rth than the
northern boundary of the line shown. A severe winter a few years ago, is
said to have frozen large numbers in their dens in Southern Ohio,
Pennsylvania, and parts of West Virginia, Indiana and Illinois.

In their natural or wild state, they often hole up in shallow dens, old
logs, trees, etc., and while they are endowed with the instinct of
"playing 'possum" when injured, their instinct along other lines seems
very shallow, as they do not always know enough to "get in out of the
cold;" in other words, on the approach of severe winter weather, they do
not all seek deep dens where the ground does not freeze.

While the natural home of the opossum is in the section as outlined,
there is no reason why they cannot be successfully raised hundreds of
miles north of their northern limit. The thing to guard against will be
freezing. The raiser must see that they have good and deep burrows--deep
enough that the ground will never freeze to their nest. They should have
plenty of leaves in their nest. If the enclosure is in a thicket, and
there are trees within and leaves near, the animals will no doubt carry
an abundance of leaves into their dens for nests. If there are no trees
in the enclosure, see that a supply is furnished each den before
freezing weather in the Fall.

The opossum is going to become one of the important animals in
fur-farming for various reasons: They are prolific breeders, bringing
forth from 6 to 12 at a litter; grow rapidly; are easily fed and eat a
great variety of food.

[Illustration: Ideal Spot for an Opossum or Raccoon Fur Farm.]

The opossum raiser has two sources of revenue--fur and carcass. There is
a ready market for the carcasses in all cities. The grower should make
arrangements with butchers and others to take so many carcasses on a
certain date. The fur is at its best from about Thanksgiving to the
middle of February. Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years are three
holidays when the fur will be prime and the meat in demand. In cities
like New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburg, Buffalo,
Cleveland, Detroit, Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Chicago,
Milwaukee, Omaha, Des Moines, Kansas City, St. Louis, etc., a market can
be had in each for large quantities at each of these holidays, as well
as considerable quantities each week during the winter months. In the
smaller places, from 5000 up, there will be found a demand for the meat,
so that the market for the carca