£4i IMPROVEMENTS IN CANADA. 



try should go able, but most likely to succeed; especially where only a 

 together. trifle of property of the individuals or of the public is wanted 



to set the bountifu hand of Nature to work in a country 

 where animal subsistence and a suitable climate call for the 

 industrious husbandman, who may in various ways be use- 

 ful to himself and his country. 

 Warren rabbit. In my travels through America, I have often been sur- 

 prised, that no attempt has been made to introduce, for the 

 purpose ©f propagation, that useful little animal, the warren 

 rabbit, of such vast importance to the hat manufactory of 

 Its fur essential England. It is chiefly owing to the fur of this animal, that 

 to good hats. t ^ e English hats are so much esteemed abroad. It is a fact 

 well known amongst the hatters, that a hat composed of 

 one half of rabbit wool, one sixth old coat beaver, one sixth 

 pelt beaver, and one sixth Vigonia wool, will wear far pre- 

 ferable to one made of all beaver, as it will keep its shape 

 better, feel more firm, and wear bright and black much 

 longer. 

 Importance of The value of the rabbit wool, the produce of the United 

 «ountr ^ UllS Kingdom only, is not less, I will venture to say, than 

 .£250000 per annum ; but the quantity is much diminished, 

 owing to the banishment and persecution they meet with 

 on every side, and so many small warrens taken in for grain 

 land; in consequence of which it is time, that some protec-r 

 tion should be afforded, if possible, to that important branch 

 of British manufactory (in which rabbit wool is used) from, 

 suffering any inconvenience in the want of so essential an 

 article, and the accomplishment of this grand object I con-» 

 ceive perfectly easy. 

 The warren General Observations. — When I speak of the warren rab- 



rabbit only of ^j^ j h ave to observe, that there are in England, as well as 

 most parts of Europe, three other kinds, viz. the tame rab- 

 bit, of various colours, the fur of which is of little value, 

 except the white; the shock rabbit, which has a long shaggy 

 fur of little value; the bush rabbit, like those of America, 

 which commonly sits as a hare, and the fur of each is of a 

 rotten iuferior quality. 

 Two sorts. To return to the warren rabbit. — There are two sorts in 



respect to colour, that is, the common gray, and the silver 

 gray, but little pr no difference in respect to the strength 



an4 



