X 



RABBITS 



Rabbits are often raised with poultry, but the Continent the rabbits they need for food, 

 it is only" recently that this form of industry They ini]iort them annually by millions from 

 has aroused any interest among us, though for France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Aus- 

 tralia. The English working- 

 man cannot do without the 

 rabbit stew which forms his 

 Sunday dinner. Since the 

 founding of the Dutch associ- 

 atiim in 1S97 the breeding of 

 rabbits in Holland has become 

 so extensive that in 1902 

 breeders were able to send 

 two million dollars' worth to 

 the En£;lish market. 



I. Breeding .and Raising 



The rabbit is not particular 

 about its food and can be kept 

 at small cost. Yet, if persons 

 wish to succeed, care and at- 

 tention are necessary. Rabbits well cared for 

 are not to be despised as food. They require, 

 first of all, good cjuarters, which are seldom given 

 them. In Europe workingmen and peasants usu- 

 ally keep them in filthy hutches often filled with 

 manure. Instead of cleaning these hutches 

 weekly, the owners merely throw in 

 a handful of fresh straw. 

 Good sense should 

 teach them the im- 

 possibility of keep- 

 ing animals healthy 

 under such condi- 

 tions. In these same 

 hutches the females 

 gi\e birth to their young, 

 and it is not surprising that the 

 little ones die in great numbers 

 simply from lying on filth. Many 

 ignorant breeders imagine that they die because 

 some one has touched the nest ! There is no 

 danger in touching the young rabbits, provided 



A D.\RK SlLVKR R.VUHIT 



centuries it has been carried on in France and 

 Belgium, where the rabbit is commonly used 

 for food. 



In Germany there was no serious attempt 

 at breeding rabbits until after the War of 1870, 

 when the German soldiers saw the attention 

 given to the industry by French- 

 men, and the profits i 

 afforded, whereupon 

 on their return 

 home, they began 

 to import French 

 rabbits, which 

 were much larger 

 than the little Ger 

 man animals found here 

 and there on farms. Associations 

 having for their object the breedin, 

 rabbits were formed by the hundred, 

 while conferences and exhibitions were held. 

 The chief work in this line is done in England, 

 though the English still prefer to obtain from 



of 



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1- KibSl-A\ 

 BITS 



