FURS AND SKINS.

Press, Volume XXI, Issue 2493, 1 August 1873, Page 3

FURS AND SKINS.

[From the " British Trade Journal."] America is the great source whence comes the supply of these commodities. Tbe trade in made-up furs determines what kind of skin will be most needed. Iv all cases the range of price is very great. Thus in mink the range is from ten cents to 6 dollars, color, size, quality of fur, as well as the condition in which the skin is cured, all contributing to determine the value. The best mink skins are those caught in tho North and North-East Michigan and the NorthWest furnishing the next quality. Fashion has for the present put seal in the front rank of furs and is looked upon as giving to the wearer a more youthful appearance than the larger furs. Low grades of mink arc among the least desirable furs. Since "Alaska Sable" has become known by its true name—skunk —it has lost favor, and there is a steady decline in price. Fashion has declared against it, and unless Boruo new name is found, this fine black fur will go out of use. Much care has been taken of late years to remove its pungent odour, but the fact that its true nature is revealed when subjected to heat operates against its use as a dress fur. The best of skins last year brought but a trifle over half what they did the previous season, while some that would Have taken rank among the lower grades were hardly marketable at all. Many fur dealers gave notice that they would not, under any conditions, receive skunk skins until after the Ist of February. In order to command the highest prices, tho skins must be of fall or winter catch, and of a good black ; those with two white spots on the head take rank as black, but white on the body condemns the Bkin no matter how fine the fur. The plucking of musk-rat—pulling all the long hairs and leaving only the short, soft fur—has made this fur to take rank among the highest grades. It is colored the same as seal, and gentlemen's caps made of it command nearly as high a prico as seal caps. Sioux City is the head-quarters for collecting the furs, as Eastern buyers make that their rendezvous. During last suhsoii there was a strong competition, and some of the younger houses in the trade crowded their older competitors out of the market, the prices of skins are regulated by the quality of fur and also by the condition of The pelt; if they have been torn in the trap, or riddled by shot, or injured in handling, they cannot take rank among No 1 skins, no matter how fine the quality of the fur. In this respect there has been a great change in late years, by the improvements in traps and the doing away with the " deadfall" and kindred arrangements. Cased.skins, that is, those that are not cut open on the belly, command the best prices. Those that are preferred " cased " are mink, musk-rat, otter, fox, fisher, opossum and skunk. Skins that are well-stretched and dried command better prices than those of the same quality that have been handled carelessly, and the fur dealers at the prese.it time complain of carelessness in this respect. The Indian method of loosening the skin from the flesh is a good one ; it enables the skins to be removed from smaller animals much cleaner than any other plan. They puncture the skin in two or three places when no injury will be done by the cut, ami insert a quill; by blowing through this quill the air is forced between the flesh and skin, which can be stripped off without the use of a knife, and comparatively free from tho flesh. The great centres for tho fur trade in North America are New York,' Boston, Montreal and St. Louis ; the furs are shipped to those cities fiom all parts of the fur - producing region, excepting the section controlled by the Hudson Bay Company, and from these cities they are distributed to the various sections of this country and Europe. The principal fura produced on the American continent are sable, mink, must-rat, chinchilla, foxes of various kinds, racoon, fisher, skunk, opossum, bear, lynx, wolf, wolverine, buffalo, badger, beaver, otter, seal, coypu, rabbit, and monkey. Of sable, America produces one-half the supply; mink, four-fifths ; musk-rat, more than ninetenths ; chinchinna, all ; about one-half the foxes, all of the coon, fisher, skunk, buffalo, coypu, one-half the seal, and from one-half to thTCC-fourths of the other kinds, but very many of these furs are not wholesaled to any great extent in the country. London is the great centre of the fur trade in coon, bear, beaver, mink, 6eal, fox, otter, musk-rat, and wolves, although nearly all kinds of furs are found at the trade sales. Leipsic is n large market for the majority of furs found in America, and various kin3s from Middle Europe, Russia, and Asia. Martens, fitch, stone and black, together with sable and ermine, are more largely dealt in than at other markets, while, as in London, almost all other kinds can he found. The rich furs of Russia are collected at Irbit, Siberia, aud Nishni Novgorod, on the Volga River, where they are sold at the annual fairs. According to estimates by exports, the total catch of a single season ig about 30,000,000 skins ; of these one-third are caught in Northern Asia and Russia North America, nine and a-half millions in Middle Europe, eight and a-half millions in North and South America, and three and three-quarter millions in Russia. Sweden, and adjoining countries. The total value of these skins is not far from 13,000,000 dollars (£2,600,000.)