June 12. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
189 
light, and fed with a very limited quantity of fresh vegetables, 
the remainder of the food being oats, pollard, hay, &c. 
Now, mark the result. Iu scarcely any instance do they 
repay their cost. When killed, their flesh is white, soft, 
and bloodless, compared to that of a warren rabbit, and 
very frequently they will bo found diseased—white, scrofulous 
tubercles of the liver being especially frequent. 
To show the result of an opposite mode of treatment, I 
took a large doe, which had been kept twelve months in an 
ordinary hutch, and fed with oats unlimited. I selected her, 
because all her previous offspring had tuberculous livers, 
and placed her in a dry out-house paved with flat tiles, with 
a south door closed with wire-work by day, fed with an 
unlimited supply of green food, and gave her daily a 
handful of waste hay, straw, or clover-chaff; under this 
treatment her dung, which was previously often soft, 
became hard and dry, her size increased, and she had 
strong, healthy litters, which were fed in precisely the same 
way; these grew rapidly, and were of undeniable excellence 
as table rabbits, being perfectly free from any scrofulous 
taint whatever. 
The vegetables used as food were freshly gathered, and, of 
course, in rainy weather were given in a wet state. We are 
informed, even in the latest published hooks on rabbits, that 
wet herbage is poison to them, and that too much green 
meat causes the rot. This I believe to be the case when 
the animals are confined iu hutches; but in open courts, 
or paved rooms, as described, I can testify, from experience, 
that they may be fed entirely on vegetables, and yet be in 
perfect health, as indicated amongst other signs by their firm, 
round, and solid dung. 
I believe that a change of vegetables is absolutely 
essential. 'Where there is a large garden, the outer leaves 
and stumps of cabbage, brocoli, &c., may he the staple. 
Any of the labiate plants, as dead nettles, and the various 
sweet herbs, thyme, marjoram, &c.; parsley, celery, liog- 
weed, and a large number of umbelliferous plants; 
dandelion, sow-thistle, groundsel, and many of composite, 
chickweed, goose-grass, mallows; in fact, almost any garden 
or field vegetable, turnip-tops being the one for which they 
seem to care least. Grass, though last-named, is not the 
least valuable. 
The quantity of green meat eaten by them when kept in 
this manner is enormous, being, I think, out of all pro¬ 
portion greater that that consumed by any other domestic 
animal; but it is all either refuse from the garden, or may 
be gathered from any hedgerow, and, unless a pig is kept, 
must be thrown away. 
The liquid-manure they produce may be absorbed by dry 
mould, and, with the dung, makes a fertilising compost of 
great value, which will fully repay the trouble of attending 
to them. 
There is one period at which, if more breeding does than 
one are kept, it is necessary to remove them into a separate 
hutch, or dwelling, namely, a week before and a fortnight after 
littering. The buck also must not be permitted to run at 
large, and young males must be killed, or removed, when 
three months old. 
Let me beg any one who has the conveniences to try this 
plan. The daily cost of litter clover-chaff is a very small 
matter, compared with that of the oats and pollard usually 
employed, and the evidently increased happiness of the 
animals, as indicated by their gambols, and their luxurious 
basking in the sun, is in itself a sufficient motive with 
persons whose fondness for animals is not confined to those 
that appear on the dining-table.—W. B. Tegetheier, Wood 
Grove, Tottenham. 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
GARDENING. 
RAISING PRIMULAS FROM SEED. 
“ In an article in your paper of the 24th April, 1855, by 
Mr. Beaton, on Primulas, &c., he says, that being once run 
out of these flowers he wrote to Mr. Carter, and had a 
mixture from him, from which, next season, ho had 5,000 
blooming plants; but he does not say what course he pur¬ 
sued as to sowing. Although very fond of such flowers, I 
have found it difficult to rear Auriculas and Polyanthuses in 
large quantities, having found them so fond of “ fogging 
off,” when quite small plants, that I should he glad to know 
how to raise these plants easily in some quantity, as I quite 
agree with Mr. Beaton’s remarks on the beauty and variety 
of this tribe.—H. M. G.” 
