HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1952-01-17, Page 3Something bout That
MinkCat of ours...
!'hc anneal think catch is some-
whet'e around 3.5 or 4 million,
Alaeut 10 per cent of thesis normai-
ly •conte from Russia; a few thou-
sand skins are imported front
Scandinavia, and all the rest are
trapped or raised in the United
States (especially in the Great
Lakes arcai, Alaska and Canada,
The total value of their pelts is
about $80 million a year—as touch
as or more titan the value of all
other furs in the annual catch.
During the last couple of decades,
women's interest in furs has conte
to rest so passionately and so
single-mindedly on the pelt of the
Mustela vison that other furs leave
theist literally cold.
The popularity of think isn't hard
to understand, It has a good many
things in its favor, including its
striking (hater and soft texture, its
durability and its pliability, which
makes for easy, slender -lined des
sign.
It also has female psychology, or
snobbery, on its side, Costing from
$2,000 all the way up to $40,000
for a coat, and $500 to several
thousand fora stole, cape or jacket,
mink is traditionally associated
with class, wealth and luxury —
things which women like to be as-
sociated with, themselves. In the
last ten years or so there has been
a lot of money around to buy
think with, but in the case of most
people not quite enough, Perhaps
twelve to fifteen thousand new
mink coats conte into the market
every year, along with fifteen to
twenty thousand new jackets, capes
and stoles, Since a mink lasts a
good five years, there must be
around 150,000 mink garments in
circulation at any given time. That
takes care of practically every
America woman who can possibly
pay for mink, but only a fraction
of those who want it writes John
Sharnik in The New York Times,
Minks are of two general types,
both expensive, The wild mink,
which nests in burrows along the
banks of streams and feeds on
worms, crayfish, birds and other
animals—some considerably larger
than itself—is a rich, dark brown
in color, with some white on its
jaws and underbelly. The ranch
mink, whose diet consists of such
relatively . effete dishes as chicken
heads, 'chopped horsemeat and vi-
tamin -enriched cereals, is bred
both in the standard brown and in
a wide range of color mutations.
The catalogue of mutation mink
colors comprises a whole strange
vocabulary in itself. It runs from
Starlight (which means almost
black) through Aleutian (blue) and
Breath of Spring (tan) to White
(white).
. In comparison with the price of
other animals, the value of a mink
pelt in any of these colors is
enough to make a customer's
ruardfur stand on end. A Persian
arab, which rates as a pretty good
them iu stock, feed and equipment
—pens. fences and so on—it takes
a good deal of educated labor to
bred healthy minks of the desired
colors. One man can take care of
about 40() 110115, but it takes at
least a couple of thousand animals
to make a going business. Mute.
Hous are developed only after
painstaking studies of mink gene-
tics and at the expense of experi-
mentation that nay involve sub-
stantial ,losses of animals before
the breed is perfected.
When they get to be a year old
and ripe for the wearing, minks are
done in, usually in a gas chamber,
which causes them no pain and
leaves tl e pelts unscarreci. Then
they are skinned and the skins
salted, later to be dressed (that is,
cured and softened) and cleaned
(by sawdust in a revolving drum).
Either raw or dressed, the pelts
go to the auction market, where
they are sold in thatched bundles
of enough skins for a coat, a jacket
or two or three stoles. Each bun-
dle is 60 per cent male ekius—
relatively large and toughg, to be
used for the body of the coat—and
40 per cent female—smaller and
more fragile, to be used for collars,
cuffs and trite,
All but a small percentage of
the mink coats produced in the
United States are manufactured in
the New York fur district, a kind
of brick -walled, glass -fronted jun-
gle in Manhattan's West Twenties
and Thirties. The process is a la-
borious and costly one. Unlike
other animal skins, which are
merely sewn together according to
the pattern of the coat, mink is
"let out."
That is, each pelt of about 6
by 24 inches is cut diagonally into
dozens of strips only a couple of
incites long and a fraction of an
inch wide, and these are sewn to-
gether into pieces a couple of
inches wide and as long as the fin-
ished garment --anywhere from 46
to 50 inches in the case of a coat;
and finally the long pieces are
sewn together according to the
pattern and nailed to a large hoard
to set.
It has to be done this way be-
cause the hairs on the original'
pelt thoughtlessly vary — from
snout to tail and grutzen (or back)
to belly—in sparseness, in thick.
ness and in color. But even more
importantly, it is because the whole
pelt is so short—in other words,
because there just isn't enough
mink on a mink, 'Without letting
out, a mink coat would look rel-
atively splotchy.
