FOLDING RABBITS ON POOR PASTURES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1719, 12 July 1883, Page 3

FOLDING RABBITS ON POOR PASTURES.

"£0 THE EDITOR. Slß,— l send you an extract from the Field of April 21st, 1883, which it seems to mo may be, of sufficient interest to be worth your publishing. There has been a good deal of correspondence in the English agricultural papers lately on the sub- '■ ject of rabbit* as stock for poor land, but ■■; It has all been based on the idea of enclosed warrens, within which the rabbits , flygto to be bred much as wild ones, and * ftfej|^;or»hotwhen required for marJwfc.^X3ftpt»in Morant's idea, however, is^^Uevij, an entirely new one, and it ■ ireacU liltea very feasible one. That the /vi^^^ll^Ottldtbe far healthier kept on jthafplWaJihan in hutches with wooden )>ott^4 jfeem|, plain enough, while the advantages of having them under thorough control to kill at the most profitable agep, feed in a regular manner, and distribute the manure evenly, and where it may bo wanted, seem to be enormously in favour of this- system. Manure from grain-fed rabbits should BUrely be as valuable as any farm yard manure could be. This plan should suit well for orchard* j the rabbits being under thorough control could not in any way damage the trees, and they would be making good use of the grass in a place < where the hutches would be out of the way of ' the^ cattle, I 'dp not know whether Belgian hare-rabbits are procurable in Auckland or not, but should think it probable that they are so ; their size would make them /and the crosses fron^ them .tnore profitable jtMaii :.ordina'ry rabbits. ",SHyer-grjeWare also ''sjjoken of . as.very.profitablo.to.br^ed fqniraccoiintj of ' ■mmmmmMMfm

scale, and let us • know results through the medium of your paper that I have sent you this. What are rabbits and rabbit skins worth in Auckland ?— I am, &c, Wasp, [enclosure.] Sib, — The fecundity of rabbits is well known ; also, the fact that few animals give so quick or good a. return for the Food they oat ; yet, though I have read most of the books written on the subject, I cannot find that they have been kept profitably in any considerable numbers in any house or court yet invented. We have tried several plans ourselves, all failures up to last year, as epedemics broke out among the young ones aud carried them off. This, I believe, is entirely owing to the bad air they breathe, and to the offensive condition of their hutches, which, scrape them as we may, will never be free from smell. It is in vain we fill animals' stomachs with wholesome food if we fill thoir lungs with impure air. The very rats rear their young in perfectly clean, dry nests, and the wild rabbit is the cleanest of animals. Of course, any hutch, through the bottom o* which all manure would fall, would be easily kept clean, and we found from experience that bottoms of open wire net are a perfect success. The hutches are Oft. by 3ft., with handles to lift. Each will hold twelve rabbits, from the age of four weeks, when they are weaned, to the age of twelve weeks, when they generally weigh 41bs, and fetch 5a for three in the London market. They need not cost 8d each for food. The doe's hutches are smaller on the same plan. We never find the rabbits get their legs through the wire. They squat directly they are lifted, and graze eagerly through the" wire directly they are set down. They are moved in a few moments. Three children— the eldest thirteen— had during their play hours entire charge of five does and their young, having at one time sixty - seven rabbits, all of which lived and throve. The poor mossy ground on which they stood is already green with long grass, and we intend this year to sow grass seeds behind the hutches, as they travel over a poor pasture not worth now 5s an acre. Twelve of these hutches will, from March to October, if moved twice a day, go over four acres of ground, or four times over one acre. If any one will put a zinc tray under a hutch containing twelve rabbits, he will be surprised at the quantity of manure both liquid and solid. And, as this is made by corn-fed animals, and actually distributed over every IS square feet of ground, the poorest land must in two or three years time become full of valuable plant food. One great advantage of keeping rabbits in this way, instead of wild in warrens, is the economy of food, from being able to control the numbers of each sex. After a buck rabbit, not wanted for breeding, has reached his full value, at about twelve weeks, all the food lie eats is a loss. In a wan en where they are trapped and shot, bucks and does must be killed promiscuously, and there are about the same number of each killed ; while in confinement one buck is sufficient to keep with ten docs. Two lads can, in an hour and a half, easily move one hundred hutches, and feed 1200 rabbits they contain. Last summer and autumn was the ■wettest we ever knew: but it did not affect the rabbits, as they always had a dry shelf to hit on, and at night and in wet windy weather the outside pair of each four hutches were Avheeled inwards and formed a squire. While having plenty of light and air, the rabbits arc then protected which ever way the wind blows, and are perfectly safe from all vermin. In winter the stock kept for breeding are better in a shed. The hutches can be moved from side to side, and bedded on fresh straw, and the shed need only be cleaned when it is convenient. I have succeeded in crossing the wild with the Belgian hare-rabbit, and find the produce large and handy, and their flesh, when reared in the open air, as good as that of the wild rabbit. G. F. Mokant, Late 12th Lancers, and Cape Mounted Rifles. BLickerton, Dulverton.

At a recent Jewish weddinsr. in London, tho bride's hair was cut ofl: immediately after the ceiemony, in iiocordance with tho ancient custom, The ide.i was to render tho bride unattraotivo to other men, ho thdt there would bo no inducement for her to piove untrue to the man whose sliive .she had became. The cu-tom, we arc »lad to way, is ouly obacivedby th<? mo>t oifhodox of tho aeofc.