CHAP. XVI.] FARMING FOR LADIES. 335 



as they may, on any emergency, be killed, 

 dressed, and served up in little more than half 

 an hour ; and that without being tough. 



Although rabbits may be grown after a few 

 months' good fatting to the weight which we 

 stated, they are yet usually killed at a month 

 or five weeks old, while sucking at the teat, 

 though not weighing more than a pound or a 

 pound and a half. They are, however, at 

 that age extremely delicate, either for boiling, 

 or in a curry : which latter an eminent phy- 

 sician looks upon, " when moderately sea- 

 soned, as one of the most useful dishes for 

 dyspeptic stomachs with which we are ac- 

 quainted;"* and is therefore equally desirable 

 for the invalid as for those in health. 



It should however be observed, that the 

 rabbit, if not killed immediately after being 

 taken from the teat, will, even in the course of 

 a few hours, lose a portion of its fat, and the 

 flesh will become stringy ; in consequence, it is 

 supposed, of the fright thus occasioned. If 



* " The spices contained in curries communicate a most 

 beneficial stimulus to the digestive organs, which frequently 

 causes them to perform their functions in a healthy manner 

 when nothing else will." — Truman, on Food and its Influ- 

 ence on Health and Disease, p. 71. 



