St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1889-01-05
MILLIONS or RABBITS.


Australia O0ssS . Rswsr4 - o10osooo
for Their Extsralnseiea.
"A pair OF rabbits will produce
1000, 900 rabbits in two years in Aus.
tralia," is q statement that q 6rst
seems incredulous. -and when james
Watson. OF Victoria, made It tho otker
day to q party OF gentlemen they
thought he was jesting. Yet Il r -
true as gospel. Mr.. Watson IL ono Of
the largest ranch owners In Victoria.
Australia. having under ience alone
$4,000 acres. The problem Of how 70
exterminate rabbits is the greatest
question that confronts the people Of
Australia to-day. ~ their entire pros
perity depends upon T. Il Il In hope
that Yankee ingenuity might be able
to solve this important problem that
Mr.. Watson now visits America
"You can imagine what . terrible
plague the rabbits ara" said Mr.. Wat
SON, when the Australian Government
is now building fence Of wire netting
which. when completed. will b 800
miles long. and which viii divide New
South Wales and Queensland Tho
rabbits have not yet made their ap-
pearance in Queensland. and the fence
is to prevent them fron getting over
there.
I'VE have tried hundreds Of ways to
get rid Of the rabbits, but % far moth
ing has been successful. We are only
able to check the increase About the
best means of doing this Il to scattes
fruit with arsenic over the ground, but
this is very expensive In this way !
have killed 600 rabbits with tso
bushels OF sliced apples. Then We
used phosphate Of oats. but the trouble
with this is that the phosphate soon
loses its effect. Think the best method
in use is the ordinary iat-trap. but all
these methods are very expensive
For instance, it costs tho govern
ment OF Victoria $l2a0O0 a year TO
keep the rabbits down ON the Crown
(government) lands. The govern
ment pays ten cents q pair for all the
rabbits killed on their landA A good
man can make $40 dollars . week kill
ing rabbits. These men use traps and
one man can work 100 taps
A law has recently been passed that
compels the owner Ofslands to keep
the rabbits down. II he should fail to
do this he is fined So for the first OF.
fense, 800 for the second and upon the
third offense the goverement employs
men TO attend to the RABBITS q the ex-
pense Of the land owne9 In many in
stances owners arc compelled 70 give
up their land. as the expense Is %
great The owcanAf 1000 acrea-in
obliged to employ 100 mea for killing
rabbits alone. and - result land that
. few years ago was worth 80 IN acre
is now only worth -.
Il have found s way by which I can
keep the rabbits down and make money
by it, but. Of course. every ranch man
can not do this have started q rab-
bit canning factory. We can the rab-
bits much tho same way that beef II
canned here, and our principal market
Is in England. At present am can
ming SOC. 600 rabbits year. all Of which
are killed OF my ranch, and still this
number does not keep the pest down as
the Government requires. Iput rab-
bit and a half in . can. and at present
make thirty-seven cents profit on a
dozen cans They are retailed in En-
gland at twelve cents q pound. and
considering the high price Of beef it
would be supposed rabbits would be-
come favorite dish with the poor Of
England. yet the rabbits are now only
purchased by the higher class. who
consider them a great dainty.
'.How long have We been bothered
with the rabbit? About ten years. Rab-
bits were brought TO Australia about
twenty years ago from England for
sporting purposes. A pair will usually
produce four does and two bucks. Tho
does breed when two months old. and
they have on an average four litters .
year. You can calculate from this,
and you will find that the statemeuk
that pair Of rabbits will produce two
million in two years is not 20 prepos-
ferrous as it at first appears. l brought
a man over from South America just
before l left. and he firmly believes
that the South American skunk would
get rid Of the rabbits. Anyway the
A,,,~r,l;ac Covorurort OfPova n v,ova ri
Of 500. 900 for the best plan for their
determination. Harry Walker. IN
Philadelphia Press.
Accidentally Discharged.
American Tourist-Ever been In the
States?
ii