produced the farmer should
realire that the cows must be kept
out of the mud as much as possible.
Conditions in and around the barn can.
in many cases, be greatly improved by
draining and grading. Draining is not
of itself sufficient, as the tramping of
the cattle soon puddles the surface, j
thus practically preventing the water |
from reaching the tiles below.
The barnyard should have good
slope, such as will Insure good surface
drainage, and should have a good top
layer of gravel or cinders. In many
places this may involve a great deal
6f work, but even If the grading can
not all be done in one year arrange
ments should be made by which at
least part of it is done every year. 1
Too much stress cannot be laid on
the fact that we have no better disin
fectant than good, old-fashioned sun
light. For this reason in planning
our barns much more attention should
be paid to the question of securing
sufficient light. It Is said by authori
ties on the subject that four square
feet of window light should be allowed
for each cow In the barn. Long win
dows reaching well to the celling have
been found the most satisfactory for
the reason that the light coming
through them can reach all parts of
the barn better than if the short win
dows are used. It is also of importance
to remember that there is no better
way of preventing the spread of tuber
culosis in our herds than by admit
ting plenty of sunlight and fresh air
into the barn.
The height to ceiling differs some
what according to different ideas o!
the builder, but the height should be
sufficient to give ample air space iu
the structure.
The important features of a goo<t
system of ventilation are that it pro*
vides a constant supply of pure, fresh
air. that the fresh air is admitted near
the ceiling and that the impure air
is taken out near the floor. The fresh
cold air should be admitted near the
celling, so that It may. by contact w ith
the warm air, be tempered before
reaching the cows. By forcing the
impure air out near the floor less heat
Is lost and. as is claimed by most au
thorities, the major part of the Impure
air Is found near the floor where the
cows are constantly depositing many
of the impurities given off in breath
ing. A damp stable favors the breed
ing of disease germs. A good system
of ventilation will carry away all extra
moisture. Xo system of ventilation
can be successful in a barn where the
cracks and crevices in the walls per
mit cross-currents to interfere with
the work of the ventilating flues.
KEEP FROST
FROM PIPES
Illustration Shows Excellent
Method of Protecting Water
Pipes During Severe
Weather—How Done.
This diagram illustrates one way of
protecting water pipes against frost.
In the cut a is the pipe, b a partition
through which the pipe runs, c the
water tank, d the ground, f a wooden
post and g an iron ring. In operation
the post, which may be six to eight
inches in diameter, is split in the mid
dle. as shown at e. The center Is hol
lowed out slightly in each half, and
Details of Arrangement.
into this space pipe fits. The iron ring
at g holds the halves firmly together,
says the Orange Judd Farmer. This
protection might, and probably would,
in actual practice, continue on through
the wall of the building. It could be
| arranged for by setting the pipe at a
greater angle.
Ensilage for Beef Cattle.
We feed the ensilage to our herd
of Angus cows and to the young
stock, and finish out the steers on
corn and grass in the summer, writes
an Illinois breeder. We turn the cat
tle on shock fodder until the middle
of February, and then give them en
silage and good oat straw that has
been threshed into the barn, or hay,
and if we have plenty of ensilage and
other rough feed we do not feed any
grain. Last year the snow came early,
so we ran short of rough feed and
had to feed some corn, too. but it is
the first time for years that anything
but the steers and calves were fed
on grain.
Fresh Manure Dangerous to Trees.
V. hen an old orchard is renewed the
soil may probably receive a liberal
application of well-rotted manure
Thts should be applied only under the
extremities of the branches and
worked well into the soil. Fresh ma
nure should not be applied. Ash-s
may be used in addition to the well
rotted manure, or it mav be thrown
near the base of the tree to destroy
many of the insects there.
Feeding Pigs.
Uiuu.
Bedding Cows.
Look well in fbn v,„j _
IN TANNING
SMALL SKINS
Excellent Methods Given for Pre
paring Hides of Either
Muskrat or Rabbit
for the Market.
The skins should—first be heated
by sprinkling fine salt over the flesh
sides—then roll up and allowed to re
main for 12 months. If the pickling
method be preferred, the skins may
be immersed in a strong solution of
brine. After being treated with the
salt, wash in cold w-ater, and then all
the flesh and fat scraped off. Then
sew together to form pouches with
hair inside and placed in weak wattle
bark solution. The wattle bark solu
tion is made by boiling the hark and
having the decoction stand for 24
hours, then taken out and skins are
left in this bark solution for 24 hours,
then taken out and allowed to draw.
The strength of the solution is in
creased by the addition of more oak
! ,barVvery Jay for si* davs. At the
last day take out the skins „
and coat the fiesh side with dubbing'
Another method of curing «t,n« t.
to treat them with salt ant i, ? 1
sciisiS3
Then immerse the *kf«e _ aoia*
occasionally until tanned Rabbit
-ill tan In SO minute* in ^',blt *Wn«
-her. tanned. wJTThe\k,?tion’
-ater. and hang In cellar t * 00,d
partly dry. ^Pn fS** to *»•«»•
<1ry. being ntoiX £‘C.
and stretch until thev become —°rk
pliable. The skin 3!S£L T *nd
thoroughly rubbed with Jh*n **
chalk. Rb Prepared
Continuous, liberal feeding bntr,^
the most profit and the bast**,^**
results. 01 Practical
