204 



THE GENESEE FARMER 



July 2, 1831 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



SMALL ANIMALS. 



RABBITS. 

 [Continued from No. IS, Page 133 1 



In my last communication I treated of the 

 different varieties of Rabbits. I will now 

 say a few words on Hutches, Feeding, 

 Bleeding, and Diseases. 



RABBITUV OR HUTCHES. 



The Rabbit House should be dry and well 

 ventilated ; too much humidity, whether ex- 

 ternally or internally will cause the Rabbits 

 to rot. When considerable numbers are 

 Uept, fresh air is absolutely necessary to pre- 

 serve them in a state of health ; still they 

 should not be exposed to drought, which fre- 

 quently brings on a disease called the snuf- 

 iles;— If economy is an object, the young 

 fancier, can himself construct hutches suffi- 

 ciently good for common purposes. Com- 

 mon dry-goods boxes with one side slatted, 

 will make very good hutches. Young per- 

 sons should begin by keeping common rab- 

 bits, for which hutches will answer very 

 well; when they have acquired experience 

 in the management of the rabbitry, they may 

 by degrees introduce superior animals and 

 dispose of their common ones. They should 

 then procure superior hutches, for a fine lop- 

 fared rabbt loses half its beauty in a clum- 

 py, ill made hutch. 



The hutch for does, should have a par- 

 tition with a hole in it, to let them pass from 

 one part to the other and a slide to close 

 this hole when necessary. For weaned rab- 

 bits, a hutch without this partition is prefer- 

 able, and it is unnecessary to have any par- 

 tition in the bucks' hutches. The breeding 

 lunches ought to be three feet Ions, eighteenl] nest. 



and refuse it, so that a rabbit may be nearly 

 starved by affording it too great a quantity of 

 food. Some persons feed their rabbits only 

 twice a day, but it is better to feed them 

 three, four, or five times a day. To a full 

 grown doe, without a litter, in the morning, 

 give a little hay with any vegetables which 

 are in season ; in the forenoon, grass, clo- 

 ver, or vegetables ; in the afternoon, dry 

 food, such as corn, bread, or peas ; at night, 

 vegetables or clover. If you give them 

 more hay or other stuff than they can eat, 

 they will waste it or become disgusted with 

 ]it. Generally speaking rabbits prefer green 

 or moist food to corn, but it is necessary to 

 make them eat a sufficient portion of solid 

 food to keep them healthy. They are very 

 fond of tea leaves, bread and milk, celery, 

 parsley, and the root and top of carrots. — 

 Tea leaves, however, should be given spar- 

 ingly. Lettuces, cabbage, and cauliflower, 

 they eat with avidity, but they should be 

 restricted to small quantities. 



It must be remembered that a doe will 

 eat nearly twice as much when suckling as 

 at other times : and when her litter begin to 

 eat, the allowance of food must be increas- 

 ed. If we can obtain neither greens, roots, 

 nor grains, at feeding time, we moisten the! 

 corn with water or milk ; but generally they 

 need no water, as it is rather a dangerous 

 experiment to try the effect of liquid upon 

 their stomach. 



BREEDING. 



The doe will breed at the age of six 

 months: her period of gestation is thiity days. 

 The rabbits are not to be left together over 

 ten minutes. Some days before kindling, 

 hay is to be given to the doe, with which 

 and the fur which nature has instructed her 

 to tear from her body, she will make her 

 Biting the hay into short pieces, and 



will be necessary for this purpose. Do not 

 handle your rabbits, particularly the young 

 ones, too much ; when you lift them, take 

 them with one hand, by the ears, and place 

 the other under the lower part of their 

 back. Never slacken in attention ; a ne- 

 glect of a day will do much injury ; while by 

 by constant care you may breed to great 

 perfection. 



Those who are fanciful in colours, should 

 not only look at those of the rabbits they 

 buy, but also ascertain, if possible, the col- 

 ours of the does they come from; for rab- 

 bits frequently throw litters in which not a 

 single young one of their own colour can be 

 found. If there happen for instance, to 

 have been a single cross of grey in your 

 stock for three or four generations back, it 

 will frequently appear in stock, although 

 every breeding rabbit you have, is of a dif- 

 ferent colour. Grey, is the most difficult of 

 all colours to eradicate; but even grey rab- 

 bits do not always have young ones of their 

 own colour. 



The more you vary the food, the fatter 

 your rabbits will be ; but observe, that when 

 once full fat. (as the breeders say) they fre- 

 quently fall off and pine away to a bad con- 

 dition. It is impossible to give rules for the 

 precise quantity of food to be allowed ; a 

 little experience alone can teach the young 

 fancier this secret. 



