Vol. LIX. No. 2638. 
BELGIAN HARES ON THE FARM. 
WHAT ARE THEY GOOD FOR? 
How Do They Rank With Chickens ? 
There has been a great deal said in the papers 
about Belgian hares, and there is more and more in¬ 
terest developing in their breeding, which is very 
largely by those who are interested in selling stock 
at fancy prices, but there has been almost nothing 
from the everyday side of the business. Now, we 
have been keeping Belgian hares on our farm for 
several years, and almost entirely for home use, just 
as any other animals are kept. We have tried to 
keep up the blood, and think we have some good 
stock, but w^ have none that we are foolish enough 
to ask or pay hundreds of dollars for, or any other 
exorbitant price; although we have had some to 
weigh from eight to nine pounds each, and of good 
color and style. We kill and eat them at any time 
of year, just as we do chickens or any other farm 
stock, and we have never kept anything that has 
given less trouble and more profit. The old ones are 
too strongly flavored to be very good in the Summer 
NEW YORK, AUGUST 18, 1900. 
tops of Silver poplar, Balm of Gilead, aspen, sas¬ 
safras, and many other trees and shrubs. There is 
no danger of poisoning them, their instinct being a 
safe guide as to wnat they should eat, unless they are 
starved into eating what is not good for them. 
There is no need of a special house for hares, al 
though this would perhaps often be as cheap a way 
to arrange for them as any other. Let the boys and 
girls have a chance to keep a few. They will find 
some place for them, but remember, the cats and rats 
must be kept out. Inch-mesh wire netting will keep 
them out and the young rabbits in. If they are kept 
on the ground they will dig like gophers, and the 
wire fence must be set two feet deep. The old 
bucks must be kept shut up, and the breeding does 
must each be kept in separate pens. They bear con¬ 
finement very well. A pen 3x7 gives ample room for 
a doe and her young. Four litters can easily be 
raised in a year. It is.really surprising what a lot of 
rabbits can be reared from one doe within a year; 
for the young does can be bred within six months, 
and may safely be counted on for two litters of six 
each before the year is up. We have had litters of 
*1 PER YEAR 
GRAIN CROPS IN FRANCE. 
WHEAT A STAPLE CROP. 
Rye or Crimson Clover Hay. 
The principal grain crop grown in France is the 
wheat. We sow it from the beginning of October to 
the last of November; sometimes later, according to 
weather or other circumstances. As a rule we put 
the wheat crop after mangels for cattle and sugar 
beets (and after tobacco in the districts where this 
plant is grown, to a certain extent). We also sow it 
after turnips, Swedes, mangels, beets, radishes, peas, 
etc., grown for the seed; also after tares grown for 
soiling purposes. In fact, we put wheat in our best- 
prepared ground, as for most of the farmers, it is 
the money crop. With regard to the varieties grown 
in our district, I can mention Japhet, Red Noah, and 
Blue Noah as the most popular. For the last two 
years I have grown myself a variety called Red 
Chinese, that seems well adapted to our soil and 
climate. The average yield of wheat is about 30 
bushels per acre, more or less, according to the fer¬ 
tility of the soil, and to the care given to the crop. 
A FULL FAMILY OF BELGIAN HARES FROM BOSTON. Fig. 190. 
and we use them only in Winter, but the young ones 
are excellent at any time. 
They will eat almost anything that is good for 
a cow, and some things that she would not touch. 
Many kinds of weeds seem to suit their taste exactly. 
We give our rabbits the tops and scraps of garden 
vegetables, potatoes, sweet potatoes, apple parings, 
cores, and almost any refuse fruits. They like 
grains and ground feed, and fatten on it. In V/inter 
we give them prunings from the fruit trees, which 
they relish, and these doubtless act as a tonic, if not 
a food. Hay and fodder they like, but we have never 
tried silage. Perhaps it would be to their taste. 
One source of food that occurred to me is a lot of 
Carolina poplar trees that line the streets of the vil¬ 
lage, in the outskirts of which we live. I had known 
of the fondness of cattle and Indian ponies for cot¬ 
tonwood bark and leaves in the West, and so I tried 
the rabbits on the tops of this tree, which is a closr 
relative of the western cottonwood. They ate everj 
leaf and peeled branches as clean of bark as if ii 
had been done with knives. We feed them chiefly on 
this food during the growing season, and have thus 
turned the tops of a great many trees into good, ten¬ 
der meat, and gave them much-needed pruning. The 
manager of the town company talked of paying us 
for the job, but never did it. They will also eat the 
12 repeatedly, although this is more than any doe 
should be allowed to raise at once. We have had 
very little disease among our hares. Dysentery, 
from giving too much of one kind of food, has been 
the principal trouble. They need a great variety, 
and not a gorge of any one thing, no matter what it 
is. With plenty of green food they need little water. 
Start in a small way and work gradually into a drove 
of Belgian hares, that will be a pleasing novelty on 
the farm and a source of profit as well. Pay no 
fancy prices. I like rabbit hunting, and have done 
much of it, but it is very handy to be able to go 
out any day and get a nice “fry” without having to 
chase “Brother Cottontail” for miles and maybe get 
only a glimpse of him through the bushes now and 
then. H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
California Hares.—As for supplying meat for a farm¬ 
er’s table, it is certainly worth while keeping as many 
as will do that. The majority of our neighbors keep 
them for that purpose, and are very well pleased with 
the plan. The meat is very much better than that of 
wild rabbits, and many consider it better than chicken. 
In the East clover would probably be found to take the 
place of Alfalfa for feed, and may be fed either green or 
cured. Care must be taken not to change too abruptly 
from dry feed to green, and green feed should not be 
given when wet. With us they seem less liable to dis¬ 
ease than poultry and require less room. F. w. b. 
We never put fresh farmyard manure to grow wheat, 
the soil being generally rich enough to produce a 
good crop. However, if a piece of wheat does not 
look well in the Spring we sow from 100 to 200 pounds 
of nitrate of soda to the acre, and give a good har¬ 
rowing, and the crop always responds well to this 
treatment. 
We use horse-drills with four or five teeth to sow 
all our grain and peas; we put from 120 to 150 
pounds of wheat seed to the acre. Some farmers sow 
Red clover or Alfalfa in the Spring in their pieces of 
wheat; others do not sow anything, but as soon as 
the crop is harvested, they give the land a light plow¬ 
ing and sow Crimson clover for soiling, which is 
very extensively grown all over the western and cen¬ 
tral parts of France. A large part of the ground 
having brought up a crop of wheat is kept in order to 
sow oats or barley the following Spring. The far¬ 
mers sell half of their wheat crop as soon as thrashed 
in August, September or October, and keep the re¬ 
mainder to sell when they want money, finishing in 
June or July to clean the granaries for the next crop. 
As a rule it is sold to local dealers, who deliver it to 
the large mills. 
Rye is seldom grown where the soil is favorable to 
the production of wheat; it is cultivated in lieu of 
wheat where the ground is too poor for this staple 
