RABBIT. 



liufbandry renders it much more advantageous for the farmer 

 to depend upon fiich crops, than on it. In liilly trafts of 

 land, where the plough cannot be introduced, and where 

 the foil is of fuch a liglit fandy porous nature, as to afford 

 - little or no grafs for the pafturage of fhecp, or in rocky 

 fituations, this fyftem of management may take place with 

 profit to the farmer. 



And it has been obfervcd by the author of the Rural 

 Economy of Norfolk, that this fort of animal is there con- 

 fined to the heathlets, and the barren hills upon the coaft . 

 A level country is unlit for rabbit-warrens, but convenient 

 for the plough ; on tlie contrary, rabbits delight in tiie iides 

 of fandy hills ; which, where turn-wrill ploughs are not iu 

 ufe, are extremely inconvenient for tillage ; and, when cul- 

 tivated, are generally improduftivc. For tiie rabbit, on 

 level ground, finds it difficult to make its burrow ; the ex- 

 cav.ited mould is all to be dragged upward to tiie furface ; 

 hence a piece of ground altogether level, can feldom be 

 flocked fuccefsfuUy witii rabbits ; unlefs it be firft laid up 

 by art, at a great expence, into inequalities. While, on the 

 contrary, againft the ilde of a fteep hill, the rabbit has no 

 difficulty to encounter ; the declivity affords him a ready 

 vent for his mould ; his work is all down hill ; and, unlels 

 the foil be too ftubborn, or too rocky, for tlie rabbits to 

 work freely among, a broken hilly country may generally 

 be itockedwith advantage ; provided a tolerable market for 

 the carcaiiescan be had within reach. He thinks there are, 

 perhaps, few fandy or other loofe-loiled hills, which would 



■ not pay better in rabbit-warrens, than under any other courfe 

 of hulbandry that could be introduced on them. And it 

 is afterwards ilated, in a minute, that on a confiderable 

 part of a farm wliich lies towards the coaft, being hilly and 

 very badly fulled, — more efpecially the tops and fides of the 

 hills, which have always been full of rabbits in fpite of all 

 endeavours to dellroy them, — the tehants laft year (1782) 

 applied for leave to convert this part, about ninety acres, 

 into a rabbit-warren. Leave was given, and an allowance 

 made them of half the elUmated expence of raifing a fod- 

 wall fence round theie ninety acres. He adds, that the 

 fence was nearly finifhcd, and the warren had, that year, 

 turned out beyond expedlation ; it was valued by one who 

 ought to be the bell judge of its worth, at forty pounds a 

 year ; which is nine fhilhngs an acre. And that, as the 

 part of a farm, thefe ninety acres vvfere not worth five fiiil- 

 lings an acre ; at the then prefent price of barley, they were 

 not worth more than four (hillings an acre. It is, therefore, 

 obferved, that for ten pounds a real improvement of twenty 

 pounds a-year has been made and fecured ; for the warrener 

 will, through neceffity, hereafter keep the fence in repair 

 for his own advantage. He remarks, that the fence is made 

 about four feet high, and three feet thick ; faced with 

 greenfward ; and capped with furze, fo as to projedl eiglit 



^or ten inches over the face. Some of it was done for a Ihil- 

 ling a rod ; but the fpring putting in, fourteen or fifteen 

 pence a rod of feven yards \va.s obhged to be given. And 



■ a neighbouring warrener, that winter, gave ninepence for 

 the wall without the capping ; which he does not mean to 

 put on till the n-all be thoroughly fettled. This is very judi- 

 cious ; as feveral rods of that above-mentioned ihot down in 

 different placet, as is often the cafe in fuch fort of work. 

 It is further obferved, that there are feveral patches in the 

 vallies, and fome on the tops of the hills which have ufually 

 been tilled. Some of thefe were laft year ( 1 78 1 ), and fome 

 of them ought to be every year, cultivated for the rabbits ; 

 thus, when the grafs gets foul or mofl'y it Ihould be ploughed 

 np ; fallowed, fowing turnip-feed for prefent feed, (they 

 will not let rape get up, ) and to prepare the ioil for barley 



Vol.. XXIX. 



and grafs-feed the enftiing year. Thus a regular luccefiiou 

 of feedage might be kept up for the ufe of thefe animals. 

