"He Says:

'Civilization destroys wild animals, we all know.

An eager trade destroys them, too. The moment they become either valuable to man, or disagreeable to man, they cease to live.' This sounds very like Dr. Johnson, without Dr. Johnson: for any farmer, trapper, or trader knows, that as the United States territory becomes settled, furred animals increase, because the refuse of civilization - the hen-roosts, the corn-fields, &c. - feed, directly and indirectly, the smaller animals, such as musquash, minks, foxes, racoons, opossums, skunks, and others; but the larger animals, such as buffaloes, bears, wolves, deer, elk, and others, would suffer from civilization were it not that they retire to the deserts, of which there will be enough for hundreds of years. Germany (it is said) produces more red-foxes than all America; and wolves are plentiful in France. As to an 'eager trade,' or excessive hunting, destroying wild animals, it is impossible. If the 'catch' is excessive this year, the supply will exceed the demand, and prices will fall; the hunt will be less eager next year, and the animals will increase. In the March sales in London this year, there were only 3,094 skunks, and the demand was greater than the supply, so that the price was as high as 7s. 2d., which stimulated the United States collectors so much that very likely C. M. Lampson & Co. will have about 100,000 in their September sale, and prices will very likely fall to 1s., or lower. The result will be, that the skunks will live in peace, and increase and multiply for some years to come. The skunk is the most 'disagreeable' of animals to man; but it is not, therefore, destroyed. I have a catalogue (Row, Row, Goad & Reece, brokers) of a fur sale (by the candle) at the London Commercial Sale Room, Mincing Lane, on the 21st and 22nd March, 1821, which I compare below with catalogues of fur sales in London on 27th and 28th January, and 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th, and 11th March, 1863. I include January, because musquash and beaver are sold in that month. This statement does not embrace many other, but lesser, sales, which take place about the same time. A vast quantity goes direct from here to Germany, which, in past years, went to London.

1821 1863 - - - -

300 Musquash 1,289,773 6,380 Bears 3,962 None Beaver 95,557 8,290 Otter 12,933 3,280 Fisher 5,485 108,850 Martens 66,827 10,340 Minks 25,989 8,190 Foxes 28,369 2,500 Wolves 3,322 370 Wolverines 918 57,100 Racoons 204,888 None Skunks 3,094 None Opossums 560 None Badgers 1,370 23,000 Rabbits 46,151 5,631 Lynx 4,276 2,285 Cats 100

"Do the above data of forty-two years prove his assertion, that 'the fur trade, by which old profits were made, is a peculiar trade, tending to disappear' or do they prove the reverse?

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