1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



375 



are giillicient (or weaned rabbits or bucks, as tlie | the ynunt? may be geparated liom her ami wean 

 laiier iDUst always be kept separate; but such lor ] ed. Much care lahouid be taken that the doe, af" 

 the convenience of cleaning should h'lve a iulse j ler she ha? kindleti. should not be approached by 

 bottom, like a bird-coire. j the buck or any other rabbit; because if she is 



7. Tlie Hours of hutches should be of hard i harassed about, bein«;r of a delicate nature, she 

 wood, planed very smooth, that their water may j will cast her young belbre her lime. If the doe is 

 run otlj as it is considerable when they are led on j weiU<ly on her bruii;irig forth, some warm li-esh 

 green food; and their troughs should be edged ' grains, a mall mash, scalded fine pollard or barley 

 with tin or iron, as their teeth are very deslruc- ! meal will warm and comfort her. 

 tive to any substance not hard enough to resist j 11. Due atieniion must also be given against 

 them. Tiic troughs should also be narrower at ] sudden frost or cold, and particularly dam|) air; 

 the top than bottom, to prevent them scratching ] and with the best hay, corn, vegetables, and other 

 out their fijod, or dunging in it. Rabbits should | food and allention, rabbits may be bred through 



be fed twice or thrice a-day. A small hoe and a 

 rough-haired brush, are the best implements for 

 cleaning their houses. When their dung is in- 

 tended for sale, no litter should be allowed; but 

 when it is to be used on the farm or garden at 

 home, the huts should be supplied with perfectly 

 dry refuse, hay or straw, (not clover,) every day. 

 Their dung, when gathered up, should be kept in 

 a bin out of the rabbit house, as impure air is par- 

 ticularly to be avoided; for where confined in any 

 number, they will not remain healthy without 

 plenty of fresh air. A run abroad for young rab- 

 bits is beneficial; but all rabbits must be separated 

 as soon as they are fit for breeding, else they will 

 tear each other to pieces. They are quarrelsome 

 and mischievous animals, and the bucks, when at 

 liberty, destroy many of the young. 



8. With respect to form and shape, the short- 

 leggeil rabbits, with breadth and much flesh are 

 the most hardy and fatten quickest; but these can 

 only be obtained by lime and careful selection. 

 There is a large variety called the " lop-ears''' hav- 

 ing much bone, length and depth of body, large 

 ears and eyes, and their fiesh is high-colored, firm 

 and more savory than the other varieties ; and 

 when cooked like the hare, which at seven months 

 old they nearly equal in size, they make a good 

 dish. The large white, and yellow and white 



out the winter with nearly the same success as 

 in summer. However, they are so productive 

 that one might be satisfied with five litters during 

 the warmest; part of the year, giving the doe rest 

 during the months of ilecember, January, and^ 

 February; as five litters, on a low calculation of 

 five each time, would produce annually twenty- 

 five, which is equal to one thousand from the 

 small stock of forty does. They are seldom good 

 breeders after the filih year; the buck is fit for use 

 at six months, and is in perfection from one to three 

 years. 



12. Food. — The art of feeding rabbits with 

 safety and advantage, is to let the principal part 

 of their food be dry and substantial ; avoiding 

 weeds and the relijse of vegetables, as such food 

 is too watery and scouring, and can never be an 

 object while the nutritious productions of the fields 

 may be obtained in plenty, and will return a much 

 greater profit. Though Vabbits may be kept and 

 fattened upon roots, green vegetables, and hay, 

 yet they will pay for corn, such as oats, peas, pol- 

 lard, or shorts, and buckwheat; and will always 

 thrive well with anecjual allowance of vegetables, 

 such as carrots, potatoes, raw, baked, or steamed; 

 clover and meadow hay, tares, lucerne, cabbage, 

 lettuce, corn-leaves, apples, turnips, parsnips and 

 beets, in fact what they will not eat; summer sup- 



species, have more delicate flesh, and cooked in I plips them with a variety of food that may be 

 the same way, much resemble the turkey in fla- ! gathered every where; during winter give them 

 vor. The most fancy sort are the lop-eared I small branches of the green cedar, and small birch 

 " smuts;" they have two, three, or four spots of! and apple brush, for them to eat the bark, 

 color on each side the nose, and in proportion to | 13. The better the Ibod, the greater the weight. 



the number and regularity of these spots, there 

 and on its body, so is it valuable. 



9. Like poultry, the best breeding rabbits are 

 those kindled in "March. The doe will breed at 

 the age of six months; and the lime of her going 

 with young is thirty days. The buck and doe are 

 on rio account to be left together; but their union 

 having been successful, the buck must be directly 

 withdrawn, and the doe tried again in three days, 

 and if she hvis kindled she will refuse him. Some 

 days before bringing forth, hay is to be given to 

 the doe, to assist in making her bed, with the fur 

 which instinct instructs hereto tear from her body 

 lor that purpose. JBitin'rihe litter is the first sign 

 of pregnancy; at this time she will be seen sittmg 

 on her haunches tearing oli' the fur; and on the 



quality and profit, which is the case with all ani- 

 mals. Many fatten with grains and wheat bran, 

 (the husk of wheat sifted from the flour,) but the 

 rabbits' flesh being dry, a small allowance of 

 fresh greens is desirable' They are in perfection 

 for feeding from the fburih or fifth month; and it 

 requires two months to make them completely fat 

 and fleshy; but tkey, like sheep, may be over fat- 

 tened. Castrated rabbits may be fattened to the 

 weight of upwards of ten pounds; and it is suc- 

 cessfully practised in Sussex, where capons are so 

 numerously reared. The operation is performed 

 at six weeks old. 



14. In killing full irrown rabbits, after the usual 

 stroke upon the neck', the throat should be cut up- 

 wards towards the jaw with a small pointed knife, 



hay being given she will with her teeth shorten i in order that the blood may be discharged, which 

 and adapt it to her purpose. i would otherwise settle in the head or neck._ Its 



10. They generally bring forth from five to ten; ! flesh is esteemed equally digestible as thai of fowls, 

 and it is profitable to destroy the weak or sickly ^ and of course equally proper for the table of in- 

 ones, if more than five, as that number of healthy | valids; they are best when young, or middle-aged, 

 full grown rabbits are worth more than ten of an I and most in season in winter, 

 opposite description, and the mother will be far j 15 The rabbit is a caressing animal, and equal- 

 less exhausted ; and she will be ready for the ly fond with the cat of its head being stroked; and 

 buck again at the end of six or seven weeks, when I not altogether destitute of courage, having been 



