1888] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



609 



chaff; and these may be given three times a clay, 

 hut when they eat <jreen tliinjis, it must be ob- 

 fiervt'd, that they are not to drink at all, for it 

 would throw them into a dropsy. At ail other 

 limes, a very little drink serves their turn, but that 

 must always l>e Ircsh. " 



" Rabbits are suliject to two principal infirmi- 

 ties. First, the rot, which is ciiused by the giving 

 them too large a quantity of greens, or from the 

 giving them iVesh-gathered, with the dew or rain 

 hanging in drops upon them. It is excess of" 

 moisture that always causes this disease; the 

 greens, therefore, are always to be given dry, and 

 a sufficient quantity of hay, or other dry Ibod, in- 

 termixed with them to take up the abundant 

 moisture ol' their juices. On this account, the 

 very best food that can be given them is the 

 shortest and sweetest hay that can be got, of 

 which one load will serve two hundred couples a 

 year; and out of this stock two hundred may 

 be eat in the fiimily, two hundred sold to the mar- 

 kets, and a sufficient number kept in case of acci- 

 dents. 



"The other general disease of these creatures 

 is a sort of madness ; this may be known by their 

 wallowing and tumbling about with their heels 

 upwards, and hopping In an odd manner into their 

 boxes. This distemper is supposed to be owing 

 10 the rankness of their feeding ; and the general 

 cure is the keeping them low, and giving them 

 the prickly herb, called tn.re-thistle, to eat. " 



"The genera! computation of males and fe- 

 males is, that one buck rabbit will serve for nine 

 does ; some allow ten to one buck ; but those who 

 ^o beyond this always sutier for it in their breed. " 

 [The estimate of the warren, on the estate of 



Thorsevvay, in England, of 1700 acres, as given 



by the tenant, Mr. Holgate, with the silver sort 



of rabbits is this:] 



£. s. d. 

 "Labor, three regular warreners, ) cc n n 



with extra assistants at killing, ^ oo U 

 Fences, - - - 42 10 



Winter food, - - - 42 10 



Nets, traps, &c. &c. - - 14 3 4 



Delivery, - - . 21 5 



Rent is said to be 7s. an acre, 595 



The capital employed is the above ") 



with the addition of stock paid I ___ 



for: suppose this as stated about [^ " ^ 



three couple an acre at 2s. 4c?. J 



Interest on that sum one year at 5 

 per cent. 



Annual Account. 



1395 8 

 I 69 15 



1465 3 9 



£. s. J. 

 liixpensea as above, - - 800 8 4 



Interest, - - . 69 15 5 



870 3 9 



Produce 10,000 couple, at 2s. 4d. 1166 13 4 

 Expenses, - - . 870 3 9 



Profit, 



296 9 7 



Or about 221. per cent, (the 6 per cent, included) 



on capital employed. This the writer observes is 

 very great, reckoned on the ca|)iial, but small 

 reckoned by n-nt, as it amounts to only half a 

 rent. Rut suppose the gross produce o( 1500, 

 which he takes to be nearer the liict; then the 

 account will stand thus: 



£ . s. d. 

 Produce, - - - 1500 



Expenses, - - - 870 3 9 



Profit, 



629 16 



or 45 per cent, on the capital. '' 



" It is remarked, that the author of the Trea- 

 tise on Agriculture and Gardening, has bred these 

 aninmis with much success am! ornamental eflect 

 in a small artificial warren, in a lawn in the gar- 

 den, made in the following manner. 



"Pare off" the turf of a circle, about forty feet 

 diameter, and lay it on the outside; then dig a 

 ditch within this circle, ihe ouislde perpendicular, 

 the inner sloping, and throw earth eulTicient into 

 the middle to form a little hili, two or ihiee feet 

 higher than the level of the lawn ; the rest must 

 be carried away. Then lay down the turf on the 

 hill, and beat it well to settle. The ditch at bot- 

 tom should be about three feet wide, and three 

 and a half deep, with two or three drains at the 

 bottom, covered with an iron grate, or a stone 

 with holes, to carry off the hasty rains, in order to 

 keep the rabbits dry. In the outside bank should 

 be six alcoves, the sides and top supported, either 

 by boards or brick work, to give the rabbits their 

 dry food in ; by their different situations, some 

 will always be dry ; six boxes, or old tea-chests, 

 let into the bank, will do very well. If the ground 

 be very light, the outside circle should have a wall 

 built round it, or some stakes driven into the- 

 ground, and boards or hurdles nailed to them, 

 within a foot of the bottom, to prevent the bank 

 from fiilling in. The entrance mubt be either by 

 a board to turn occasionally across the dilch, or by 

 a ladder. The turf being settled, and the grass 

 beginning to grow, turn in the rabbits, and they 

 will immediately go to work to make themselves 

 burrows in the sides, and in the hill. By way of 

 inducing them rather to build in the sides', to keep 

 the turf the nearer, make a score of holes about a 

 foot deep, and they will finish them to their own 

 mind; and if there be a brick-wall round it, it 

 should be built on pillars, with an arch fiom each, 

 to leave a vacancy for a burrow." But there is, 

 he says, another way that may be practised, 

 which is, " to dig the ditch only about two feet 

 deep, which will yield about earth enough to make 

 the hill ; put some pales, about a foot high, on the 

 outside, for that will be a sufficient height to keep 

 the rabbits in. Feed them as other tame rabbits 

 are led ; and in wet weather sprinkle saw dust at 

 the bottom, by which means the quantity of manure 

 will be increased ; once a week is often enough to 

 take it way: the quantity will be surprising, nor 

 will the smell be in the least offensive, even though 

 it be quite close to the house. In a very large 

 lawn, two or three of these hills, with the rabbits 

 feeding on the tops, will not be unpleasing objects. 

 If the bucks happen to be mischievous m killing 

 the young ones, they must be chained in an al- 

 cove ; or else have their liberty as in a warren. 

 After a great snow they will want some'assistance 

 early next morning ; because the ditch will be near- 



