278 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



AUC.UST 



1904. 



RABBIT KEEPING IN THE WEST INDIES. 



The following is a further instalment of Mr. Bar- 

 clay's notes on rabbit keeping. The subject of this 

 instalment is the feeding and watering of rabbits :— 



FEEDINO. 



The young rabbits will begin nibbling at green .stutf at 

 three weeks old, although they may not be seen at first, as 

 they come out during the night. They should get as much 

 of this as they can eat and they will soon also eat every 

 plant, root or grain put in. Rabbits should not be fed 

 invariably the same stuff or roots, liut should have a variety — 

 not necessarily two or three diti'erent things at the same 

 meal, but preferably a round of several plants they like for 

 successive feeds. The following are all eaten with relish ; — 

 sweet potato vines, cowitch vines, pea vines, thistle (called 

 in Jamaica 'Rabbit Feeding,' and eaten by rabbits with 

 avidity); Spanish needle (a good laxative when young), all 

 grasses eaten by cattle — but the rabbits only take these 

 generally when none of the foregoing are available — Guinea 

 grass. Para grass, Bahama grass, jjimento grass, rice, corn 

 (maize) and Guinea corn stalks and leaves are all liked when 

 in-een, and so are the young blades of the sugar-cane. The 

 leaves of the bastard cedar trees, wild grape, yam leaves, 

 turnip, carrot, beet (both leaves and roots), cabbage, lettuce, 

 parsley, etc. For roots, sweet potatos are most convenient 

 and may be given raw, or boiled ; also yam boiled, .sweet 

 cassava boiled. Bananas just turning yellow are relished. 

 For grains, oats are best, but as it is not a native 

 product, I find rice, cracked corn, a few peas and 

 Guinea corn all liked. A little i)arched corn, and especially 

 crusts of bread are best of all for the doe in young. 

 I have mentioned that soaked peas are excellent for 

 the suckling doe. 



It should be noted that sweet potato slips should never 

 be given to a doe about to have young or when suckling 

 young. It is current, in Jamaica at any rate, that it dries 

 up the milk ; iuid there may be truth in this. There is 

 generally some foundation for such ideas, although we are 

 apt to say ' Bosh !' 



We have in the West Indies a great variety of foods 

 availalile, and few owners would require to buy any feeding. 

 For the young, growing animals, a variety of such green 

 stuff, as has been mentioned, is good (giving just enough 

 that they clear it off), and it should be given every evening 

 at sundown. Note that wet stuff must vut be fed, and if 

 rains are prevalent the green stufi' should be pulled the day 

 before and put aside under cover to dry. No urt, ^/reeii xtivff 

 fhould eve}' be given. 



It is judicious to have in the hutches or boxes a rack to 

 hold the feeding, otherwise when flung on the floor, half nf it 

 is wasted. A root of sweet potato, a chunk of hard-boiled 

 yam or a crust of bread should accomi)any the green stuff', 

 placed at the bottom of the heap so that they will not eat it 

 first. If in the morning there is some green stuflf repeatedly 

 left uneaten, reduce the feed by the same quantity next 

 evening, trying a little more occasionally to test their 

 appetites. At the morning feed a little porridge and milk, 



made of rolled oats or cornmeal, is best, if this can be afforded, 

 say about a heaped table-siioonful for each young rabbit, 

 increasing to two for a full-grown animal. If not this, about 

 the same quantity of oats, corn (maize) or Guinea corn, 

 a banana, a crust of bread, and a little more green food, will 

 do. The mother doe, as has been stated, should also have 

 a few soaked peas. 



WATEl;. 



If any grain nr dry meal stuff' like cornmeal or rolled 

 oats or oatmeal is fed, then water must be [lut before the 

 rabbits; and the iloe-mother, when about to have j'oung, or 

 after .she has had them and is suckling them, should ahrni/x 

 have water b}^ her. The water should be renewed each 

 morning. Though rabbits, like sheep, in other countries 

 seldom drink, here where the days are hot, and especially 

 w'here the air is dry, rabbits will drink regularly. 



AGRICULTURE IN PORTUGUESE EAST 

 AFRICA. 



The following account of the local industries in 

 Portuguese East Africa is taken from the CoiiNuhir 

 Report on the trade of Beira for 1903: — 



The ex[iorted produce of the district is almost a negli- 

 gible quantitj-. At present, sugar, rubber, and wa.Ti form 

 the most important articles enumerated. The former, 

 manufactured on the Zambesi, is shipped exclusively to 

 Lisbon, where it receives important preferential treatment 

 and a substantial bounty per ton ; but large plantations of 

 cocoa-nut palms are being made at various points on the 

 coast, with a view to ostaljlishing a future export trade in 

 copra, and doubtless when the young plants come into 

 bearing the result will amply fulfil exjiectations. Ground nuts, 

 although very largely and profitabl}' exported from Quilimane 

 and the northern ports of the [irovince, would seem to attract 

 but little attention here, and the same may be said of other 

 important industries which are capable of being established. 



!Much progress has been made during 1903 by the 

 government of the Mozambique Company in an intere.sting 

 experimental garden or plantation which it has estalilished 

 at Govuro in the south <if the territorj', with a view to 

 determining what plants, etc., are best adapted to cultivation 

 in the conditions locally obtaining. 



In addition to what has been done at Govuro, most 

 valuable and interesting ex[ieriments have been made in the 

 cultivation of cotton, for which this district is lielieved to be 

 admirably adapted, and which should prove a source of great 

 profit to local planters. The exiierinients in question were 

 made under the direction of the company's officials, and have 

 had encouraging results. An area of about 4 acres was 

 planted, but, owing to a misunderstaiidhig, only 1,500 plants 

 were raised instead of .5,000, which that extent of land could 

 easily have .sustained. The result returned some 1,300 lb. of 

 cotton, which was forwarded uugiuned to Europe for 

 examination and rejiort. The British, French, and Belgian 

 experts who conducted the examination were unanimous in 

 regarding it as a fine cotton of the ordinary long-staple 

 description, but remarkable for its extraordinary strength. 

 The value placed upon it properly ginned and jiicked was 

 ~\d. to S'/. per It). Naturally, 1,300 It), of cotton to 4 acres 

 of land is not a jiaying proposition ; but the area mentioneil, 

 as will be gleaned from the above figures, is capable of 

 producing more than three times that quantity. Experiments 

 with this valuable commodity are now being made on a much 

 larger scale, and it is believed that cotton cultivation has 

 a great future before it in this large and apparently suitable 

 region. 



