EDITORIAL AXO GENERAL 



469 



The Belgian Hare as a Money Maker. 



This is the title under which William 

 J. Bailey of Clyde, Michigan, writes an 

 extended article in "The Inland Poul- 

 try Journal." We quote the gist of the 

 essay : 



"Many boys in the country can make 

 money by raising the hare, as the fol- 

 lowing statement shows : 



"Take fifteen or twenty Belgian docs. 

 with proper hutches for breeding them, 

 will produce, each doe, fifty or more 

 in twelve months. Now, twenty does 

 raising fifty hares each year, makes 

 1,000 in one year. These can be fat- 

 tened to weigh at six months old, six 

 and seven pounds each, and will sell 

 for more than poultry." 



Here follow extended details as to 

 hutches, but not a word as to cost. 

 Then we have the conclusion : 



"It will be seen that a person with a 

 few hundred dollars to get a few acres 

 of land, and to build a house and yards 

 and to purchase breeding stock and 

 feed, can make money fast on a small 

 investment. The wonder is that many 

 more persons are not in the business, 

 for here is a chance to make lots of 

 money." 



From this it is evident that the per- 

 nicious teaching of the easy getting of 

 wealth from the Belgian hare is still 

 exploited. We had supposed that the 

 fallacy had been fully demonstrated 

 and in sorrow, by some who were urged 

 to invest all their savings in this way 

 and who lost nearly, if not quite, all. 



A few Belgian hares, if you really 

 love them, are worth while because 

 they are interesting and some people 

 like to use the superfluous stock for the 

 table. But as money makers in which 

 to invest your "few hundred dollars 



to make lots of money," 



think twice, yes, three times, before — 

 and then, don't do it, for the simple 

 reason that no one except the breeders 

 who successfully "worked" the starters 

 with fancy priced stock ever has done 

 it. 



But Belgian hares, in themselves, as 

 a fancy are really worth while — if you 

 like them, and especially the care of 

 them. 



Nature Study Can Stand Alone. 



The study of nature whether for re- 

 creation or education is not a "pill" 

 that needs a sugar coating, neither is 

 it a weakling that needs the prop of 

 some apparently stronger things. It 

 is strong in itself, it can stand alone, 

 it is not tiring, it is delicious and not 

 nauseating. It is always worth while for 

 itself. 



Of course, there may be the comical 

 hypocrite who seems to need some ex- 

 cuse to console himself in these pur- 

 suits; as, for example, the suburbanite 

 who really, in his limited time at home 

 from the office, wants to get as near 

 to nature as possible by keeping a 

 small flock of chickens in the back 

 yard. Now he doesn't dare to come 

 right out and say, "I love those chick- 

 ens for themselves," for that would 

 seem childish, but he shows his love 

 for them by actions and plays with 

 them in his spare moments as would 

 a child with a toy. But in a "manly" 

 and businesslike way he talks about 

 the pounds of meat and the eggs he 

 has obtained for his family at so great 

 a saving of butchers' bills. He enters 

 into statistics and finance and tells you 

 of the sin of wasting the many scraps 

 that fall from the table. He, of course, 

 would not be so childish as is little Es- 

 telle when she goes over to Julia's 

 house to play dolls and cut papers, and 

 carries her best and most loved dolls 

 and her paper cutting apparatus. No, 

 that would be very, very childish, and 

 he is a big, big man. Instead of that 

 he takes his largest rooster and sleek- 

 est hen and meets several of his chum- 

 my playfellows in the play room of 

 the Madison Square Garden and talks 

 dollars and cents, and cuts and carves 

 to his heart's content and the delight 

 of all the boys there gathered, and 

 sometimes a girl or two, though that 

 really must not be admitted openly be- 

 cause it would be too effeminate. He 

 takes them down there professedly to 

 win some cash, but really and practi- 

 cally right down deep in his heart he 

 is there to play with his beloved tovs. 



The learned professor or the expert 

 mycologist who has made a lifelong 



