318 THE DOMESTIC RABBET. 



supposed that they were first introduced into our 

 island from Spain. 



THE DOMESTIC RABBET*. 



PERSONS who breed tame Rabbets must be care- 

 ful to keep them at all times very clean ; and, 

 during the breeding season, they must keep the 

 bucks and does apart, till the latter have kindled. 

 The best food for the animals is the shortest and 

 sweetest hay that can be had, of which one load 

 will serve two hundred couple of Rabbets for a 

 year. Tame Rabbets are subject to two diseases, 

 which frequently carry off great numbers. These 

 are the rot, and a sort of madness. The former is 

 the consequence of too much green food, or of 

 such as is gathered with the dew, or rain, hanging 

 in drops upon it. Dry food is considered as the 

 best remedy for this distemper. Their madness., in 

 which they wallow and tumble about, with their 

 heels upwards, is supposed to be owing to the 

 rankness of their feeding; and the general cure 



* For the description of the Domestic Rabbet, see the Synopsis, 

 p. 53, No. 34. 



is 



