62 PRACTICAL RABBIT KEEPING 



recommended, and are used to a considerable 

 extent, especially on the Pacific coast, and in 

 other warm sections where large out-door 

 rabbitries are common. These hutches have 

 floors made of narrow boards spaced about an 

 inch apart, or floors of closely woven wire 

 netting or hardwar^ cloth. A good heavy 

 cloth is needed as a matter of course, and must 

 be well supported so that it will not sag. 

 Sometimes a few loose boards are laid on it. 

 Very little bedding is used in such a hutch, and 

 the droppings fall through, being gathered up 

 from the ground or from a box underneath. 

 In some rather elaborate hutches (see fig. 5) 

 including one or two patented designs, draw- 

 ers are arranged under the wire floor to re- 

 ceive the droppings. Of course this plan 

 makes cleaning very easy. Even with such an 

 arrangement, though, it is advisable to have 

 a scraper and a brush for getting into corners. 

 The average rabbit keeper, especially the 

 amateur, is satisfied with a tight floor covered 

 with sawdust or some other absorbent. It is 

 best, of course, to have the floor made of 

 matched boards, and with as few cracks as pos- 

 sible. Many times a box about eighteen inches 



