MA\A<;KMK\T <>! MAKKKT KAP.MITS. 13 



dish, will be relished. Clean drinkm^-w.-itcr should be supplied regularly. Some 

 breeders do not give water at any time. The consensus of opinion seems to be in 

 favour of supplying drinking-water, however. Green food should be given regularly. 

 and any left over should always be removed. The grain portion of the diet may be 

 either oats or barley, whole or crushed. Some American breeders give small quanti- 

 ties of cracked corn during the cooler portions of the year. 



It will be noticed +' at the young will soon begin nibbling the food given the 

 mother, and everything should be done to encourage this. The young, especially 

 if numerous, prove a heavy drain on the doe, and she should be given a drink of 

 sweet milk daily, in addition to her usual ration. The greenstuff fed needs to be 

 young, tender, and dry. The food eaten, in addition to the mother's milk, tends to 

 prevent the set-back or check so often experienced by the young stock when first 

 removed from the doe at weaning-time. 



WEANING AND FATTENING. 



- When removing the young it is advisable to take away half of the litter the 

 biggest ones first a day or two ahead. Any likely looking ones bucks or does 

 should be separated at this time if to be kept for breeding purposes. It is not 

 advisable to select them after they have been in the fattening-pens. They should 

 not be forced in any way, but allowed to mature naturally, and be given a fail- 

 amount of exercise. 



As a general rule, weaning is best done when the young are six weeks old, 

 when they may be safely parted from their mother and placed in the fattening-pens. 

 If the mother is not in kindle they may advantageously be left with her a week 

 longer, as there can be no doubt that the mother's milk is of the greatest benefit 

 in promoting growth. 



Whatever method of housing may have been adopted for the breeding stock, 

 young rabbits intended for the table will be found to do best when kept loose in 

 a shed or other such building after being weaned. They also fatten more quickly 

 in confinement than when running loose, and should not, therefore, be provided with 

 too roomy quarters. 



A further advantage, when such accommodation is available, is that the housing 

 is very much cheaper and a great deal less room is occupied than if the rabbits are 

 kept in ordinary hutches, even though half a dozen are placed in each. The feeding 

 is also considerably simplified and occupies much less time, because a batch of 50 

 or 100 is fed almost as quickly as one of six. It is merely a question of the quantity 

 of food to be supplied. Naturally, sufficient trough-space must be provided to permit 

 practically all the rabbits to feed at the same time, and so prevent them from fight- 

 ing over their food. Otherwise the strongest will crowd the weaker out, and, while 

 no evil would result from the former receiving rather more than a fair share of 

 the food provided, the smaller or weaker rabbits would suffer. The shed, or what- 

 ever other building is made use of, must, of course, be perfectly dry and its floor 

 well littered with straw or other bedding materials, of which a little may be added 

 daily to replace that which is eaten by the rabbits or otherwise destroyed. When 

 necessary that is, about once a week, when the shed is fully tenanted the whole 

 iloor must be thoroughly swept out and cleaned and new bedding provided. Periodi- 

 cal limewashing is also necessary. Overcrowding must, of course, be guarded 

 against. As a general rule it may be taken that each rabbit should be allowed 1^ 

 square feet of floor-space. 



The sexes should in all cases be separated, although this is not. perhaps, 

 essential during the winter months. On the oilier hand, rabbits of all ages, but 

 <f the same sex, may be run together up to killing-time if accommodation is limited. 



A.B soon as weaned every effort should be made to- help on the young rabbits 

 as rapidly as possible. Kvery scrap of food eaten from this time to their twelfth 

 or fourteenth wn>k means additional profit to the rearer, as it will all tend to 

 rapidly increase the size of the rabbits. After that age growth is slower, and a 



