The Rabbit in the Garden Economy 185 



anybody ate them. The game was to raise fine breeding 

 stock and dispose of it at fabulous profit to a new group 

 of beginners, all of whom expected to get rich in the 

 same way. So long as everybody was a buyer, and no- 

 body a seller, the business flourished like unto the pro- 

 verbial "green bay tree." But, when conditions were 

 reversed and no one bought, while everybody was trying 

 to sell, the business fell like a house of cards. 



The new movement is wholly different. It aims first 

 to supply the family with delicious and wholesome meat, 

 and then to cater to the limited but growing demand in 

 the public market. Probably this demand is stronger 

 on the Pacific Coast than in the East, since the rabbits 

 are more in evidence there, both in the market and in 

 daily quotations ; yet, one now sees them in Washing- 

 ton, New York and Boston, and dealers say they are 

 gradually gaining in favor. The staple breeds are the 

 Belgian Hare, New Zealand Red, and Flemish Giant; 

 but at a rabbit show one sees a bewildering variety of 

 all colors and sizes some 'of them frankly fancy stock, 

 raised mostly for pleasure yet all perfectly good for 

 eating purposes. 



Rabbit meat is served in every way that chicken is 

 served fried, stewed, or stuffed and baked like a tur- 

 key. The rabbit contains very little fat, and for that 

 reason is one of the most digestible of meats. In later 

 pages we shall deal with the mechanics of the subject, 

 and see something of the best scientific methods of feed- 

 ing and housing, as these have developed during the past 

 few years since the American friends of the rabbit bent 

 their minds seriously to the subject. 



There is no more enthusiastic friend of the rabbit 



