326 FARMING FOR LADIES. [chap. xvi. 



They are very playful and amusing to 

 children, but so very mischievous, that when 

 in the domestic state, they are generally kept 

 in wooden huts, or "hutches," of a nearly 

 square form and of different sizes, when in- 

 tended either for breeding or for the care 

 of those reared for fatting. The breeding 

 hutch, as being the lodging of the doe, is 

 always the larger, and contains a double 

 apartment — one for the nest, and the other 

 for the feeding room of the brood when 

 old enough to come into it. The best size 

 is about four feet long by two and a half 

 wide, and eighteen inches to two feet high ; 

 but they are often made smaller, and those 

 not meant for breeding are seldom of more 

 than two-thirds that size. They are latticed 

 with wire in the front of each, as, if made 

 of laths, the rabbits would gnaw them ; but 

 the division parted off for the reception of 

 the breeding-nest, is closed both at the front 

 and sides, leaving only a small door in the 

 interior for the entrance of the doe : indeed, 

 an inner division with a sliding-door is useful 

 for confining the rabbits while the outer part 

 is cleaned. There should also be a moveable 



