THE WARREN 73 



sheep.' The question is : Do rabbits in hutches which 

 are frequently moved, injure or benefit pasture ? The 

 answer to this is supplied by a writer in TJie Field of 

 January 11, 1896, who remarks: — 'I have had 300 

 rabbits in hutches on a pasture in front of my house, 

 and the hutches were moved twice a week. The 

 effect on the pasture was simply marvellous — quite 

 equal to the effect of sheep. The manure from fixed 

 hutches was sold to farmers at seven shillings for a 

 small cartload, and the demand was far in excess of 

 the supply.' 



As to the profit to be made out of rabbit-farm- 

 ing, that must depend upon various circumstances — 

 acreage, and proportionate cost of fencing, rent, and 

 keepers' wages, cost of winter feeding (old hay, 

 swedes, Indian corn, &c.), cost of dressing with gas- 

 lime and salt where the impoverished herbage re- 

 quires it (see p. 47), and so forth. 



The result obtained by Mr. Simpson, in Yorkshire, 

 seems to have been very different from that obtained 

 by Mr. Elwes, in Gloucestershire, where, if we are not 

 mistaken, the rabbit land is poor pasture on the 

 oolite limestone, and not worth more than ^^s. per acre, 

 pastured, moreover, with sheep to its fullest capacity. 

 Mr. Elwes is no believer in the profits supposed to 

 be made out of rabbit warrens, or in the possibility 



