KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



93 



a small supply of good dry hay or oats daily , there 

 is not the least fear in giving an unlimited 

 quantity. 



We fed our own rahbits last summer, entirely on 

 green food, for several weeks. This principally 

 consisted of carrot and parsnip tops, strawberry 

 leaves, French bean pods in their unripe state, 

 lettuces, groundsel, and other plants. Cabbage 

 we use as little as possible ; the rabbits do not 

 much like it, and it is not very good for them. 



We will now give a list of many of the vegetables 

 that are good food for rabbits. All through the 

 summer there will be an ample supply from the 

 garden and hedges. Dandelion, groundsel, sow- 

 thistle, dock-leaves, peas-haulm, lettuce ; straw- 

 berry, raspberry, and currant leaves ; carrot, 

 parsnip, potato, and horseradish tops; all kinds 

 of grasses, celery ; French-beans in the pod, vine- 

 dressings, apple-parings, &c, &c. But we need 

 not further enumerate, when there is scarcely any 

 vegetable which rabbits will not eat ; but before 

 all other things, they prefer parsley, carrot-tops, 

 French-beans'— both leaves, stalks, and pods. 



As soon as the peas and kidney-beans have 

 done bearing, let them be pulled up and given to 

 the rabbits, together with all the pods not wanted 

 for use. In the autumn, when green food becomes 

 scarcer, we give the waste scarlet-runner stalks, 

 of which they are very fond ; also the leaves 

 which now fall in abundance from the apple and 

 other trees ; and when the garden supplies fail, 

 there is generally plenty of marsh-mallows, dock, 

 ground-ivy, and grasses from the hedges, to form 

 an abundance of green food for some time longer. 

 In the winter, carrots, parsnips, Swede and com 

 mon turnips, together with brewers' grains, mixed 

 with toppings or pollard, supply the lack of fresh 

 vegetables. We never use grains in the summer, 

 because they so soon turn sour and mouldy ; and 

 much better food can then be obtained. 



We must not omit to tell you that rabbits like 

 the young bark of trees ; for this reason we supply 

 ours in the winter with small branches and twigs, 

 which they either strip or entirely consume. We 

 throw to the young ones the prunings of vines, 

 currant, apple, and other trees, except such as 

 laurels and evergreens, said to be poisonous. 

 Nibbling these twigs is excellent amusement for 

 rabbits, and besides keeping them in health, 

 serves as a portion of their food. 



Here, then, we have shown that there is no need 

 for starving rabbits, when there is such an 

 abundant variety of food suitable for them, and at 

 all times to be procured. One writer observes, 

 that when rabbits die, ninety-nine times out of 

 the hundred starvation is the malady; and par- 

 ticularly short-feeding the doe while and before 

 she has young ones. 



Feeding. — It is best to feed rabbits three, or 

 even four times a-day ; because, when they are fed 

 only twice during that time, a larger quantity of 

 food must be given at each feeding, which is too 

 often wasted. Rabbits appear to relish their food 

 best when given in small quantities, and you will 

 soon learn how much to give at each time you 

 feed, so as to avoid waste, and yet for the rabbits 

 to have enough. The does must be well kept, as 

 we have just said, both before and after they have 

 young ones ; or it is useless to expect their pro- 

 duce to be vigorous and healthy. A doe with a 



litter will eat twice as much as at any other time, 

 and must be liberally supplied with green food 

 and carrots and parsnips, raw or boiled ; as well as 

 with oats and hay. A few days both before and 

 after hitting, every evening, we give to our does a 

 few table -spoonfuls of gruel, made either with 

 flour or oatmeal ; and we find this a good practice, 

 as the animal appears to suffer a good deal from 

 thirst about that period ; care must be taken not 

 to give this while it is hot, nor is it necessary to 

 give much when there is an abundance of green 

 meat. A little cold water or milk may be given 

 instead of the gruel; we have never found it to 

 hurt any of our rabbits. 



Young rabbits, when they first come out to 

 feed, must not be allowed to eat the greens with 

 which the doe is supplied ; but they may nibble 

 at carrots and other roots, and at the little twigs 

 we have mentioned, and gradually be accustomed 

 to partake of a more moist diet. 



Breeding. — Rabbits begin to breed when about 

 five or six months old, and will give seven or 

 eight litters in the year ; though it is better to 

 allow them only to have five, as too frequent 

 breeding is injurious. In thirty days after being 

 with the buck, the doe produces her young. A 

 few days before the time, some hay must be given 

 to her, with which, and the down she pulls from 

 her fur, she will construct her bed. It is always 

 a sign of the approaching birth of the young, 

 when she begins to bite down the hay, or carry it 

 about in her mouth, and to tear the flue from her 

 body. There are generally from four to ten 

 young ones, sometimes more ; but it is far better 

 when the doe has so many, to keep only five or 

 six of the finest ; they will then grow up strong 

 and healthy, and the doe will not be so much 

 weakened as if all had been preserved. At the 

 end of six weeks, the young brood may be removed ; 

 and the doe and buck come together again. Great 

 care is required during very severe weather, to 

 prevent the young from dying with cold ; and for 

 this reason it is better to allow the doe to rest 

 during the winter. The best breeding rabbits 

 are said to be those produced in March. 



Like all other animals, rabbits degenerate when 

 much breeding takes place among the same race 

 for a long period; this is called, breeding "in 

 and in." It is proper, therefore, to make 

 changes from time to time, by procuring a fresh 

 kind to improve your stock. Rabbit fanciers pay 

 some attention to this ; but if it were made more 

 a matter of science, as it is with the race-horse, a 

 very superior breed of rabbits might be pro- 

 duced. 



Fattening.— There is no need to resort to any 

 other method in preparing rabbits for the table, 

 than to give them as much oats, carrots, and 

 green food as they choose to take. If fattened 

 with corn alone, the flesh is not so juicy and 

 relishing as when they are also allowed an un- 

 limited quantity of vegetables. They are in the 

 greatest perfection from about three to seven 

 months old; and about a month's feeding, as 

 advised, will make them thoroughly fat, provided 

 they have not been half-starved previously. The 

 London poulterers exhibit fine specimens of fatted 

 rabbits at Christmas ; some we have seen weighing 

 upwards of fifteen pounds ; but it is not desir- 