In the case of another fur -bear-
ing anirral—say a beaver, which is
comparatively huge, tough -skinned
and low-valued—such a process
would be neither necessary, easily
performed nor worth while., But
in the case of tite mink, it is highly
rewarding, alike to the pelt. the
,dditiou to most ts ems u s ward•
olaes, Is worth something between
62 and $20, and it takes hist
twenty-four to thirty skins for a
.oat. A beaver is worth about $20
to $45, and thirteen of there equal
oto coat A red fox, which used
o bring a price of about $30 when
it was m fashion, is worth Inst
about 25 cents today, and is gen-
erally caught for the sake of
chickens rather than Wohteh.
On the other hand, stink ---tak-
ing anywhere from sixty-five to e
hundred skins per coat --costs be-
tween $6 and $60 per pelt; some
run as high as $80 or $100, and
Sapphire mutation pe 1 t s have
brought as touch as 5380,
The high cost of stink starts
back on the ranch. TIie mink is 4
fairly prolific little beast and a
rather hardy one. It produces a
litter of about five or six once a
year, along about April of May,
and, apart from the risks of being
frightened to death or eaten by a
neurotic mother, each little snitch
las a good chance of surviving the
tear required to grow a pelt 011 it.
Etat in addition to the invests
wearer and the furrier. The letting
out process is what gives a stink
coats its pattern of long, even, lus-
trous striping and its soft, flatter-
ing lines. Since the process con-
5anlee a good $600 or $700 worth of
labor- as aga'nst about $100 for
au average I'crsian lamb coat, for
instance ---it is also the thing that
give the final boost to the 'rice
of a think coat.
Althottgh fur is at least as sus-
ceptible as bats and architecture
to the vagaries of taste and the
cycles of fashion, people in the
fur trade doubt strongly that think
ntigi:t one clay go the way of the
red fox or the monkey pelt. For
one thing, h has the advantage of
act intrinsic high cost of produc-
tion, which keeps it tantalizingly
nett of reach of most women. Sable
and chinchilla, the only furs that
are generally more expensive titan
ninth nowadays, are so only be-
cause they haven't yet been bred
successfully in large numbers on
this continent; but their pelts are
regarded as less lustrous, less
workable and therefore, less flat-
tering to the wearer.
Light -Headed Lady—In his London studio, sculptor Arthur Fleisch-
mann puts the finishing touches to his "Symbol of Light," carved
from the largest block of transparent plastic ever manufactured.
The three -foot -high head will be installed in a new building of a
Dutch electric light bulb company to mark its 60th anniversary.
TiLFA1M F
�•J
A word of cautiun to poultrymen.
was recently issued by .0 noted ex-
pert, who warns that too notch
grain may lower hatchability-.
5 s 4
Most breeder mashes are de-
signed to be fed on a 50-50- basis
with grain. Put when scratch grain
is fed free - choice with a trash
containing 20 per cent protein,
some birds will eat as much- as 70
per cent or more scratch, he says,
Yet many of the vitamins and min-
erals (and most of the protein) re-
quired for the chick embryo to de-
velop and hatch into a vigorotte
chick are in the mash, not in the
scratch feed. This expert recon
mends starting hens on breeder
mash a month before hatching
eggs are saved,
4 4, 4,
Don't add too many shales is
another rale which comes in handy.
with the breeding flock. Experi-
ments indicate that 5 males per
100 hens will produce highly fer-
tile White Leghorn Latching eggs
when the stale birds are placed in
the ' flock two weeks before eggs
are saved. With heavier breed:,
six or seven males are enough.
4: a 4.
Storage is the big questiou as
far as hatchability is concerned,
once the fertile eggs are produced.
Such eggs do not stand up in stor-
age as well as infe rtile eggs and
so you 1. ave to keep a close watch
to see that storage temperatures
keep within the 50 to 60 degree
range and that -relative humidity
stays in the 80 tb 90 per cent
bracket. Also, hatchability- falls off
rapidly when eggs are stored
longer than a week --and you cal
room oft higher chic). mortel,l
4, 4
Turning eggs daily is a touts tut
ttose stored longer than nuc week
—111055 to be set in less than a
week do not require turning at
all. A simple tinning method is to
lean the filled egg cases ata 45-
degrec angle against the storage
room wail and reverse ends of the
case: daily. All eggs, hatching or.
market bound, should be placed in
the case with the small enol clown.
