July 4, 1878. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
EEE '~r ET TS 
19 
then when the litter has overpowered the mother and it has be- 
come absolutely necessary to provide some fresh home for the new 
comers, the question is hurriedly considered, and a box or tub, 
alike unsuitable, is selected : hence many die from being trampled 
on or from dirt and suffocation. 
As to the age at which the young Rabbits may with safety be 
removed much depends upon the constitution and stamp of the 
breed. We may remark that five weeks is the lowest and eight 
the highest age at which the young should be removed. If taken 
too soon they will not have a chance of being strong, but if left 
too long the mother suffers considerably. Very often she turns 
upon the young, like a Swan upon its cygnets, when they arrive 
at what she considers a sufficiently advanced age to exist without 
a continuance of her maternal care. 
The hutch for young Rabbits should be roomy and large, special 
attention being paid to ventilation. For a couple of litters, say 
ten or twelve young ones, a hutch 4 feet long, 2feet deep, and 
15 inches high, is requisite. The wood forming the sides, back, 
top, and bottom should be at least three-quarters of an inch in 
thickness, and should be of a hard impenetrable nature. Deal will 
do very wellif well seasoned. The joints should be carefully dove- 
tailed, and care taken to avoid anything likely to cause a draught. 
At the back of the bottom piece cut a slab about an inch wide 
from the whole length of the hutch. Through this a considerable 
quantity of waste will escape, and the Rabbits’ play will tend to 
drive the refuse towards the back if the hutch be slightly sloped. 
To accomplish this the hutch should be placed on a sloped bench, 
or the front should be raised by means ofa board or bar placed 
along the whole length. In either case the front should be not 
more than 3 inches higher than the back. If the hutch is 2 feet 
deep this elevation will do very well, but if less the propping 
should be diminished. If the slope is too great the little inmates 
will be unable to obtain a footing. Never let a hutch slope from 
the front. The great objection to this is that the Rabbits naturally 
look in the direction of the light, and by standing constantly on 
a slope the blood rushes to their heads, causing several complaints. 
No sleeping place is required. In place of it a piece of wood the 
length of the depth of the hutch and about 4 inches high should be 
fixed about 15 inches from one end. This will keep the straw or 
hay in one place and prevent its being trampled on. A small 
yack for green stuff may be useful. It has a great drawback, 
because the young ones sometimes jump up against it in play 
and damage themselves severely. The front should be made to 
open about half the size of the whole, the door being nearly in 
the centre. A hoe can then easily be inserted to clean out the 
whole. If the hutch is kept indoors the whole of the front may 
with safety be left open, but if any doubt is entertained as to the 
temperature the part enclosed for the bedding may be boarded up. 
The young ones should all be about the same age or the younger 
will suffer. As regards food, the directions given in a previous 
paper on feeding may be taken as a good guide with a few slight 
variations. The oats should not be given whole, as they are hard 
for the young teeth; they should therefore be either bruised or 
soaked, and a little meal is good. Bread is good occasionally ; if 
very stale it may be given dry, but if not it should be soaked and 
then dried as nearly as possible. Pieces of carrots and turnips 
may be thrown intothem. In greenstuffs select those kinds not 
too damp, and let all the food of this description be carefully 
dried before being given. Cabbage and lettuces are both too 
succulent for young Rabbits, and should be avoided. Drier kinds, 
such as young corn, grass, and cabbage and lettuce stalks, will 
be better. If the weather is very hot this rule must not be very 
strictly attended to, and a little lettuce may be given ; cabbages 
may also be given, but not too freely, except when well dried. 
Lop Rabbits are generally kept with their mothers longer than 
usual. Sometimes when the numbers have been reduced greatly 
by aid of nurse does the remnant are kept with their mothers 
till they are eight or ten weeks old. This is certainly a great 
strain on the parent; but when the litters only number one or 
two does not domuch harm. Dutch young ones are often removed 
much earlier because they are not wished to grow large, and 
there are often so many that were they left more than five or 
six weeks they would tear the mother down very much. In the 
very large species the young may be removed at six weeks. In 
the other varieties from six to eight weeks, according to the 
number and strength of the litter, may be mentioned as the best 
age for removal.—GETA. | 
THE RAINFALL IN HAMPSHIRE. 
THE heavy rainfall which we have had during the month of 
May, amounting in this locality to upwards of 5 inches, has 
induced me to look back on my previous records and ‘to note 
several somewhat singular circumstances that it may perhaps 
be interesting to point out. These 5 inches are not only more 
than double the usual average of the month, but the heaviest 
fall we have had in this month for more than thirty years. 
