loo PRACTICAL RABBIT KEEPING 



the season. This is an important point, es- 

 pecially to the utility breeder. 



Breeding stock can be kept for several years 

 before their powers wane. In France, where 

 rabbit breeding has been made a science, the 

 breeding stock is considered to be at its best 

 between the ages of eight and fifteen months. 

 Exhibition rabbits may be kept for breeding 

 purposes up to four or five years, but when 

 meat is the object desired, it is best to dispose 

 of them earlier, before the meat gets too tough. 

 Rabbits have been known to breed up to ten 

 years and even when older. 



Reading the usual flamboyant advertise- 

 ments about the remarkable fecundity of rab- 

 bits, one infers that the young keep coming 

 along in an uninterrupted stream the whole 

 year around. The truth is, though, that breed- 

 ing is not easily affected after the beginning 

 of August and up until late winter. At that 

 time the rabbits are molting and breeding is 

 not recommended in any event if one is look- 

 ing for high grade stock. It may be forced 

 when meat is the object. Old-time breeders 

 say that feeding peas that have been soaked in 

 water helps to induce breeding, the peas being 



