126 PRACTICAL RABBIT KEEPING 



for the table, and large numbers of rabbits are 

 being raised for private consumption. This, 

 of course, will help to increase the general 

 demand. As it is now, this demand is growing 

 in most of the larger cities, but in the smaller 

 cities and towns there is almost no call for 

 meat in hotels or restaurants. Rabbit meat is 

 served regularly on the Pacific coast, as a mat- 

 ter of course. Many rabbits are also being 

 purchased by dealers in New York. Rabbit 

 breeders in states as far away as Massachusetts 

 and New Hampshire are sending all their sur- 

 plus stock to the big cities, where they get 

 from 15 to 40 cents a pound. A few dealers 

 in Boston and other eastern cities are adver- 

 tising for rabbits. In some places the larger 

 breeders buy up the occasional animals offered 

 by the smaller breeders in their section and 

 make shipments to city dealers. In places 

 where there is a large foreign population, sales 

 are particularly easy to make. 



Belgian hare meat can be served in a great 

 number of ways, and is quite as delicious as 

 chicken. There is just one point in the cook- 

 ing to remember, which is that the meat is 

 rather dry, and must be parboiled or treated 



