198 HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



as we have intimated, that celebrated adage of the cook- 

 book, "first catch your hare," applies to him with a great 

 deal of aptitude ; a dog to ' ' tree " him in a detached tree, 

 whence there is uO escape, affords ahnost the only chance 

 of securing this tid-bit for one's table. 



Kabbits are plentiful, and fat — ah! too fat sometimes, 

 when they owe their fine condition to sundry raids on one's 

 garden patch ; if only they would make these visits in 

 broad daylight, when they might be provided Avith a des- 

 sert of cold lead ; but they are too cute for that. Under 

 cover of the shield of night Mr. Kabbit sings thusly to 

 his lady love : 



"Oh, come into the garden, Maud, 

 And when the day shall break, 

 The settler '11 find his 'green stuff' chawed, 

 And bless us for its sake." 



The usual traps in use at the North for the capture of 

 similar small game are useful here as well ; but if they 

 fail, and the garden is sufieriug from their raids, pieces of 

 sweet potato, of which rabbits are very fond, with strych- 

 nine well rubbed into sundry slits cut in them, Avill solve 

 the mooted question as to who is going to eat those vegeta- 

 bles, their owner or his uninvited guests. But it always 

 seems a sad waste to call in this latter aid to the rabbits' 

 destruction, so much good food is lost. But then, it is 

 true, on a thrifty farm nothing is wasted, and so even the 

 poisoned "varmints" can be buried in the garden they 

 sought to rob, and thus made to contribute to its fertility, 

 a woeful example of retributive justice. 



Then there is that famous "critter," the 'possum. We 

 of the North are apt to regard this nocturnal denizen of 

 the woods as food fit only for the colored race of humanity ; 

 but the truth is that many a worse-flavored and tougher 