(leap eggs give best haul.
ability, but soiled hatching eggs
may be cleaned by hand bulling
with sandpaper or by washing.
For washing. clean, worm water
should he used—water warmer
than egg temperature. To cut need
for any washing, collect eggs at
least three times daily,
4; '4
Uniform color is desirable do
hatching eggs, just as it is in tear.
Iret eggs. Hatching egge from
\s9dtc Leghorne and other white -
shelled breeds should be 'chalk
white, since the tendency to lay
tinted eggs may be inherited.
4 4 4,
Egg size also is related to hatch-
ability. Experts recommend choos-
ing Latching eggs that are aver-
age size for the flock, avoiding
those that are considerably larger
or smaller.
4 4; 4
SUM milk combined with farm-
growit grains and cod-liver oil
made an efficient ration for laying
hens in experiments at a well
known Agr cultural College. The
ration was satisfactory fur egg
production, fertility and hatch-
ability. It compared well with a
ration made of egg -laying and
breeding stashes and mixed grain.
r 4 4
The milk -grain ration was made
ftp of 50 per cent corn, 25 per cent
wheat, 25 per cent oats to which
400D -200A cod-liver oil had been
added at the rate of nine pounds
per ton of grain—with skint milk
fed free choice, The birds received
nc, water in order to force thein
tu drink a Sufficient 5111011111 of
milk,
4 4= 4'.
When compared with a ration
composed of the same grain mix-
ture without the cod-liver oil, plus
layer -breeder mash fed free choke,
-there was little to choose in results,
4 *
Average production of Single
Conti, \\'hite Leghcrns over aatwo-
year period was 537 per rent on
the ,bilk -grain ration, For the
mash grain ration, the production
was 55.5 per cent. Fertility for the
milk -grain ration was 97.6 per cent
and the hatcltabilitr was. 85.5 pet
cent of all fertile eggs. For the
mast -grain ration, fertility was 90.2
per cent and hatcltabilitr 757 per
cent.
Cru chet Darning
Cr,chct'.ng dss • festinating pas-
time, while laboriously weaving
darning stitches hack and forth is
prosy work to most women; so
0111 not crochet patches into
sweater's. hosiery, or any knitted
article: It takes less time, and the
result is beater than vitt er darning
or patching.
With a large-si,:t steel hook,
hook into the hole along the lung
est edge, using s%ngle crochet
stitch. Into the single crochet.
work double crorl.c•t stitches back -
and fortis, fastening into the edge
of the garment each time. This is
ail eepeciall+ good way to repaii
large holes in sweaters,
New Life For An Old Name,
Libya Has A. Lengthy History
The 1-Llited Kiugtiont of Libya,
formally set us recently, cats a
very reepectal,te cantle out of North
Africa, batt it is only it patch un the
map of the original Libya. Oti the
map of the world according to Her-
odottts, 440 B.C., everything v,•esl
of Egypt (width was considered a
part of Asia) was Libya. Iiut Libya
was by Uo hleaus as large as to-
day's Africa. It was cut off well
north of the Equator by the all -
encircling ocean. It was reported
that a ship had once sailed from
the Arabian Gull (the ked Sea)
through tide (wean and around to
the Pillars of Hercules, Libya then
as now was mostly desert, but in
those days the Nile was thought to
rise far to the west, and to flow
eastward for a thousand miles be-
fore turning north below Thebes.
It was the Libyan counterpart of
Europe's Itanube.
The pante Libya was discarded
by the Romans, who first gave the
name of Africa only to the country.
around Carthage, and Scipio won
his title of Africanus by subduing
only that small part of the great
continent. Africa Proconsularis was
later extended eastward to include
the coast of modern Libya. Diode,.
flan restored the old name when
he was reforming the administra-
tion of the empire and the natne
lingered until the whole of North
Africa was submerged by the Arab
floods of the seventh and eighth
centuries. It was revived by Mus-
solini, who tools it as a convenient.
symbol of the empire he was trying
to build on the weak foundations
left by the Turks and the famous
Barbary pirates.
Libya, by all accounts, is today
a miserably poor country, evenaf-
ter thirty years of Italian pioneer-
ing. It has about milli
g a o t a on people
scattered over an area of nearly
700,000 square miles, The most
the size of 'Texas with one-seventh
of the Texas population, The most
revealing statistic in the table of
its resources is the one that lits
90,000 carpels an only 70,000 cattle.
