302 



TEE AOBICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



before hearing of the "Morant" hutch. 

 My own breeding does are kept in good 

 roomy hutches, and the sides of the shed 

 being wattled and not plastered, allows a 

 free current of air to pass continually 

 through the place. Shed roof of i hatch. 

 Barring? the troible of the hutches having 

 to be cleaned out regularly, and the use 

 of p. little disinfectant to keep t'^em nice 

 and sweet, I have no cause for complaint. 

 The young ones are taken from their 

 mothers at the age of 5 to 6 we^ks, and 

 are put by themselves into large hutches 

 in the shed, and from there, when a little 

 stronger, into a covered run. About a 

 month later they are put into open wire 

 netting runs, which contain a few boxes 

 or sheets of iron for shade and protection 

 from weather, and there they remain until 

 fit for market. Of course this process 

 entails the gathering of green food to feed 

 the hares on. 



As regards green food, one cannot go 

 far wrong, grass, blackjacks, thistles, cab- 

 bages, turnips, swedes, sweet potato tops, 

 and roots, etc., they will thrive on, and a 

 handf ull of mealie bran should be given 

 to each hare once a day, evening for 

 preference. 



The does go with young 30 days, and 

 should not be bred from before they are 

 six months old. About three days after 

 the young ones are weaned they may be 

 put to the buck again. An hour will be 

 found amply sufficient for keeping the 

 doe with the buck, longer than this does 

 harm to buck and doe. The litter will 

 vary from 5 to 9, but I consider 5 or 6 are 

 sufficient for the mother to rear thoroughly 

 well. It is as well to give the does a 

 little salt in their bran when they are 

 weaning their young, as this helps to dry 

 up the milk, A pinch may also be given 

 occasionally to the young stock to keep 

 them in health, 



I find it a good plan to operate on the 

 young bucks, as this prevents a lot of 

 fighting, and in my idea makes them fill 

 out quicker ; it also enables one to run 

 bucks and does together. A Native will 

 become an adept at this work with once 

 showing, and the danger is practically 

 nil. 



The hares are ready for market from 

 five to six months old, and a six month 

 old hare should weigh from 5^ to G^lbs. ; 

 they will lose l|lbs. in the cleaning. Of 



course, the longer they are kept the 

 heavier they will grow (some of my breed- 

 ing does weighing 91bs. each), but as soon 

 as they are fit for market they should be 

 sold, as every extra week adds to the 

 expense of keep, and lessens the profits. 



They are apparently a little slower 

 growing in this country than in England, 

 but this I fancy most people will have 

 found with any kind of stock. 



Another thing which I had almost 

 forgotten to mention is that when a doe 

 has young she should be given a little 

 water or milk ; if the weather is hot her 

 thirst may cause her to eat the young. 

 This eating the young seldom occurs, and 

 when it does is generally put down by 

 many people to the mother's jealousy of 

 her young and not liking anyone to go 

 near her, but I can assure them thirst is 

 the cause. I have bred very many 

 hundreds, but have never once found a 

 doe to eat her young ones through 

 examining the nest or handling the 

 young, even if only a few hours old. 



If rats should prove troublesome, which 

 I have not found to be the case, Lloyd- 

 Price suggests small pieces of sponge 

 soaked in honey and baked in the oven 

 being placed about their haunts as a very 

 efficient remedy. 



Cats I have also had no bother with, as 

 my own have been practically bred up 

 amongst the hares, and consequently take 

 no notice of them. 



And now, having bred your hare, you 

 will find that there are several ways of 

 cooking him to advantage. One I can 

 recommend is— cut him in pieces and put 

 in a deep pie dish with a good crust top 

 and bottom, a little water to help the 

 gravy, and snippets of bacon here and 

 there among the pieces for the sake of 

 variety, seasoning to taste. I can assure 

 you if you are blest with a good country 

 appetite you might go further and fare 

 worse. 



In proportion to area, it has been declared by 

 a French writer that there is no country m 

 Europe in which agricultural co-operation has 

 been more extensively adopted than in the 

 Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Last year there 

 were 760 associations, with 43,568 members, 

 divided into the following branches :— (1) Socie- 

 ties for creating new roads and improving the 

 land (2) associations for buying artificial man- 

 ures and implements, (3) live stock insurance 

 companies, and (4) butter factory associations. 