Although during this period there has been a quantity of timber 
removed, and the district has become more open, yet. the rain- 
fall, instead of being less has been more, contrary to the usual 
opinion. Thus, during the first ten of these thirty years, the 
average monthly rainfall was 2.719, or nearly 27.2 inches per 
annum. During the succeeding ten years it was 28.6 for the 
year, or 2.86 for the monthly falls ; whilst during the last ten 
years the annual fall has been 32.33, or monthly average of 
3.32 inches ; thus each decade has become wetter than the pre- 
vious one, which is altogether opposed to the doctrine that as 
the country is cleared it becomes drier. The driest year by far 
during the last twenty years was the first—viz., 1858, the next 
1870, then 1864 and 1873; whilst the wettest during this period 
was 1872, followed by 1877, 1868, and 1875. This accounts for 
the probable fact that the natural yield of wheat has diminished 
during each decade, and has needed as well as received the 
artificial aid that is now frequently applied. The annual fall of 
rain from January to December inclusive, as usually recorded, 
bears but a moderate relation to the growth and yield of wheat ; 
for the agricultural year actually begins and ends with September, 
and the fall of rain in the last three months of the year forms a 
very important factor in the yield of wheat in the succeeding 
year. Thus, for example, in the year 1872, reckoning from 
January to December, we had a fall of 43.97, but from the pre- 
ceding October to the end of September it was only 34.45. In 
1877 the usual reckoning gave 35.77, whilst to the end of Septem- 
ber it amounted in the preceding twelve months to 31.10. The 
driest month on the average for twenty years has been April, and 
then May and February ; the wettest January, and next October 
and September. In the previous ten years February was the driest 
and October the wettest.—W. C. Spooner, Eling, Southampton. 
VARIETIES. 
WE regret to hear that serious irregularities occurred at the 
public auction of poultry at the end of the Paris Show. English 
birds were put up and knocked. down for a few francs on which 
their owners wished reserved prices to be placed. Some of Mrs. 
Christy’s Buff Cochins, which we so much admired, were thrown 
away in this manner. 
THE poultry Show of the Staffordshire Agricultural Society 
will be held at Leek on September 18th and 19th, and entries can 
be made with the Secretary at Newcastle, Staffordshire, up to the 
31st of August, from whom, on application, prize lists and certi- 
ficates cf entry can be obtained. The birds, with the exception 
of the Turkeys, Geese, Ducks, and fowls entered in the selling 
classes, must all be chickens of this year. First and secona 
prizes of £2 and £1, and in some classes three prizes, are offered, 
with nine silver cups value £3 3s. each, for the best bird or birds 
entered in the classes for Game, Spanish, Dorkings, Cochins, 
Brahmas, Hamburghs, Houdans, Créve-Cceur, Polish, Leghorns, 
Turkeys, Geese, Ducks, and Bantams. The poultry will be under 
cover, and carefully attended to and fed. 
—— THE Country Brewers’ Gazette observes that although there 
are only about 72,000 acres of hop land in the United Kingdom, the 
capital involved in its cultivation amounts nearly to halfa million 
of money, and the annual value of the produce, taking an average of 
thirty years past, has been quite £3,000,009. Numbers of labourers 
find remunerative employment in the hop-producing districts all 
the year round, and swarms of emigrants flock down from the 
smoke of London and other large towns for the picking season to 
gain health and money. It is calculated that at least 90,000 im- 
migrants come into Kent and Sussex every year for the hopping ; 
and many persons migrate from the towns in the Black Country 
to the pleasant hop yards of Worcestershire and Herefordshire. 
Moreover, hops have a special quarter allotted to them in London, 
in the Borough, where the hop trade has been carried on from 
time immemorial. The numerous stately hop warehouses, the 
streets devoted to the offices of hop merchants and factors, the 
hum and bustle of business in the season, all indicate that the 
cultivation of hops is a most important industry. 
APIARY JOTTINGS. 
WE are now passed midsummer, and can pretty well forecast 
the year’s prospects. It is now glorious weather in Somersetshire, 
and hay-making is going on all round with splendid success. It 
is only just really begun, the season being after all decidedly back- 
ward, so that there will be opportunity for the white clover in 
many fields to yield its full harvest for our bees. Nor am I with- 
out hope that when it reaches its prime there will be a fair lot of 
honey gathered. At present (St. John’s day) noi a cell of honey 
has been visibly sealed up since the middle of May in any of my 
hives, nor is any to be seen beyond a rare glistening in cells few 
and far between. Hardly any comb is making either in half-filled 
hives or in supers, save where swarms have been coated by feed- 
ing or have been unusually active. Honeydews have been abun- 
dant on many trees, which my bees have resorted to early and late, 
but I suspect only to keep life agoing. None of it has been 
stored. I note this dew on oak, lime, beach, filbert, and cherry 
trees. 
My first swarm issued on the 13th out of an improved Abbott- 
