46 



BABBITS. 



The followiii<^ paper on the rabbit nuisance, sent to the 

 secretary by Mr. John Bisdee, of Hutton Park, was read at 

 the August meeting of the Society:— 



The destruction of rabbits is now, I believe, generally 

 admitted to have become absolutely necessary, and from my 

 own experience I have no hesitation in saying that had not 

 some means been found of destroying them, one more year — 

 increasing at the rate they have been — would have ruined 

 every agricultural form near where rabbits were numerous, 

 and stock of all kinds must have starved. I have therefore 

 much pleasure in giving any information that will assist 

 fellow-sufferers in getting rid of one of the worst evils the 

 landholder ever had to contend with. 



I may first of all state that I have given my plan to several 

 who have applied to me, and have been surprised to hear that 

 on trial they cannot get the rabbits to take grain, and that 

 when they do appear to have eaten it, it has not killed. My 

 opinion is that rabbits will always take grain, and that if they 

 do not, it is the fault of the person who mixes it — at all events 

 I have never found them refuse it poisoned with strychnine 

 except once, when the strychnine was dissolved in a copper 

 I had mixed lime and sulphur in, and a coating of the sulphur 

 had remained on the sides. To the second objection, that if 

 they do eat the grain that it does not kill, this may arise 

 from many causes, and I can assure anyone who has to con- 

 tend with rabbits, that he must not expect to be able to destroy 

 them without many difficulties and disappointments that his 

 own brains must help him to get over. If I were to describe 

 all the experiments I have had to make with strychnine, 

 arsenic, and other poisons, as well as other ways to destroy 

 these vermin, I should fill more paper than you would care 

 about reading. But that rabbits can be destroyed I think 

 would be evident to anyone who had seen them on parts of 

 this estate in May last, and who would take the trouble to ride 

 over it now. The expense of strychnine is, no doubt, a draw- 

 back, but until some way of getting them to take a cheaper 

 poison is found, there is no alternative. I have killed num- 

 bers with arsenic, but should never have cleared parts of this 

 property as L have done if I had not gone back to strych- 

 nine, and I believe that if properly dried the skins will pay 

 for the strychnine. 



I commenced by dissolving loz. strychnine in 1^ gallons 

 boiling water, with five teaspoonsful of muriatic acid ; with 

 this solution I pickled four bushels of wheat crushed. This 



