VII.] RABBITS. Ill 



to give them the early habit of fondness for animals 

 and of setting a value on them, which, as I have 

 often had to observe before, is a very great thing. A 

 considerable part of all the property of a nation con- 

 sists of animals. Of course a proportionate part of 

 the cares and labours of a people appertain to the 

 breeding and bringing to perfection those animals ; 

 and, if you consult your experience, you will find that 

 a labourer is, generally speaking, of value in propor- 

 tion as he is worthy of being intrusted with the care 

 of animals. The most careless fellow cannot hurt 

 a hedge or ditch ; but to trust him with the team, or 

 thejlock, is another matter. And, mind, for the man to 

 be trust-worthy in this respect, the boy must have been 

 in the habit of being kind and considerate towards 

 animals; and nothing is so likely to give him that ex- 

 cellent habit as his seeing, from his very birth, animals 

 taken great care of, and treated with great kindness 

 by his parents, and now-and-then having a little thing 

 to call his own. 



184. IN this case, too, the chief use, perhaps, is to 

 give children those habits of which I have been just 

 speaking. Nevertheless, rabbits are really profitable. 

 Three does and a buck will give you a rabbit to eat for 

 every three days in the year, which is a much larger 

 quantity of food than any man will get by spending 

 half his time in the pursuit of wild animals, to say 

 nothing of the toil, the tearing of clothes, and the 

 danger of pursuing the latter. 



185. Every-body knows how to knock up a rabbit 

 hutch. The does should not be allowed to have more 

 than seven litters in a year. Six young ones to a doe 

 is all that ought to be kept ; and then they will be 

 fine. Abundant food is the main thing ; and what is 

 there that a rabbit will not eat ? I know of nothing 

 green that they will not eat ; and if hard pushed, they 

 will eat bark, and even wood. The best thing to feed 

 the young ones on when taken from the mother, is 



