174 Practical Game Preserving. 



With reference to dry foods, little need be said. It is to 

 be noticed, however, that to bring corn upon a rabbit warren 

 is a very unwise course, for whatever may be the value of 

 cereals as food for tame rabbits, they are of very little use 

 for wild ones. Corn in sufficient quantities to sustain the 

 numerous and daily increasing stock would cost as much as 

 the whole was worth, while in quantities insufficient it would 

 be simply money thrown away. Hay is frequently of use, 

 and on a natural warren might be grown in plenty for the 

 purpose, while other descriptions of dry food might include 

 peas or beans, and the like, in small lots, at intervals of some 

 length, as may appear necessary to counteract extremes 

 of season. Before leaving the consideration of extra or 

 artificial food on natural rabbit warrens, we would impress 

 upon those contemplating an enterprise of the kind the care 

 necessary when deciding upon the site, that extra food may 

 not become a large and increasing item in the expenses, 

 instead of an occasional one. 



The presence of innumerable rabbits on a natural warren 

 is not so conducive to the fruitfulness of the soil, by reason 

 of the manuring it receives, as to yearly improve the ground. 

 Though rabbit droppings are no mean fertilisers, still the 

 very abundance of such aid may produce a contrary effect, 

 culminating in that condition known as " sour," so that not 

 only will new pasturage not grow, but that the old dies away 

 or becomes rank, and the rabbits refuse to consume it. To 

 prevent this is by no means difficult ; on a natural warren 

 the land may be easily renovated. A good heavy chain- 

 harrow with fangs of some length at the joints, drawn 

 carefully over the grass in two or three transverse directions, 



