204 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



another thing to be takeh into considera- 

 tion, and that is the factory. To make 

 sugar beet growing profitable to the farmer 

 there must be a factory in his vicinity 

 where he may haul his product. And the 

 site for the factoy must combine the ad- 

 vantages of cheap fuel, limestone of unus- 

 ual purity and an abundant supply of pure 

 water. A factory plant of first-class, up-to- 

 date style costs about $300,000 and the 

 buildings $100,000, so that to establish a 

 factory requires an outlay of money that 

 is a serious drawback in many cases. 



THE JACK RABBIT. 



The Jack rabbit is a small, fleeted-footed 

 animal found on the plains, in the moun- 

 tains and throughout the valleys of the 

 west. These pests to the farmers are rel- 

 ished by the Indians as most excellent 

 meat. They are much larger than tht 

 brush rabbits of the east, and are more 

 swift in escaping from the dogs. When 

 frightened they will run for several miles 

 before making a halt. Their power of en- 

 durance is greater than any animal on the 

 plains and they will live many miles from 

 water or vegetation In the Indian Jar- 

 gon they are known as Kwit-shad-ie be- 

 cause of quick jumping and the distance 

 they will travel when alarmed. 



In some sections of Utah and Arizona 

 the rabbits destroy all crops. Farmers are 

 compelled to guard their trees and plants 

 day and night to prevent the rabbits from 

 eating everything. On the great desert 

 lying in Nevada and Utah, they travel in 

 droves of thousands. A colony of Kana- 

 kas from the Pacific islands settled upon 

 the desert along a stream, in western Utah 

 a few years ago. The Jack Kabbits sur- 

 rounded them and devoured every particle 

 of vegetation which came to the surface. 

 Clubs, stones and guns were used in de- 

 fense of the crops, but the rabbits con- 

 quered and kept the fields as bare as the 

 sandy plain. 



A rabbit fence designed by one of the 

 Maorites, can be seen in the districts in- 



fested by rabbits. It consists of willow 

 poles driven in the ground and smaller 

 links woven between. When a man offers 

 his farm for sale, one of the best recom- 

 mendations is that it is surrounded by a 

 rabbit proof fence One method of slay- 

 ing the pests is to drive them into a pas- 

 ture which is usually surrounded by a pole 

 fence, and then corner them against the 

 willow barricade. 1 hey will run towards 

 the water if jumped up late in the after- 

 noon. A dozen or more men armed with 

 breech loading double barrelled shot guns, 

 drive the pests into the trap and shoot as 

 long as a live one is in sight. As many as 

 one thousand have been killed by a few 

 men in one drive. 



A Jack rabbit has very long legs and 

 leaps high in the air, hence can travel even 

 though the snow is pretty deep. W T hen 

 two feet of snow is upon the ground, hunt- 

 ers and farmers travel round through the 

 sage brush and grease wood and kill many 

 of their enemies with clubs. Habbit drives 

 are common pastimes among the young 

 men during the winter months. A crowd 

 of probably two dozen will select two cap- 

 tains, and they in turn will choose men 

 from the best. The two parties will start 

 in, at a certain point, armed with shot 

 guns, and hunt through the brush. A 

 team follows each company and collects 

 the rabbits killed. The party bringing in 

 the fewest rabbits must pay for an oyster 

 supper for both crowds, including their 

 ladies. In these hunts some good marks- 

 men kill over 100 rabbits a day. 



Various schemes have been worked In 

 communities where rabbits are not so num- 

 erous, to prevent the destruction of fruit 

 trees. A paint made of tar, tobacco, wood 

 ashes and turpentine is sometimes covered 

 over the trunks of small trees to a height 

 of about three feet. This keeps the rab- 

 bits away. Old gunny sacks wrapped 

 round the trees prevent the rabbits from 

 gnawing but give the protection to mice 

 which are almost as bad. Screens are 

 made of wire, paste board or other sub- 

 stance, and bent round the trees. Some 



