The Rabbit in the Garden Economy 139 



— especially in the United States, though France and 

 Japan have developed certain kinds of fur-bearing rab- 

 bits for which there is a large and steady demand at 

 fairly remunerative prices. 



In some parts of the United States rabbit meat can 

 be produced all the way from six to fifteen cents per 

 pound, and sold at twenty to forty cents a pound at 

 different seasons. While this does not return much 

 profit to the producer, unless he is operating on a very 

 large scale, it does enable him to make money from 

 the sale of the furs, since this is clear gain, if he can 

 produce a fur which commands a good price. There 

 is a kind of long-haired white rabbit producing fur that 

 the layman could hardly distinguish from the white fox 

 so commonly worn by young women. There is another 

 that closely approximates the expensive silver fox. The 

 beautiful short-haired Himalaya rabbit, when bred up 

 to fur-bearing capacity, as has been done, makes a 

 pretty good ermine, and when dyed passes for seal, 

 though frankly called "near seal." I was once asked 

 to indicate which of two cloaks was priced at $800, and 

 which at $80, as they hung side by side. I picked out 

 the wrong one. It was rabbit fur ! 



Some of the finest samples, representing a dozen 

 varieties of fur-bearing rabbits, obtained by selective 

 breeding, were submitted to large manufacturers in New 

 York and Chicago, who made a thorough examination 

 of their quality from every practical point of view. The 

 verdict was that a great market, at prices ranging from 

 fifty cents to three dollars per skin, awaited such prod- 

 ucts, provided that they could be made permanently 

 available upon a large scale. This is a condition which 



