Fur, the short, fine, soft coat of certain animals. Fur differs from hair about as down does from feathers. Many animals have a double coat of hair and fur. Many furs are prepared for market by plucking out the long hairs. Fur is a nonconductor of heat. It makes the warmest clothing known. The colder the climate in which the animal lives, the thicker its fur. Like down, fur is also a non-conductor of water. Although fur-bearing animals remain under water for a considerable length of time, the moisture does not reach the skin. The finest furs are those of the sable, ermine, fur seal, beaver, and otter. From time immemorial garments of rich fur have been considered the most elegant wearing apparel. Australia, India, South America, South Africa, and mountain altitudes everywhere are inhabited by furbearing animals. The world's great supply of fur, however, has been obtained from the northern parts of Asia, Europe, and North America. The New World, in particular, has been the paradise of the hunter. The French were the first to buy furs from the Indians of the St. Lawrence Valley. The Dutch traded with the Indians of the Hudson and the Mohawk. Later, however, the English dispossessed both of these nations and practically monopolized the fur trade of North America. Fur-bearing animals have been hunted with persistence for thousands of years. Some animals, as the fur seal and the American bison, are practically extinct. Others are far from extermination. The present annual take of furs in North America is estimated about as follows: muskrat, 3,000,000; skunk and raccoon, 500,000 each; mink and opossum, 250,000 each; bear, 15,000; silver fox, 2,000; other foxes, as the blue, cross, gray, and red, 7,000 to 60,000 each. London and Leipsic are the great world fur markets. In October, 1909, fur sales on the London market were as follows: bear, 1,481; badger, 283; beaver, 1,591; civet cat, 7,354; house cat, 10,520; wildcat, 5,078; fisher, 85; silver fox, 141; cross fox, 189; blue fox, 189; white fox, 1,858; red fox, 3,370; gray fox, 769; kitt fox, 888; lynx, 531; marten, 1,904; mink, 2,144; muskrat, 188,472; black muskrat, 12,063; opossum, 9,836; otter, 1,067; raccoon, 8,351; Russian sable, 2,591; skunk, 8,270; weasel, 19,210; wolf, 832; wolverine 111. New York is an important fur center. St. Paul and Minneapolis receive the bulk of the skins taken by trappers throughout the Northwest. These cities are also a large manufacturing center. We send between $4,000,000 and $5,000,000 worth of furs abroad annually and import about twice as much. The prevailing prices paid North American trappers during the winter of 1909-10 were about as follows. Prices vary, of course, according to size, season, and quality. Black bear . . . . . $10.00 to $15.00 Badger . . . . . .50 to 2.00 Wildcats . . . . . 1.50 to 4.00 Red fox . . . . . 3.50 to 8.00 Lynx . . . . . 12.00 to 20.00 American marten (Hudson Bay sable) . . . . . 4.00 to 25.00 Mink . . . . . 1.50 to 8.00 Muskrat . . . . ..15 to .30 Raccoon . . . . ..75 to 1.75 Skunk . . . . ..50 to 2.00 Beaver . . . . . 1.50 to 8.00 Otter . . . . . 10.00 to 25.00 The preparation of furs from the time the pelt leaves the animal's back until it is ready to be made into garments involves many interesting processes. With the exception of the furs of the Persian lamb, the astrakhan, and the lynx, in the dressing of which Leipsic excels, and of the seal, in which London holds supremacy, the United States leads the world in the tanning and dressing of fur. As sent in by the trapper the skins are "raw" and stiff. They are first softened, then "tubbed," which means left in salt and water over night. They are wrung out of this bath and handed over to the "flesher." The flesher sits astride a narrow bench, in the end of which knives are set in such a position that the worker may remove by their aid any bits of flesh or fat clinging to the pelt. George S. Cole in his Encyclopedia of Dry Goods describes the next process to which the skins are subjected: "From the flesher the skins go through an oiling process, in which pure creamery butter is liberally slapped on the pelt. In this condition they are placed in heavy oak barrels, which are partly covered with cloth. In these barrels, half-naked men stand waist deep, and tread the skins day after day. With their bare feet they work the butter into the fur; and the heat which emanates from their bodies forms a most important item in the curing of the skins. The effect of the heat and butter is to render the skins soft, supple, and glossy. Only a few pelts, from ten to fifteen, according to size, are trodden on at one time. "When the butter has been worked in thoroughly the skins are removed to a drying-room and spread out upon the floor. At the proper stage of dryness they are taken to the sawdust-room. This sawdust in reality is pulverized wood, of about the fineness of sugar. Sometimes it is of mahogany, and again of rosewood. For different sorts of fur different dusts are used; wood dust for the darker furs, and flour and marble dust for ermine. As only ten per cent of the butter is actually absorbed by the pelt, the rest clinging to the fur, the dust has to be worked very thoroughly into the greasy fiber in order to cleanse it. This is accomplished usually by placing a dozen or so skins together with a copious supply of wood dust in a big revolving drum, heated by means of steam to about blood heat. The furs and dust are revolved rapidly until sufficient dust has been taken up, when they are removed and deftly shaken. As the butter adheres to the dust, the former is thus gotten rid of. The skins are next beaten gently and then given over to the comber. He brushes up their silky coats and trims them into a symmetrical shape, when, after being dyed, they are ready for making into garments." The long outer hairs are plucked or left on, according to the use to which the fur is to be put. The dyeing must be done with care, lest the dye reach the skin in sufficient quantity to lessen its durability. It is the successful dyeing of fur which has made it possible to prepare low grade furs to imitate fine and costly articles. At the present time in Paris and London a large industry is carried on in the transformation of rabbit skins into imitation furs. Millions of rabbit skins are dressed and treated yearly, and are sent over the world as seal, Siberian squirrel, beaver, marten, mink, and many other furs. See articles on HUDSON BAY COMPANY and the various fur-bearing animals.