Vast open spaces where camels can
live but not cattle. Motor trucks are
now taking the place of the camels,
and in time the dates of the oases
and the olives of the seacoast are
expected to improve the lot of the
free and independent Libyans.
In the days of Herodotus, when
little was known and much was
hearsay and travelers' tales, Libya
was a far more exciting place than
it is today. Ifere, according to Her-
odutus was the "populous country
of the Nasanones," They used to
bunt wild locusts, dry them in the
sun, grind them up and sprinkle
them on the milk which they drank.
Next to them were the Psylli, who
marched out into the desert when
their wa.er supply failed and were
all swallowed up in a sand storm.
Near by were the lotus eaters, who
gathered sweet berries which they
ate and made wine of. Then the
Machlyes, who held a yearly festi-
val at which all the maidens of the
tribe were divided into two bands
which fought each o.her with
stones and staves. Further inland,
beyond the haunts of wild beasts,
dwelt more strange people in oases
where fountains o' rt1l swete
water shot up through hillocks of
salt. Here were sten who had no
name, others who saw no dreams
and a tribe whose language sounded
like the squeaking of bats. And so
on to the Atlantes, who shared
their name with the Atlantic sea.
Cyreneci, f.Ihya's eastern vicar -
ince, has a different l,tclig'-:,und..
Greeks from. the island of Titers,
claiming to be rteat'endants of
Jason's Argonaut, cstahli+h,•,-i in
colony at Cyreve, which was flour-
ishing when .ilei,,' taus wrote, It
shared the fate of Egypt whet).the
Persians were everywhere advance.
iug, and later was a part of Alexan-
der"); empire, It passed eventually
to the Romans, but kept its Greek
character until it too Was blotted
out by the westward 11155511 of the
Arab, Remains at C'yreue of a fine
Creek city have already been par-
tially uncovered by English arch-
aeologists. 'There and at I.eptia
Magna, near Tripoli, the new Lib-
yan Government might advance the
cause of world understanding by
encouraging the search among the
sands for Greek and Roman re-
mains, which are known to be con-
siderable, The best hope for the
new kingdom lies in the future,
dimly foreseen by scientists. when
cheap power, perhaps from the sun,
will snake sea water available for
irrigation of the deserts, \Viten
cattle gaze where now only cancels
• can live the future of Libya should
he bright.
No Joy Ride
A New York Times correspon-
dent has found a lot of discontent
among American troops stationed
in France, "Most enlisted services"
he says "are bitter because they do
not have the shiny post exchanges,
bowling alleys, and theatres avail-
able in Germany and a friendlier
reception by the French." He added
that these men are critical also
about the lack of laundries, dry-
cleaning, in
g, shoe repairing facilities
and indoor plumbing.
In commenting on that report
Colliers magazine says something
that will meet with wide approval
in Canada as well as the United
States. "It seems to us that there
may be something wrong with
army training and indoctrination if
peacetime duty in a country as
civilized as France — even if the
plumbing isn't always so good—is
regarded as something correspond-
ing to banishment its Siberia. Those
men have an important job to do.
They are facing a numerically su-
perior farce of tough trained troops
whose leaders hold the world under
constant threat of a general shoot-
ing war. The fire in tate far east
could break out in Europe any day.
And if that should happen there
would be little time for chocolate
soldering or for bowling alleys.
Perhaps then, it would be well if
American officers impressed upon
their men a little more of the ser-
iousness of their assigtunent and
suggest to them that there are prob-
who would gladly change places
ably some men on the line its Korea
with those who are suffering the
hardships and privations of peaceful
life in rural France."
So far there are no Canadian
troops stationed in France but be-
fore this uneasy period in world
history is over we may have them
there and also in less comfortable
places. That being so it would be
well that they know in advance not
only what to expect but what the
country expects of them. Soldiering
in peace or war is serious business
and there is nothing to be gained
by trying to pretend that it is any-
thing else, —Front Financial Post.
HAROLD
ARNETT
AN EGG TIMER ON YOUR TELEPHONE
WILL HELP PREVENT YOUR TALKING OVERTIME ON
LONG• DISTANCE CALLS , THUS SAVING ON YOUR
TELEPHONE BILL.
JITTER
wl�
You Two Musr
LEARN 111 QUIT
) IOttriNG Ott
SETTLE YOUR.
DWF&RE?IC6ffi
BYTNti R
2
By Arthur Pointer