The question frequently arises, not only for those interested in the production of fur apparel, but for those who derive so much comfort from its use, whether the supply of fur-bearing animals is likely tol be exhausted. Although it is a fact that! the demand is ever increasing, and that some of the rarer animals are decreasing in numbers, yet on the other hand some kinds of furs are occasionally neglected through the vagaries of fashion, which give nature an opportunity to replenish their source.
respites are, however, becoming fewer day, and what was formerly the most neglected kinds of furs are becoming more and more sought after. The supply of some of the most valuable, such as sable, silver and natural black fox, sea otter and ermine, which are all taken from-animals of a more or less shy nature, does very gradually decrease with persistent hunting and the encroachment of man upon the districts where they live, but the climate of these vast regions is so cold and inhospitable that the probabilities of man ever permanently inhabiting them in numbers sufficient to scare away or exterminate the fur-bearing animals, is unlikely, Besides these there are many useful, though commonplace, fur-bearing animals like mink, musquash, skunk, raccoon, opossum, hamster, rabbit, hares and moles that thrive by depredations upon cultivated land. Some of these are reared upon extensive wild farms. In addition there are domestic fur-bearing animals such as Persian, Astrakhan and Chinese lambs, and goats, easily bred and available.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.