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1858. THE CULTIVATOR. 235 
Fancy Lop-eared Rabbits, imported and bred by George P. Burnham, Boston, Mass. 
Fancy Rabbits. 
Messrs. Editors —In a late number of the 
Country Gentleman, I noticed an article from the 
pen of one of your correspondents on the subject 
of “ Lop-eared Rabbits .” As I have a few fine 
samples of this much admired stock. I send you a 
drawing (taken from life) of one of my favorite 
does, now with her young beside her. 
My fancy rabbits I imported from Dublin, from 
London, and from Liverpool. I have had five 
different lots from England and Ireland, and 
they prove very fine specimens. My rabbi try is 
constructed so as to accommodate forty breeders, 
each in separate hutches, which are arranged in 
tiers, or ranges of boxes, one above another, five 
in number from floor to ceiling. The hutches are 
each about 3 feet long, 15 inches high, and 28 
inches deep. At one end is an apartment, divided 
off for sleeping, and for the doe’s convenience. 
The front is wired, the floors slant to the rear for 
drainage, and there is a flap-door behind each 
hutch or cage, which is raised for the purpose of 
cleaning out the boxes daily. 
I feed them upon oats, rufca bagas, clover hay, 
beets, turneps and carrots; and, in the summer, 
upon other seasonable vegetables, with brewers’ 
grains, corn meal, etc. In one end of my rabbit 
house, I have a portion of it divided off from the 
main hutches, (or breeding room,) into two apart- 
- ments, for the young rabbits, after being taken 
from the does. From these two apartments, there 
are small doors opening out at the southwesterly 
side of the rabbitry, upon a clover lawn, where, 
for an hour or two each pleasant day, the young 
ones are permitted to sp«rt and enjoy exercise. 
The old rabbits are kept up, altogether, in the 
hutches, where they thrive well with judicious 
feeding and care. 
These rabbits are both for the table and as 
“pets.” They reach a great size, and often 
weighing 12 or 13 lbs. each, and more; while the 
beauty of their forms, the[r varied colors, and 
their long pendant ears, make them a pleasing no¬ 
velty among those who have a taste for similar 
favorites on the farm or rural retreat. 
The demand for purely bred fancy rabbits has 
been altogether beyond the supply in this country, 
for the past year or two. I shall have a few pairs 
to dispose of by and bye, and shall be happy to 
furnish any of your readers who may come in sea¬ 
son, with such as I may have, at four to six 
months of age, bred from the imported animals. 
Yours truly, Geo. P. Burnham. Boston , Mass. 
Practical Farmers—Farming on Long Island. 
The first and most important question which 
arises in taking this subject in view, is, “ who is 
the practical farmer?” This is probably the most 
disputed question in agriculture. But in my 
mind it is easily answered. It is he who under¬ 
stands the art and science of farming , and can 
base his plans on no false theory, but on the sci¬ 
entific baseof husbandry, and then see them carri¬ 
ed out in a manner which shall prove his know¬ 
ledge of the practice, or if you please/' “ by the 
sweat of his brow.” 
But let us notice the practical farmer of the 
present day, or more properly, he who calls him¬ 
self the practical farmer. He can boast of an an¬ 
cestry of practical farmers, who have impove- 
