40 CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF RABBITS 
I have kept rabbits during the winter in open 
hutches and not had the slightest trouble with 
them. It isn’t the coldness of the atmosphere 
that causes the trouble; it is the dampness. 
The hutch rabbit must be kept free from 
dampness and if you can keep the hutches 
clean and dry you have won more than half 
of the battle. The other part consists in feed- 
ing intelligently and wisely. 
The domesticated rabbit likes a ration of 
clover or alfalfa hay, whole oats, hard bread 
and milk occasionally, root crops such as car- 
rots, lettuce and green food, loves dandelions 
and chicory or ordinary grass clippings. That 
is about the extent of the variety of feed it re- 
quires. 
By feeding mashes and special combinations 
as recommended in a later chapter, the cost of 
feeding the rabbit can be materially reduced 
and it is in this sort of feeding that the rabbit 
makes its greatest gains. 
It needs and demands thorough and sys- 
tematic care. It should not only be fed prop- 
