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THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Jakcahy 22, 1861. 
Angora Rabbit has very long fur. A breed with similarly 
lengthy coat formerly existed in the Isle of May, at the mouth of 
the Frith of Forth ( Naturalist's Library) ; and Sunk Island, 
in the Humber, was once famous for a mouse-coloured kind. 
They were extirpated on account of the injury they did to the 
banks by burrowing {Phil. Trans., No. 361). 
When variations such as we have particularised were first 
noticed, it is probable that they were caught and bred from 
separately, and that thence arose the breeds of domestic Rabbits 
which we now foster. What little we know about these will be 
stated when we consider each breed separately. 
How long it is since these domestic kinds were first cultivated 
we know not; for Tusser, the first of our writers who mentions 
them, says no more than this, when writing the abstract of 
“ January’s Husbandry,” in 1580:— 
“ Let doe go to buck, 
Wish coney good luck.” 
Half a century later, however, in 1631, we find Gervase Mark¬ 
ham writes as follows in his “ Way to Get Wealth — 
“ The boxes, in which you shall keepe your tame Conies, would 
be made of thin Wainscot-boards, some two foot square, and 
one foot high; and that square must be divided into two roomes, 
a greater roome with open windowes of wyre, thorow which the 
Conie may feed ; and a lesser roome without light in which the 
Conie may lodge and kindle, and before them both a Trough, 
in which you may put meat, and other necessaries for the Conie; 
and thus you may make boxe upon boxe in divers stories, keep¬ 
ing your Buckes by themselves, and your Does by themselves, 
except it be such Does as have not bred, and then you may let a 
Bucke lodge with them : also when your Doe hath kindled one 
nest, and then kindleth another, you shall take the first from 
her, and put them together in a severall boxe, amongst Rabbets 
of their owne age; provided, that the Boxe bo not pestred, but 
that they may have ease and liberty. 
“Now for the choice of these tame rich Conies, you shall not 
as in other Cattell, looke to their shape, but to their richnesse, 
onely elect your Buckes the largest, and goodliest Conies you 
can get: and for the richnesse of the skin, that is accounted the 
richest, which hath the equallest mixture of blacke and white 
haire together, yet the blacke rather shadowing the white, than 
the white any thing at all over-mastring the blacke, for a blacke 
skin, with a few silver haires, is much better than a white skin, 
with a few blacke haires: but as I said before, to have them 
equally, or indifferently mix’d, is the best above all other: the 
Furre would be tliicke, deepe, smooth, and shining, and a blacke 
coat without silver haires, though it be not reckoned a rich coat, 
yet it is to be preferred before a white, a pyde, a yellow, a dun, 
or a gray. 
“Now for the profit of these rich Conies, (for unlesse they did 
farre away, and by many degrees exceed the profit of all other 
Conies, they were not worthy the charge which must be be¬ 
stowed upon them) it is this : First, every one of the rich Conies 
which are killed in season ; as from Marlilmas untill after 
Candlemas, is worth any five other Conies, for they are of body 
much fatter and larger, and when another skin is worth two 
pence or three pence at the most, they are worth two shillings, 
or two shillings and sixe pence: Againe, they increase oftener, and 
bring forth more Rabbets at one kindling than any wilde Conie 
doth; they are ever ready at hand for the dish, Winter and 
Summer without charge of Nets, Ferrets, or other Engines, and 
give their bodies gratis, for their skins will ever pay their 
Masters charge with a most large interest. 
“ Now for the feeding and preservation of these rieli Conies, it 
is nothing so costly or troublesome as many have imagined, and 
as some (ignorant in the skill of keeping them) have made the 
world thinke : for the best food you can feed a Cony with, is the 
sweetest, shortest, softest, and best Hay you can get, of which 
one load will serve two hundred couples a yeere, and out of the 
stocke of two hundred, you may spend in your house two hun¬ 
dred, and sel in the Market two hundred more, yet maintaine 
the stocke good, and answer every ordinary casualty. This Hay 
in little cloven sticks, the Rabbits might with case reach it, and 
pull it out of the same, yet so, as they may not scatter nor waste 
any. In the troughes under their boxes, you shall put sweet Oates, 
and their water, and this should be the ordinary and constant food 
wherewith you should feed your Conies, for all other should be 
used but physically, as for the preservation of their healths: as 
thus, you shall twice or thrice in a fortnight, for the cooling of 
their bodies, give them Greenes; a3 Mallowes, Claver grasse, 
Sower-docks, blades of greene Come, Cabbage, or Colewort-leaves, 
and such like, all which cooleth and nourishetli exceedingly .- 
some use to give them sometimes sweet Graines, but that must- 
be used very seldome, for nothing sooner rotteth a Cony. 
“ You must also have great care, that when you cut any grasse 
for them, or other weeds, that there grow no yong Ilemlocke 
among it, for though they will eate it with all greedinesse, yet it 
is a present poison, and kills suddenly: you must also have an 
especiall care every day to make their boxes sweet and cleane, 
for the strong savour of their odour and urine is so violent, that 
it will both annoy themselves, and those which shall be frequent 
amongst them. 