By proper care and attention, rabbits may 

 not only be kept for the sake of their beau- 

 ty of appearance, and the interesting and 

 harmless amusement which they afford, but 

 the surplus stock may be made to pay for 

 their keeping, either by using them for the 

 table or disposing of their skins. * * * * 



inches high, and two feet wide. The doe's carrying it about in her mouth, are almost 

 private apartment, should occupy about one [certain signsof her being with young. The 

 third of the hutch, and should be tight cx-ii number produced varies from three to elev- 

 cept the hole in the part. lion as mentioned il en. Destroy the weak and sickly ones, as 

 above. The other pari of the hutch should soon as their defects can be perceived, until 

 be closed on all sides except the front, and the litter is reduced to five or six. If you 

 that slatted or wired like a cage. A smalll leave more to be suckled, some will die and 

 door should be arranged to the smaller apart- others be sickly and all inferior rabbits. The 



ment, for inspecting the young ones. If 

 your rabbits incline to gnaw the slats or 

 or other parts of the hutch, as they frequent- 

 ly do, it will be necessary to line the inside 

 with tin. The bottom of the hutch should 

 incline a little back and a slip be taken off 

 of the lower part of the back side, to allow 

 the urine and excrement to pass out. The 

 hutches may be stacked one above another, 

 or set in a row, as choice or circumstance 

 may direct. They should however, never 

 he placed upon the ground, but elevated on 

 wooden stools a foot or two above it. 



Another mode of keeping rabbits, which 

 is preferred by some is to have a small pen, 

 or enclosure, from 10 to 20 feet square with 

 breeding and other hutches, around its sev- 

 eral sides, leading into it. It is better to have 

 the pen covered with a slight roof to keep 

 off the sun and rain. The rabbits are then 

 called into the enclosure to feed, and make 

 a very pretty display. In this mode, care 

 should be taken to keep the bucks in proper 

 subjection or otherwise they will get into the 

 does' hutches and destroy the young ones. 



FEEDING. 



This is a more important subject. On 

 his skill as a feeder, mainly depends the fan- 

 cier's success. If too much food is given at 

 'ncr, the animals will get disgusted with 



old rabbits are not to be put together till the 

 expiration of six weeks; the young may be 

 weaned and separated from the doc, in a 

 fortnight after. If more than five or six 

 litters are obtained in a year, the doe will 

 soon be worn out, and the young ones not 

 worth much. The doe should not be dis- 

 turbed by any other rabbit, while with 

 young. 



If well fed and kept warm, does will breed 

 all the year, but it is better to let them rest 

 during the winter. 



DISEASES. 



Diseases may, in a great measure be pre- 

 vented by regularity in feeding, good food, 

 uid cleanliness. The refuse of vegetables 

 should always be rejected. For the liver 

 complaint, to which rabbits are subject, there 

 is no cure. The snuffles are occasioned by 

 damp or cold. If there is any cure for this, 

 it must be dryness in their hutches and food. 

 When old rabbits are attacked by a looseness 

 dry food will in general restore them; but 

 do what you will, it is difficult to save young 

 ones from sinking under it ; dry food for 

 them, as well as the old ones, is the only 

 remedy. 



GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 



Be careful to keep your hutches particu- 

 larly clean; a short hoe or trowel and brush 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Plants sometimes spring diseased from 

 the seed without any apparent cause; and 

 in a majority of cases, such may be known 

 by a sickly whiteness. W hen the plant is a 

 tree or a shrub, the malady is often impar- 

 ted to others by budding or grafting ; or the 

 virulence may be so great as to poison a 

 neighbouring tree by the pollen, as in the 

 yellows of the peach tree. In herbaceous 

 vegetables however, the disease appears to 

 be confined to the individual plant, or to its 

 offsets, as in the silver striped Crown Imperi- 

 al ; and although all these patients indicate 

 that feebleness which attends an impaired 

 constitution, many arc kept and propagated 

 for their beauty. 



The object of this note however, is not 

 to denounce this practice. — for tastes air. 

 not to be disputed, — but to point out to the 

 readers of the Genesee Farmer, the advan- 

 tage of bearing this subject in mind, when 

 they select plants from a nursery. That 1 

 may be better understood, I will state a few- 

 cases which have come under my notice in 

 my own garden. 



In 1825, I raised from seeds three plants 

 of the Broom (Spartium Scoparium) of 

 which two were diseased, white, and very 

 feeble. These have long since perished. In 

 the Autumn of 1826, I procured a Lilium 

 Superbum. Next Spring as it advanced in 

 height, it grew whiter and feebler, and when 

 little more than one foot high, it quit grow- 

 ing. I removed it to a wet border without 

 any improvement, and though it still sur- 

 vives, it has never produced a flower. Last 

 fall, having lost all hopes of its recovery, I 

 requested a nurseryman to send me nonf 

 but healthy plants, and I have now three of 



