Fur Farming: A Book of Information About Fur Bearing Animals, Enclosures, Habits, Care, Etc.

A practical handbook from the early 1900s for anyone considering entering the fur farming trade. A.R. Harding, drawing on decades of经验 from working trappers and successful fur farmers, provides detailed guidance on housing requirements, feeding schedules, breeding practices, and the natural habits of animals like foxes, skunks, muskrats, and mink. The book opens with a frank assessment of the collapsing wild fur supply, over-trapping and habitat destruction had already begun depleting native populations, and positions fur farming as both an economic opportunity and an environmental necessity for sustaining the industry. Each chapter reflects the era's direct, no-nonsense approach to animal husbandry, emphasizing profit, practicality, and the hard-won wisdom of those who made their living from the trade. For historians of agriculture, animal welfare researchers, or anyone curious about forgotten American rural industries, this volume offers a window into a world where fur was not a luxury but a commodity woven into the fabric of everyday life.