“ Now for the infirmities which are incident unto them, they 
are but two : the first is rottennesse, which commeth by giving 
them too much greene meat, or gathering their greenes, and 
giving it them with the dew on ; therefore let them have it but 
seldome, and then the drinesse of the Hay will ever drinke up 
the moisture, knit them, and keepe them sound without danger. 
“ Tiie next is a certaine rage or madnesse, ingendered by cor¬ 
rupt blood, springing from the ranknesse of their keeping; and 
you shall know it by their wallowing and tumbling with their 
lieeles upward, and leaping in their boxes. The cure is, to give 
them Hare-thistle to eate, and it will heale them.” 
{To be continued.) 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Bantams {Bessie). —All Bantams are excellent layers in summer and 
winter; but it is just because their eggs are not saleable on account of 
their size that they are seldom profitable stock. We believe that any fowl 
properly and carefully fed will pay its own expenses, but Bantams’ eggs 
will never be of ready sale till all are sold by weight as they should be.. 
The Sebrights are the least mischievous anywhere—their eggs are often 
unfertile. The Game are now deservedly popular, and they are free 
breeders. You may keep four or five hens to a cock. They will do more 
good than harm in the kitchen garden. They will not do one-quarter of 
the damage that would have been done by the insects and reptiles they 
consume. If they ran together they would keep distinct from the larger 
fowls. They do not eat one-quarter as much as the large ones. We canDot 
tell you the exact cost, but you should keep Bantams well on one penny 
per week. We are unable to tell you the price of them or of Brahmas. 
Apply to Baily, Mount Street, Grosvenor Square. 
Fowls now Moulting (S. H. It .).—We cannot tell you why the pullet 
is moulting ; such things have happened in our own yards at times, but we 
can find no cause for it. You must recollect moulting is a natural process, 
and the feathers are replaced by new' ones; but it is possible for birds to 
suffer from fever of the body and skin, and consequently to lose their 
feathers : this is not moulting. We have known this to result from the 
use of meat and hempseed. but, fed as yours are, it cannot be the case. AVe 
must on this, as on all other occasions, protest against your stone floor. 
Your fowls will never do well so long as you have it. 
Making Hens Sit {Yowuj Amateur).— Broody hens will be scarce for 
some time. There have been few layers during the severe weather. We 
know no means of making a hen sit. There used to be barbarous plans in 
vogue some years ago, but they did not succeed. The only coercion we 
ever use is, when a hen does not sit closely and well we put her in a box 
without a bottom, in which she cannot stand, and is compelled to sit close 
down on the eggs. 
Dutch Rabbits Profitable ( Young Beginner). —The Dutch Rabbits are 
very pretty and useful. No breeder of Rabbits should be without two or 
three, in the event of their other does neglecting their young or dying. 
No matter how you handle the young of Dutch Rabbits. ’ I never had one 
forsake her young; whereas with the other fancy kinds many will never 
take any notice of their young at all, and, only for my Dutch nurses, I 
should often lose the pioiluce of valuable Rabbits. They are very profitable, 
being extraordinarily prolific and always in good demand. “A Young 
Beginner ” could not choose a better Rabbit to keep : they arc very hardy, 
and their colours vary just as the long-eared varieties. Some are very 
handsomely spotted. The price varies according to colour, purity of breed, 
&c., from about 4-s. to 10s. each. They are very scarce, and will pay for 
breeding.—R. S. S. 
Book about Rabbits {Idem). —We find Despony’s and all other French 
works on Rabbits so deficient, that, gleaning from them what is good, and 
under the supervision of “R. S. S.,” we begin to-day publishing what will 
be the most complete and trustworthy Ircatise on Rabbits and their 
management yet published. „ 
Guinea Pigs (F. II.).— Feed them like Rabbits. Let them have water. 
They are very prolific. The Guinea Pig is the Cavia cobttya, or Restless 
Cavy of zoologists. It is a native of Brazil. No doubt that, like squirrels, 
they are edible, but also, like squirrels, it is not usual to admit them among 
our bills of fare. They cannot endure either cold or damp. The doe 
breeds when two months old, and has from ten to fourteen young ones in 
one litter, several times a-year after a gestation of three weeks. We may 
note also that the Guinea Pig is especially fond of parsley, as well as of 
apples and almost all other fruits. 
Breeding the Grey Parrot. —Can any of your subscribers inform me 
whether any attempt has been made to breed the Grey' Parrot in this 
country, and if so with what success ? Would any one also kindly state 
their experience as to the best kind of food for them 1 I am of opinion that 
sopped bread is too relaxing.—A Constant Subscriber. 
Canaries. — Walter Hugo will find some useful information in “The 
Birdkeepcr’s Guide,” Deane & Co., Threadneedle Street, London, and 
other books on Canaries; but the best practical information he will gain by 
experience. I will endeavour to detail a little of my own experience in 
the series on “Canaries and British Finches” now publishing in The 
Cottage Gardener.— B. P. B. 
