St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1893-06-03
JACK RABBIT ROUND UPS.


In which Thoussnds Are C0rral1eo on0
Killed to save California Vineyards.
Tho people out in Fresno county,
California, are getting ready for their
annual roundup and slaughter OF jack
rabbits, said Nathan Levy. q leading
vineyardist of Fresno. If it wasn't
for this early spring systematic raid on
those destructive pests we would have
scarcely vineyard or an orchard left
in southern California On one day in
March, generally between the 10th and
18th, the grape and small fruit growers
collect together in their respective dis
tricts and beat the country thoroughly
to drive the swarming jack rabbits
from their hiding places into immense
wire enclosed corrals, where they are
at the mercy of their pursuers. and are
knocked in the head with clubs by the
thousand l have known $4,000 jack
rabbits to be slaughtered in this way
in few hours More than that these
rabbits are such prolific breeders that
every one killed in March or April
means that there will be twenty-five or
thirty less than there would have been
il the rabbits knocked in the head in
the spring had been permitted to live
until fall These round-ups are the
only means we have ever discovered bv
which the jack rabbit pest has been kept
down. The rabbits arc unduly fond of
the young shoots of the grapcvincs,
when they make their appearance in
the spring, and Of the tender bark of
prnne, plum aud other fruit trees, when
the sap starts I have known twenty
acres of vineyard ruined in . single
night by the cropping of the shoots by
these animals, and whole orchards of
valuable bearing trees killed by the
rabbits girdliny them. Poison. traps
and guns failed to kill OF the rabbits
fast enough, and fruit growing in that
part of California would necessarily
have been to a great extent abandoned
if a Fresno county genius hadn't evolved
The corraliing idea five years ago The
rabbits are driven into the great wire
incloscd pound by hundreds Of people
men. women and children-closing in
around them and preventing them from
going in any other direction. except the
one that leads them into the corral.
Different districts have different days
for setting out on the roundup. and
the slaughter goes on through March
and April. 1t is safe to say that 100, 900
jack rabbits are thus killed every spring
in that part of the state. As at that
season Of the year this big rabbits
flesh is in in excellent conditio and
the animal is highly esteemed as
food, q twofold benefit is derived from
this great yearly slaughter. The Cali
fornia jack rabbit is the biggest rabbit
in existence, one five feet long being
not uncommon They are as feet as
the wind, but will sit still on their
forms or by tie roadside until you have
almost grabbed them by their mule
like ears, but before you have closed
your fingers on them there will be no
rabbit there, but il you look thirty or
forty yards ahead you will see what
you think is another one bumped up in
a fluffy bunch, waiting for you in the
same way. But II won't be another
rabbit 1t will be the same one. They
are rs swift and sudden as the flcas that
swarm on them as soon as the summer
comes These hcas are SO thick upon
the jack rabbit, and are so ravenous,
that they have actually reduced the
four-footed jumper to .
skeleton by the time the fall rains set
in Fit wasn't for those regular fall
rains the fleas would be of great service
to US in destroying the rabbit pest, fer
the rabbits could not stand out many
days longer against the assaults of the
lively parasites But the fall rains are
fatal 10 the fieaS The water kills them
and washes them off of the rabbits and
the latter pitch in on our vineyards and
orchards and grain with sharpened aP
Y. s IN.