746 Live Stock* Rabbils-~ Proper $fan$gement of- Modes oj taking them* 



(and couple or more a day. One load of hay may be fiifficient for a day in ftorms v 

 In fome diftridls, billets of new cut wood, afh houghs, gorfe, &LC, are diftributed i 

 the bark and other parts of which are confumed, and. the quantity of hay by that, 

 mean greatly diminithcd. There are likewife other expenfes, in clearing away 

 fnow from the fences, to prevent their efcaping, and in the deft roy ing vermin, 

 as well as for night- watch ing. 



The rabbit begins to breed at eight, ten, and twelve months old, and goes about 

 thirty days with young, which arc about twenty-two days more before they, ap 

 pear from the burrows, being fuckled during that time twice a day by the mother ;, 

 of courfe they may breed three or four times in the courfe of the year when very, 

 well fed, as they are known to take the buck again very foon ;* but in incloied 

 warrens they rarely breed more than twice in the year. The annual fale of pro 

 duce is in general eftimated at from three to eight couple per acre, affording a, 

 profit of eight or ten (hillings, or more, under good management.* The pro 

 duce is the greatcft on new land ;t but much in refpedl to profit muft depend 

 upon fituation, as when it is near to large towns, where there is a conftant de 

 mand for the rabbits as food, it muft be greater thin in other cafes. They are in 

 feafon from the beginning of November till the commencement of the enfuing 

 year, during which period the prime fkins are afforded ; therefore the greateft 

 part muft be killed in this fhort interval. There is annually a great lofs. in what 

 are termed balfjkins, quarter Jkins t and racks , fixteen of which are only allowed for 

 as one whole fkin. Rabbits are fold by the hundred, fix fcore couple making the 

 hundred;];. 



They are taken either by means of nets or traps. In the former method the nets, 

 are fet in the form of a fold, between the burrowing places and the feeding 

 grounds, in the night or early in the morning; the rabbits being hunted into them 

 in their return from feeding. 



The traps are conftrucled by forming large pits dug in the way of their moft 

 frequented tracks, and covered by a- fort of folding door, towards the centre of which 

 is a fort of fmall trap door, to which they are led by a narrow track or meufe. The 

 rabbits, being thus taken, are forted according to circumftanccs. 



* Young s Agricultural Survey of .Lincolnshire. f Ibid. 



J The following eftimate of the warren on the eftate at Thorefway, is given by Mr. Young on the 

 authority of Mr. Holdgate, the tenant, who ftates the expenfes of 1700 acres under the filver fort 

 f rabbits, thus : 