 And in the Rural Economy of Yorkfhire it is Ilated, that 

 at Dalby there are two pretty large warrens. At Lockton 

 there is one now (the time of writing) planting. And there 

 are other parts of thefe heights which might be profitably 

 ftocked with rabbits. In general, however, property is too 

 much intermixed to admit of an improvement, which is fin- 

 gularly adapted to the nature of thefe liigh grounds. And, 

 that in fituations where the ground, as well as the foil, is 

 fuitable to rabbit-warrens, and where an extent of it, fuffi- 

 cluntly large, can be coUefted together in one propirrty, 

 there is a very itrong reafon why it may be profitably itocked 

 with rabbits. It is added, that one of the warrens of this 

 dillridl contains eighteen hundred acres of furface ; moll of 

 it covered with a black moreland foil ; part of it a barren 

 gravel ; fome little of it a thin lime-ilone loam ; not worth 

 perhaps, on a par, for the common purpofes of hufbandry, 

 a fhilling an acre ; neverthelefs, tiiefe eighteen hundred acres 

 are let, as a rabbit-warren, for three hundred pounds a-year! 

 He will not pretend to fay, that this warren is worth three 

 hundred pounds a-year, nor aflert that it is not worth a 

 Ihilling an acre to a huft>andman. If it be worth two hun- 

 dred and fifty pounds, as a warren, and fuppofing it to be 

 worth even two fhillings an acre, as a farm, it ftiil is iuni- 

 cient evidence of the profitablenels of rabbit-warrens, ui 

 proper fituations. 



And in fpeaking of the wolds, he obferves, that the 

 warrens are numerous, and fijiiie of them very exlenfive. 

 Coldham warren is at prefent, he believes, the largell upon 

 the wolds ; and, probably, tiie moft valuable warren in the 

 ifland. The Coldham farm contains about nineteen hundred 

 acres ; and, fpeaking generally, it is all warren ; not, how- 

 ever, wholly appropriated to I'abbits, a flock of from fix to 

 eight hundred fheep being kept within the warren walls ; prin- 

 cipally, however, on one fide of the warren, away from the 

 burrowing grounds. And this appears to be a pradlice 

 peculiar to the wolds of Yorkftiire and Lincolnfliire, whofe 

 hills likewife abound much with rabbit-warrens, and where 

 better foil is appropriated to rabbit-warrens, than is perhaps 

 in any other part of the illand. The Coldham warren, in 

 point of foil, is moft of it worth from ten to twelve ftiillings an 

 acre ; fome of it fifteen or fixteen ftiillings. But the pre- 

 fent bleaknefs of the fituation renders it of little more than 

 half the value. As thefe better parts become molfy, they 

 are inclofed by a fod-wall, the furface pared and burnt, and 

 the foil broken up for arable crops. Having afforded a 

 fucceflion of crops of corn, turnips, &c. they are fown v.ith 

 grafs-feeds, and again thrown open to the rabbits and fheep. 

 In 1783, there were about two hundred acres ot tliis farm 

 under the plough, befides fome little ftieep-walk which lay 

 without the warrt-n walls. The warren therefore, at that 

 time, contained from fifteen to fixteen hundred acres ; and, ad. 

 joining to Coldham, are two more confiderable warrens ; fo 

 that there are, perhaps, three or four thoufand acres of 

 tolerably good land, lying together, and appropriated prin- 

 cipally to rabbits. 



But it is remarked in refpecl to ioil, that there is a dil- 

 advantage in ftockiug a ric/j ioil with rabbits ; a fluftl ot 

 grafs, after a dry featon, is found to produce a fcouring ; 

 which fometimes carries off great numbers. With regard 

 to the burrows on the high wolds, they are moilly on the 

 fides of hiUs ; at Coldham, principally in one deep valley ; 

 whofe fides are fteep ; giving the rabbits great freedom in 

 working. The foil, in this cafe, is about eight or ten inches 

 deep, under this a chalky rubble, of fome inches thick, 

 lying on a chalk-ftone rock. The burrows are in the fub-foil, 



R V between 



