314 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 5 



find an exit and escape ; therefore we would ad- 

 vise that only in chalky, stony, dry, impervious 

 Bubsoils, the trial should be made. 



In any part of the premises deemed most con- 

 venient, a court or a stable-yard lor instance, the 

 Boil must be removed full six feet deep, and three 

 wide ; a foot Irom this opening another must be 

 made of the s inie depth, but four leet wide ; the 

 latter hole is to be bricked all around as well as 

 the floor ; and at the bottom of that part which di- 

 vides it from the other space, an openinir nmst be 

 made, large enough to admit a full-sized rabbit to 

 pass through, thus forming a communication be- 

 tween the two comparfmeiils. Down the party- 

 wall an iron plate or door is to be slided at plea- 

 sure, in two grooves, by a rope from above. Light 

 covers of wood, or of oil-cloth, or tarred sail-clolh, 

 are to be fitted with hinges, on a frame-work of 

 stout wood, and made to'open towards the south, 

 in order to admit all the warmth possible from the 

 sun. Every morning these covers should be prop- 

 ped up with slicks, in which deep notches must be 

 cut, so that the opening may be wide, or narrow, 

 according to the state of the weather, as it is not 

 advisable to allow more moisture to find access to 

 the rabbits that can be avoided. Indeed, we 

 omitted to say, that, while the excavations are be- 

 ing made, a drain ought to be constructed in eacli, 

 over which a small iron-grating should be fixed, 

 and the floors ought to slope towards these exits ; 

 thus dryness, so essential to the health and com- 

 fort of the animals, will be insured. 



The larger of these two excavations, which we 

 have been describing (the bricked compartment,) 

 is the trap — the smaller we will call the warren. 

 In the trap, and only in the trap, the rabbits must 

 be fed. It is self-evident, that the more nearly to 

 a state of nature we approximate the condition of 

 our live-stock, the greater range we may afford 

 them in their diet. Green food must be very spa- 

 ringly administered to all that are confined in 

 hutches, but those which are allowed a roomy 

 space, with the salutary exercise of burrowing, 

 may with safety be indulged with green food at 

 their own discretion— attention being paid to se- 

 lect those esculents which they are known to pre- 

 fer when in a wild state. We incline to think 

 that animals in a state of nature are liable to no 

 disorders, but that we, in consequence of our ig- 

 norance of those wise laws by which they are 

 taught instinctively to vary their diet, and thus 

 preserve their health, infiict diseases upon the un- 

 offending creatures, which we then exercise our 

 /oily, not our rationality, lo remedy : oh, the tor- 

 ture to which ignorant and conceited man subjects 

 his speechless dependents! Rabbits in hutches 

 thrive in spite o/"cabbage-leaves, not by means of 

 that rank succulent unnatural food. Filly genera- 

 tions of these animals have lived and '^passed 

 away, in their wild extensive warrens, without the 

 possibility having occurred of their encountering 

 a cabbage-leaf The mild beautiful herbage, thai 

 evident staple of their lives, as bread is°of our 

 own, varied with the thousand flavors, and health- 

 ful adjuncts which they meet with in the sur- 

 rounding weeds — as we judiciously assist dio-esr 

 tion with different condiments — this natural food 

 grass, is never given to rabbits in hutches, al- 

 though they can obtain little else in the vicinity of 

 their native warrens. 

 We would then strenucuely advise that not any 



of the rank succulent vegetables of the garden 

 be offered to creatures so artificially placed, that 

 the option of choice is no longer in tlieir power. 

 Twice, or even three times a-day, there should 

 be a supply of bran and oats in troughs, let down 

 into the trap by means of a stick liistened to each 

 trough, about lour feet in length. A lew hand- 

 ilils of fresh grass, with its attendant weeds, 

 ought also to be given daily, and the refuse 

 should be taken away every two or three days; 

 this can be managed with ease and expedition by 

 means of a small ladder. It will be obvious that 

 the trap is made deep and wide, in order to admit 

 of easy access for the fiicility of cleanin^^ the 

 place and selecting the rabbits, which is effected 

 in the following manner. As soon as the food is 

 let down, the creatures, fi-om habit, will run 

 through the trap-door into the trap, and when it 

 is judged that they are all collected, the person 

 (keeping out of sight, for they are naturally shy, 

 and would run back into their warren if they 

 were to see any one, or hear a noise) must let 

 down the trap by means of the long rope, and he 

 can then select at his pleasure. 



We think it likely that some of our readers 

 may be inclined to question the utility of the 

 opening to the warren, and may suppose that the 

 trap would be sufTicient ; we assure them it is es- 

 sential, for not only must a space be cleared for 

 them to begin their operation of burrowing at that 

 depth below the surltice, but occasionally it may 

 be requisite to clear away any loose soil which 

 they may have excavated, as well as to secure 

 the manure, which is valuable; besides, the two 

 openings afford a free circulation of air, and more 

 light than could be admitted by the trap only. 



In many districts of this country not a warren 

 or a wild rabbit is to be seen for twentj^, nay, fifty 

 square miles, yet, at all the poulterers' in large 

 towns within those districts, iu77d rabbits so called 

 are always to be obtained. There exists an ima- 

 ginary preference in favor of wild rabbits, and 

 therefore the public is never let into the secret, 

 that they never purchase a wild one, excepting 

 within an available distance from a warren, jill 

 others are bred in hutches, and all warranted wild! 

 This we know to be fact. Independently of the 

 superior health enjoyed by creatures nearly in a 

 state of nature, other contingencies are prevented 

 by the domestic warren system. Rabbits are ex- 

 ceeJingly shy, and those unnatural propensities, 

 the destruction of their young by the fathers, and 

 devouring them by the mothers, which many 

 writers have endeavored to account lor, quite un- 

 satisfactorily, are avoided ; they are, too, proba- 

 bly caused by the officiousness and ignorance of 

 man ; in the first place, by interfering with the 

 mother, in the next by having debarred her from 

 that species of diet which her own instinct would 

 have led her to select, to suit her maternal duties. 



As our present notice refers only to the subject 

 of a domestic warren, we abstain from offering 

 any remarks or advice on the num.bers to be kept, 

 the sorts and advantages of this prolific and valu- 

 able live-stock, because there are few small farm- 

 ers who are not aware of all we could say, by ex- 

 perience, in the troublesome, and every way ineli- 

 gible system, of hutches, when compared with 

 that of the domestic warren. We repeat, that 

 we have had ample experience of its perfect suc- 

 cess, and had it no other merit than being amer- 



