1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



87 



same food as a cow. To get them fat, and to 

 make them grow well, they have to be fed a 

 little grain of some kind. To do their very 

 best the breeding stock ought to have green 

 feed twice a day, and a little grain once a day. 

 The reader will thus see that rabbits require 

 more care than chickens. Their feed does not 

 cost quite so much, but they lay no eggs, nei- 

 ther is their manure valuable. 



Some of the people concerned in promoting 

 the industry make a great ado about the ex- 

 traordinary fecundity of the rabbit ; but this 

 is not so important as it appears to the unob- 

 servant. A doe rabbit can just manage to pro- 

 duce 40 young in a year ; but a hen will lay 

 160 eggs in a year just as easily — a proportion 

 of four to one in favor of the hen. Both rab- 

 bits and hens breed at the same age — five 

 months or thereabouts. 



I have always understood that the Belgian- 

 rabbit raisers were mostly market-gardeners 

 and the like who feed their stock on weeds 

 and refuse vegetables very largely, and I have 

 no doubt, they find it profitable in this way ; 

 but if a raiser has to buy feed for his rabbits I 

 am afraid he would not make money at it. I 

 suspect, also, that Americans require educa- 

 tion in acquiring a taste for rabbit flesh. 



Some time ago there was an account of the 

 Belgian-rabbit \.raAQ.'\n\.\i^Jour?ial of the Brit- 

 ish Board of Agriculture that throws some 

 light on the subject. It states : 



The annual shipment of rabbit carcases to 

 England is 2,200,000, of the total value of 

 $1,117,000. The average weight of the Bel- 

 gi in rabbit is given as varying from 6 to 8 lbs., 

 which just agrees with my own experience. 

 Of course, they can be got much larger. For 

 market purposes they are killed at 4 or 5 

 months, when the average weight is 3>^ lbs. 

 " The labbits thus bred are kept in cages or 

 boxes. When in cages, they are placed im- 

 mediately on the ground ; ashes are usually 

 scattered on the spot covered, then a layer of 

 loose stones is placed on the ashes, and finally 

 the stones are covered with straw. This meth- 

 od keeps the cage in a sanitary condition, and 

 is excellent for fattening rabbits for the mar- 

 ket." 



All I can add to this is amen ! It agrees 

 with my views exactly, and the rabbits I have 

 now are kept on this plan, though I never 

 knew that it was a Belgian plan. My experi- 

 ence is that pure-bred rabbits are hard to breed. 

 I mean they have few young in a litter, and 

 they are apt to die in the most unexpected 

 manner, and this experience tallies with that 

 of others. 



For all practical purposes I think a cross of 

 the lop eared kind with the Belgians would be 

 most profitable for market purposes. But if 

 any of your readers are actually thinking of 

 going in for the new business in a scientific 

 and professional manner, I would advise them 

 to get the best book which I believe has been 

 printed ou the subject, and which looks at it 

 from a doUar-andcents point of view. This 

 is the title of the book : 



"The Wild Rabbit in a New Aspect; or, 

 Rabbit-warrens that pay. A record of recent 

 experiments conducted on the estate of the 



Right Honorable the Earl of Wharncliffe, at 

 Wortley Hall. By James Simpson." 



The author received a gold medal for his 

 experiments in this field. The price of the 

 book is $1.2o, and the publishers are Wm. 

 Blackwood & Son, Edinburgh, Scotland. 



The other books that I have seen on the sub- 

 ject are fanciers' books, not studying the rab- 

 bit for profit. From what I know of the busi- 

 ness I am safe in saying it will not suit bee- 

 keepers. The two pursuits of bees and rabbits 

 would hardly dovetail, the latter requiring so 

 much of the bee keeper's time as to keep him 

 from his legitimate sphere — the apiary. The 

 rabbit business is more of a craze than a busi- 

 ness, and it will be some time before it be- 

 comes a real business. I incline to the view 

 that what bee-keepers want is a greater culti- 

 vation of field crops that yield good honey in 

 large quantity. I mean such crops as alfalfa 

 and buckwheat. I can mention three other 

 crops that are as great and important as the 

 two just mentioned — sainfoin, field beans, and 

 rape. These are great crops in every sense of 

 the word, and by and by will occupy a large 

 space in American farming ; and it is the duty 

 of bee-keepers and bee-papers to boom them. 

 If the average bee-keeper would read up on 

 these crops I am sure he will agree with me 

 that, when these crops become the fashion, 

 bee-keeping will yield a much more certain 

 income than it does now. I believe the bee- 

 papers could do much to boom these crops 

 into popularity. They need only a little per- 

 sistent booming to get them started. It is 

 honey- flowers the American bee-keeper lacks. 

 He should try to encourage floral crops among 

 his neighbor farmers. Skill and bees will do 

 the rest, and he has these now. 



Warwick East, Bermuda, Nov. 7. 



ARTIFICIAL BRUSHED SWARMS. 



Objection to Artificial Swarming Before the Nat- 

 ural Swarming Impulse Comes on. 



BY C. DAVENPORT. 



I read Mr. Stachelhausen's article, page 840, 

 with much interest, as I have largely practiced 

 artificial swarming for a number cf years. 

 Our experience does not coincide in all re- 

 spects; but we are a long way apart, and the 

 difference in our locality probably accounts 

 for much of it. As I understand it, his prac- 

 tice is to swarm colonies at the beginning of 

 the main flow, if they are strong enough, with- 

 out regard to whether they have started queen- 

 cells or not. It is far from my intention to 

 criticise any thing Mr. S. says ; but here I do 

 not consider it profitable to swarm colonies 

 before they contract the swarming fever, no 

 matter how strong they are, especially when 

 running for comb honey ; for with a large 

 yard, or on a range well stocked, a good many 

 strong colonies will not swarm naturally; and 

 such colonies will store more surplus than 

 they would if artificially swarmed, except, 

 possibly, if the flow were very short, and they 

 were hived in a shallow brood chamber, and 

 given supers of drawn or partly drawn comb. 



