THE RABBIT PEST.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8854, 3 July 1907, Page 4

THE RABBIT PEST.

■The following paper, by Mr C. Watson, of tho Stock Department, was read at the meeting of Waitnna ftabbit Committee Daring the past season rabbits have* increased and spread over practically the whole of this end of the Hanterville division. Too widespread nature of the increase has been so rapid that I have no hesitation in saying that unless more drastic measures ho taken tor its srepression, where a 'few rabbits are to ho seen uow hundreds will ho roeu within a few years. In a few places satisfactory work baa been done to destroy rabbits, chiefly with poison, but genera’ly speaking the'e is a lamentable lack of united ami systematic effort, and in some cases an apparently complete ini difference to destroying rabbits, io ! ensure success in coping with the i pest simultaneous, energetic, and j systematic work by landholders is I absolutely necessary. When only a few rabbits are on a property it is often possible to -destroy them by hunting with trained dogs in cou- . junction with accurate shoot'iig, but I whei e tb.ov are successfully chased I s with dogs "or shot at a few times, as thev arc in the great majority oi case, where any attempt at all is made to kill them, their natural timidity s so thorough 1 y aroused

Itnat many of them spread out over adjoining country, and the remainder rarelv conic out of the sate harbourage afforded by bellow logs, tree roots, ote., until after nightfall. Fresh indications of these, chiefly in the shape of scratchings and excreta, can easily hi found, yet hunt the around close as one may it is often impossible to trad a sivgle rabbitTins, coupled with the circumstance tnat even when left unmolested they rarely leave their hiding places on dull, cold, rainy days,_ or very hot days, is the explanation of the widely known fact tnat many landholders have never seen a rabbit on their farms though they (therabbits) have boon there for months. In the face of the above and considering the phenomenal fecundity of rabbits, does it seem feasible or possible to keep them under control, much less eradicate them, by the use of dogs or .shooting where they arc in uvnnba l ’s and have the secure harbourage that this country so plentifully aoft'rds? The difficulty of killing thoroughly frightened rabbits though great Weed is as nothing to the c:cater difficulty of finding them, which is of times insurmountable. Poisoning, in comparison, is simplicity itself. With this method the difficulty of finding rabbits disappears. You dout’ need to find them. Yon leave 'the locality quiet j for a few weeks to enable them to recover from their abnormal fear.

thou lay poison where there arc fresh indications, and in tho [great majority of eases that will ho found to bo nil that is uccosasry for some considerable time. Tho fewer rabbits the -o are on tho Around tho more readily they take poison, provided it bo laid so that they can find it. Compared with phosphorised pollard poisoning, hunting with dogs and shooting are slow, crude, expousivo, obsolete, and ineffective methods; they belong to a very early stage of man’s knowledge of the rabbit difficulty. Years ago in the South Island, in exhaustive trials, often under oven more favourable conditions, they failed absolutely. Simultaneous poisoning with phospborised pollard poison is tho cheapest, quickest, and most effective method of destruction. - To give this poison the best cbauco of being successful it must bo freshly and proprely prepared and laid. Never use stale, musty or sour poison. A successful poisoning can usually be obtained about _ three times in the year, say, once in July or August, once iu November or December, and once in March or April. Feed being abundant lias little or nothing to do with rabbits refusing to take poison. They take it, not because other feed is scarce, but probably because they are attracted by the smell of the pollard, and it is a change from their usual diet. If it bo continually laid they soon got accustomed to it and refuse to touch it. Laid at rare intervals it almost, always gives satisfactory results. There is little, if auy, danger of poisoning stock if the poison be carefully laid. It has been extensively used with excellent results in different parts of the Hnutcrvillo division, and lam not aware of any stock having been poisoned. To lay poison place one, or at the most two, pieces of pollard poison on the top of thin turned-up sods, cut every few yards iu rows about one chain apart on the ground where indications of rabbits are to be seen, or in small boles cut in the ground three inches deep, if tho owner is afraid of poiosniug stock. To enable you to form an estimate of bow much poison an area of infected laud will require, I may say that one pound will satisfactorily poison four acres on which rabbits are fairly numerous. Tho chief factors that contribute to a successful poisoning are ;

1. Previous to poisoning leave the rabbits undisturbed for three weeks or a month if convenient. 2. Simultaneous and thorough work by landholders. S 3. The use of freshly and properly prepared pollard poison laid in the manner that I have described. 4. Poison to be laid in flue weather, although good results have often been obtained in wet weather. 5. This is a very important item. Complete the poisoning of block of ground in shortest possible time—in one day if possible. If part of a small rabbit-infected area of ground be poisoned to-day and the remaining part be not poisoned until a few days have passed the result will rarely bo found to be altogether satisfactory. The squealing of poisoned rabbits frishteus the ones that have not found poison, owing to the whole of the area not having been poisoned, and when the poisoning later on bo completed the rabbits remaining will rarelv take the poison, C>. Don't have dogs with you when poisoning, and for six or seven days afterwards leave the ground'qniet, Iu poisoning bush do not lay the poison under the shade of the tree ; lay it half a chain away from the edge of the bush. j The responsibility of the land- ! holder does not necessarily end with i having ttsed any particular method !of destruction, Responsibility only 1 ends with the extermination of the rabbits. If necessary, poisoning must he followed by other methods lof destruction. Never destroy the 'natural enemy. Encourage its increase by every possible means. I Poison and the natural enemy have 'practically externum tel rabbits Jin large areas in the South Island,

THE PROCESS OF DIGESTION. Tiie process of digestion may bo classed under four heads, viz.—Masticatiou, or chewing tbe food, and mixing it with the saliva, the glands of which discharge a fluid that cannot be dispensed with in the process of digestion. Secondly, the food thus prepared is carried into the stomach, where it mixes with the juices provided for the purpose, and thirdly, it is brought gradually into contact with the' coating of tho stomach, so that it may receive the requisite ouantity of gastric juice, The fourth stage consists of passing off iho chyme or food, thus operated , ou in the stomach, and where in! this sta»e it receives tho bile and , secretions of the pancreas; these ; separate the nutritious portion from that which is intended to pass off as waste through the agency of the • bile, the natural physic of the body. Simple as the process of digestion appears, Jfc is subject to many and serious derangements. In this eon* nectiou Iropey's May Apple will cure or relieve in every case, and has never been known to fail, Chemists and stores, 2s 6d per bottle,