1879.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
53 
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price averages 50 cents per pair. The price ob¬ 
tained is really low for so much nice meat, being 
considerably cheaper than poultry; but it is encour¬ 
aging, ns there is now little demand for the article. 
This success shows what may be done in this line, 
and that a demand may be created. It is proposed 
next season to enclose an acre or two of wood 
land and open field with a woven wire fence, with 
palings driven in the ground to keep them from 
burrowing out, for breeding on a larger scale. 
Rabbits are economical feeders, that is, they will 
consume the scraps of the kitchen, and weeds from 
the garden. No special pens or houses are required 
for them other than those above described. About 
the only precaution necessary is not to feed them 
with food that is wet from dew or other cause. 
Damp weeds from the garden should be allowed 
to dry before being thrown into the pens. Fodder 
corn, cabbage leaves, and similar succulent food, 
should be allowed to wilt before feeding. Breeders 
say that nine-tenths of the rabbit diseases are caused 
by feeding them wet food, though this seems rather 
any, though perhaps across with the “ Lop-ear” or 
“ Himalaya ” may give added weight and character. 
The business is one that smart boys or girls can at¬ 
tend to—except the marketing perhaps—and will 
give them interest and profit, and it is even worthy 
the attention of grown men having tracts of waste 
land good for no other purpose, or-now unutilized. 
One Year’s Use of Artificial Fertilizers. 
Can artificial fertilizers be profitably used? is a 
question of vital importance to farmers. It can not 
be settled by one year’s trial, but by noting the re¬ 
sults each year, the solution will come in due time. 
Except when soiling is practised, or a large amount 
of grain is purchased for food, most farmers on the 
older worn soils must resort to the use of purchased 
manures or fertilizers, in order to utilize the normal 
fertility of his land. The writer has been using 
artificial fertilizers for two years past, not so much 
A GROUP OF FANCY 
RABBITS. — Drawn from Life and Engraved for the American Agriculturist. 
Raising Rabbits for Profit. 
Rabbits in this country are commonly thought of 
and kept merely as pets. On waste lands in England 
they are often bred in large numbers for their meat 
and fur. To many people the meat of well fed 
rabbits makes a delicate dish when properly cooked, 
and it is nutritious and easily digested. Rabbits 
are quite as easily kept as poultry, are hardy, and 
are very prolific breeders. The writer, in connec¬ 
tion with a friend, has begun to raise the common 
farm rabbits for market. Many of them were 
killed and eaten during the past season, yet in one 
year from the time the first two pairs were brought 
on to the farm late in the fall of 1877, they had 
multiplied to the number of nearly 100, as we 
counted 87 at one time. During the first winter 
they were kept in an out building, fed on grain, 
scraps from the kitchen, and a few roots. During 
last spring they were let out doors and they soon 
burrowed holes in a neighboring bank, where they 
lived, bred and thrived. Rats and other vermin, and 
dogs, killed many of the young, but the rest bred so 
rapidly that the loss was hardly apparent. They 
were fed with the chickens through the summer, 
but got most of their living in the fields, and with¬ 
out doing any noticeable damage to the crops, 
though at night, when they do their foraging, they 
were met with even in distant parts of the farm. 
Early in November we began to catch them in box 
traps and put them in pens to fatten. Here they 
were fed on oats, a little barley, corn-meal mush, and 
some green stuff, such as carrots, dried bean and 
pea vines from the gardens, etc., etc. This “fin¬ 
ished them off” very rapidly, though already in 
good flesh from feeding on the clover stubble near 
their burrowing ground. The pens are those of an 
unused piggery, cleaned out, and a window put in 
for light. The floored yards outside were covered 
and lighted, to give them a chance for exercise ; 
6traw is kept in the inner pens for bedding, and an 
occasional dusting of plaster is given as a help to 
cleanliness. A little clover hay is also relished by 
them. A few weeks of the above feed and care 
sufficed to produce a goodly number weighing 8 
lbs. apiece, alive, and dressing 5 lbs., which sold 
readily at $1 per pair, while the ordinary market 
inexplicable, as they do most of their own foraging 
at night. Where the rabbits have the run of the 
farm or a large yard, it is unnecessary to give them 
such food in summer, as they will gather enough 
of it themselves, but when confined in pens, as 
they must be when there is danger of their dam¬ 
aging a garden or the crops, they require it. 
The fancy rabbits include many varieties, some of 
which are pretty pets, or are useful for crossing 
with the common sorts to increase their size. The 
fine engraving on this page shows the “ Himalaya ” 
rabbit on the right, which is perhaps the handsomest 
of the lot, being white, with black nose, ears, feet, 
and tail; he is large in size and his meat is good. 
‘ The “ Lop-ear,” or Madagascar rabbits are well- 
| known as the largest of them all, but in our experi¬ 
ence they are not comparatively very good breed¬ 
ers. The “ Half-lop ” is a cross between the “ Lop- 
ear ” and common rabbit, and is a homely thing, 
little valued by some who have owned them. The 
| “ Oar-lop ” on the platform nibbling at the 
; cabbage is a curious animal, and makes a good ad¬ 
dition to the collection. In the background to the 
: left of the picture sits an “Angora ” rabbit, noted 
; for its long goat-like hair. For profit in breeding 
for table use, the common farm rabbit is as good as 
as an experiment as from the necessity of growing 
crops on fields which otherwise must have lain 
idle. A trial was made in 1877, on '/ioth of an acre 
nearly, or exactly 4,287 square feet. Common wes¬ 
tern field corn was planted in the usual manner, but 
fertilized with 50 pounds of the Mapes’ corn-ma¬ 
nure. The crop was 9 bushels of shelled corn, equal 
to 90 bushels per acre. No other fertilizer or manure 
was used. In 1878, the same ground, with more 
adjoining, in all, 7,776 square feet, was dressed with 
100 lbs. of the same fertilizer and planted with 
“White Prolific” corn, procured from Tennessee. 
The crop was 43 baskets of ears weighing 1,723 lbs., 
which when shelled yielded a little over 25 measur¬ 
ed bushels of grain. The ground was a little more 
than Veth of an acre, making the yield about 150 
bushels of grain per acre. Doubtless much of this 
large yield was owing to the character of the corn 
which bore from 3 to 5 ears upon each stalk, and 
well deserved its name “Prolific.” Allowing suffi¬ 
ciently for this, the crop was satisfactory—the cost 
of the fertilizer being about $15 per acre, and the 
value of the grain alone, $75 per acre. 
In 1878, 20 acres of rye were dressed with 6,000 lbs. 
of “ grass and grain fertilizer,” 100 lbs. per acre 
being used in the fall, broad-casted after the seed 
