92 



Rabbit Breeding in Belgium. 



width of clearance in the frame of machine, and conse- 

 quently the drum is from one-quarter to half an inch less. 

 The Customs authorities maintain that the correct reading of 

 the new tariff is that the drum must not be less than 54 inches 

 wide, and this has been confirmed after an appeal to St. 

 Petersburg. There is now no alternative but for the makers 

 to increase the width of the machine as much as will allow 

 the drum to be 54 inches wide. Mr. Smith thinks that it 

 might be advisable for the interested British makers to 

 collectively approach the Russian Government to obtain 

 the recognition of the present make of thresher as being tech- 

 nically a 54 inch machine. 



The practical abolition of the duty upon steam-ploughing 

 tackle ought, in Mr. Smith's opinion, to have an important 

 bearing upon the development of this trade, the more so 

 when the great weight of a complete tackle with, say, two 

 14-horse-power compound portable engines is considered. It 

 will be interesting to see if such a great reduction in duty 

 will lead to a greater demand among the large proprietors 

 and farmers of Russia, as well as a willingness on the part 

 ot the British makers of this class of machinery to take 

 advantage of the opportunity for business now offered them. 



[Foreign Office Report, Annual Series, No. 2255, Price 2L] 



Rabbit Breeding in Belgium. 



The breeding of domestic rabbits for the purposes of food 

 and for export is more or less common with the Belgian 

 peasantry, and in the province of West Flanders they 

 are raised in such quantities that thousands of dressed 

 carcases are shipped weekly to the London markets. The 

 imports of rabbits from Belgium into the United Kingdom 

 during the past five years have averaged 86,000 cwts. yearly, 

 of the estimated value of ,£234,030, and it is calculated that 

 this weight represents an annual shipment from Belgium of 

 about 2,200,000 dressed rabbits. 



Five kinds of domesticated rabbits are bred in Belgium — 

 viz., the ordinary Flemish, the Flemish Giant, the Russian, 



