138 WE FARM FOR A HOBBY 



Proper housing, segregation from the chickens, 

 and sanitation are ample protection against this 

 whilom scourge. 



The most neglected meat animal in North 

 America is the rabbit, or is it the hare? It is an 

 extremely efficient meat producer: confined rab- 

 bits reach maturity, for the table, in something 

 less than half the time of wild ones. The meat of 

 the domestic rabbit is all white and tastes like a 

 cross of spring chicken on frogs' legs. I have raised 

 rabbits but closed them out against the day I 

 could do it right: they require a somewhat special 

 set-up for the most efficient production. The bucks 

 fight to the death when housed together. Yet a 

 mated buck cannot be left with the doe, or he will 

 kill the young out of jealousy. Altogether a pretty 

 difficult fellow. Another thing rabbits need is ab- 

 solute rat-proofing: rats will gang up on the doe, 

 just as they will on a mother duck, and kidnap 

 her young. 



Wild life, both animal and vegetable, is no 

 small contributor to the family board. An intelli- 

 gent conservation and protection policy has enor- 

 mously increased the game supply in Pennsylvania 

 in the last twenty or thirty years; it is said there 

 is more game in the state now than there was when 

 the Swedes landed. Thirteen weeks of the year 

 there is some sort of gunning. A little more atten- 

 tion to it than I give would provide not only 



