State

This is J. W. liar bison, at Pinehurst. who probably operates the most southernmost chinchilla farm in this country. If you don't know what a chinchilla is. go down and try to buy a coat made of this fur. At left arc baby cages where young chinchillas are placed at the age of 60 days to male at six months. Itancher linrhison examines indi¬ viduals' and pairs’ daily records on cards attached to the cages. Grow Your Own Chinchilla J. W. Iliirhison is doing exactly that down til Piiielnir.sl, so if lie can do it. there's no reason why you shouldn't he n hie to «lo (lie same thing — maybe. By Kil l. SII A К PR*: over cakes of ice, but lost a valuable animal just the same. Now he has installed a suction fan arrange¬ ment which changes the air every two minutes, and his broqd has increased steadily in what possibly is the southernmost chinchilla ranch in this country. The original seven pair have increased to twenty-one, and a pair is some¬ times worth a school superin¬ tendent’s salary in this day. That is why there probably is not a human baby in this section given more watchful and tender core than those born in the garage lean- to. Chinchillas weigh 20 to 26 ounces, and it is easy to see why women have such a passion for their pelts. Handling one of them is somewhat like handling a warm, live ghost . . . the sheeny fur is so soft the sensation of feeling leaves by the time the brain gets the transcribed message. Each root hair in chinchilla fur grows a tuft of 100 or more inch-and-a-quarter hairs, and a coat of the stuff is almost light as silk. The little beasts are omnivorous eaters and take all kinds of food, from popular poultry feed to hay, vegetables, and prunes for laxa¬ tives. even as you and I. Every day they are rolled in a fullers’ clay, to keep their fur in condition. No one knows where a captive chinchilla goes if he escapes. The only one Rancher Harbison had escape was found next morning, greatly peeved and scrambling on the outside of his cage trying to get back in. But just to be sure, and to label the pelts, both ears are tattooed with identifying marks. If, amongst your household ro- PINEHUKST.- The next time the wife in one of her mad moments says "Gee. I’d like to have a chinchilla coat,” don’t snort impatiently. Go ahead and raise one for the old gal. That's what J. W. Harbison did. except he grew fond of his chin¬ chillas and won't slaughter them for their downy pelts, and so it seems unlikely that Mrs. Harbison, who helps him run a chinchilla ranch here as a hobby, will ever get a home-grown coat. But for those who are more brutal about this fur coat business, here’s how you do it : You just buy a first-class pair of chinchillas for something like $800 i they sell for twice that much, too), and since chinchillas are fond of each other, the first thing you know you’ll have four chinchillas instead of two. This happens about twice a year, so if you wait long enough, and if the young don’t die on you ( which they frequently will), you'll get 300 pelts, and that makes a three-quarter length coat, price $12.000 up. Mr. Harbison. who is superin¬ tendent of Pinehurst schools, fell in love with his little animals, however, which is quite easy to do, and probably will sell the progeny to breeders. Even a visi¬ tor not attached to the critters hesitates to call them rodents, which they indubitably are. Natives of the high Andes, chin¬ chillas do not readily take to the warm climate of Pinehurst. Harbi¬ son tragically discovered this when he started his ranch in a lean-to against his garage. The first sum¬ mer he installed fans which blew 6 THE STATE. March 29. 1947