48 



solution pickle, in a tub, 80 lbs. of oats, or 120 of wheat or rje. 

 Stir well until all is wet, let stand until next clay when it will 

 be read V for use. Lay it in trains, or broadcast it wherever 

 the rabbits feed — it' in trains not too thick — 2 bushels will 

 reach nearly two miles if properly laid. 



As to the success I have met with, I can only say that I 

 have killed many thousands ; my men have collected some 

 thousands of skins for which I pay them, as an inducement 

 to them to lay the poison properly. I give them the use 

 of all the sheds to dry the skins, which is done by hanging 

 them on nails just as they come off the rabbits (inside out) ; 

 but it is impossible to say the numbers that are destroyed, 

 as in scrubby places I do not think more than half are found. 

 Where it is a marsh that rabbits frequent, and it can be 

 cleared of sheep, so that the grain can be spread thick, many 

 hundreds can be killed in one night ; but it is often the case 

 that the first evening it is laid it is not eaten— I think from 

 some smell about it they do not like, which goes off by ex- 

 posure. 



I think that late in the summer will be a very good time to 

 work on them, as they leave the dry hills for any marshy 

 ground, and can then be got at easily. I killed a great 

 many with acorns, cracked and mixed with this solution, and 

 believe that in the dry weather leaves (such as elm leaves) 

 soaked in it and spread would kill numbers. 



I never knew the rabbits before this season eat the ferns 

 and wattle bark. I also notice that where they bark the 

 wattles they are generally very poor. This, of course, may 

 arise from shortness of feed, but if you pass on half-a-mile, to 

 where there are few wattles, the rabbits are as fat as pigs. 

 I have weighed them upwards of four pounds, when skinned 

 and dressed. The leaf of the fern they leave, and eat only the 

 stem ; the same with dead thistles, they eat all the stem and 

 leave the old leaves. 