[If “ II. M. G.” will read over those articles again, he 
will find his questions answered to the very letter. There 
is no more difficulty in raising a mixture of common border 
Auriculas and Polyanthuses from seed, than so much 
Spinach, although a more refined treatment was given to 
meet such cases as the present. Before “ H. M. G.” reads 
this, and orders his seeds, the season for sowing them will be 
over. It is of littleusefor him tosowsucli seeds after the 10 th 
of June, unless he has the means of sheltering the seedlings 
during the winter. Mr. Carter’s shop was “run” upon for 
these as soon as the thing was mentioned. Some bought 
sixpenny packets, and some took double the quantity. All 
the packets were ordered as mixed so-and-so—mixed border 
Auricula; mixed Polyanthus ; mixed Cowslip ; mixed Moun¬ 
tain Pinks ; and mixed every seed named. A bed was pre¬ 
pared in the kitchen-garden, and the seeds were covered 
with sifted soil. A lady prepared all these things herself 
from The Cottage Gardener's directions, and then sent 
for the writer to sow the seeds. There were twelve or fifteen 
kinds, all in mixtures, from the lists in The Cottage 
Gardener.] 
EVERGREENS FOR A NORTH WALL. 
“ Required, the three best Evergreen Creepers for the 
north side of a house in south Derbyshire.—H. W.” 
[Buy Ceanothus thyrsiflorus, Escalonia macrantha, and 
Cotoneaster microphyfla. All of them must be trained and 
nailed to the wall. We have no real Evergreen Creepers for 
a north wall, except Ivy.] 
LIST OF VERBENAS, PETUNIAS, AND CALCE¬ 
OLARIAS FOR BEDDING.—POTTING OFFSETS OF ! 
VALLOTA PURPUREA. 
“ I should feel greatly obliged if Mr. Beaton would kindly 
name a dozen or eighteen of the best Verbenas for bedding 
as a small selection, with their colours; also, six or more 
Petunias , and from eight to twelve Calceolarias. I send my 
present list, and shall be glad of Mr. Beaton’s advice which 
to keep, and which to exchange for better, as well as what 
to add, but I have not room for many.” 
“ Verbenas. —Miller’s Favourite, Mont Blanc, Walton’s 
Emma, Emperor of China, St. Margaret, Defiance, Clotilde, i 
Eclipse, Triumphant, King of Purples. 
[Add Wonderful (from Turner), the best and nearest to 
blue; Mrs. Woodroof (from Henderson, Pine-Apple Place), 
a stronger variety of Defiance, with larger flowers ; and 
Hellen, if you can get it a Mulberry, and you have the best 
we know.] 
“ Petunias. —Milleri, Slirubland Rose, Slirubland White. 
[Add Prince Albert and Devoniensis.] 
“ Calceolarias. —Trentham Yellow. Aurantia multiflora. 
Golden Chain. Amplexicaulis. Sulpliurea splendens. 
Sultan. Phoebus. Magnificent. Shankleyana." 
[Add Rugosa integrifolia with Kentish Hero, and you will 
have all the best hedders of the family.] 
“ P.S. I have a number of fine offsets of Vallota purpurea 
round the old bulb, which is in a 7-inch pot; when should I 
remove them ? and should I pot them singly, or three or four 
in a pot ? and what size of pot in inches ?—A Subscriber.” 
[We cannot recommend collections of any bedding-plants, 
as our lists would only entrap others who did not know 
better. Your own are among the very best, and except 
what we have marked, you cannot buy better ones. Every 
one ought to have the Wonderful Verbena from Mr. Turner, 
of Slough, who bought the stock, and showed it last summer. 
See for our account of it in the Index. Mrs. Woodroof is 
the largest scarlet Verbena flower we have seen; but we do 
not know the habit. It is an accidental seedling from 
