The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1893-05-16
killing JACK RABBITS.
How the Enemies Of Vineyard and
Orchard ara Disposed OF.
DRIVEN INTO A WIRE POUND
10y Tens of Thousands and Dispatched
With Catastrophe Turn Out for Miles
Around and Form n Living Gordon
About the Places Where the Jacks Are.

"The people out in Fresno county,
Cal, arc getting ready for their annual
,ound-up and slaughter of jack rab-
bits" said q leading vineyardist of Fres-
no to a New York Sun man recently.
IF it wasn't for this early spring sys-
.ematic raid upon these destructive
pests we would have scarcely a zine
yard or an orchard left in southern
California. On one day in March, gen.
orally between the 10th and 18th, the
grape and small-fruit growers collect
together In their respective districts
and beat the country thoroughly to
drive the swarming jack rabbits from
their hiding places into immense wire
inclosed c~orrals, where they are at the
mercy OF their pursuers, and are
knocked in the head with clubs by the
thousand. I have known fifteen thou
sand jack rabbits to be slaughtered in
this way in a few hours. More than
that, these rabbits are such prolific
breeders that every one killed In March
or April means that there will be TWEEN
ty-ive or thirty less than there would
have been IL the rabbits knocked in the
head In the spring had been permitted
to live until the fall. These round-ups
are the only means we have ever dis
covered by which the jack rabbit pest
has been kept down.
"The rabbits are unusually fond OF the
young shoots of the grapevines, when
they make their appearance in the
spring, and of the tender bark of prune,
plum and other fruit trees, when the
sap starts. ] have known twenty
acres of vineyard ruined in n single
night by the chopping of the shoots by
these animals, and whole orchards of
valuable bearing trees killed by the
rabbits girding them. Poison, traps
and guns failed TO kill off the rabbits
fast enough, and fruit growing in that
of California could necessarily
have been TO n great extent abandoned
II a Fresno county genius hadn't
evolved the corralling idea five years
ago.. The rabbits are driven into the
great wire-inclosed pound by hundreds
Of ~people-men, women and children
closing in around them and pre-
venting 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. II is safe to say that n hun
dred thousand 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 excellent
condition and the animal is highly es-
teemed as food two-fold benefit is de-
rived from this great yearly slaughter.
"The California jack rabbit Is the big
gest rabbit in existence, one five feet
long being not uncommon. They are as
fleet as the wind, but will sit still on
their forms, or by the 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 II you look thir
ty or forty yards ahead you will see
what you think Is another one bumped
mp in a fluffy bunch, waiting for you il
the same way But it won't be another
rabbit. It will be the same one. They
are swift and sudden as the fleas that
swarm on them rs soon as the summer
comes. These feas get so thick upon
the jack rabbit and are so that
they have actually reduced the long
cared, four-footed jumper to a skeleton
by the time the fall rains set in. II 1t
wasn't for these regular fall rains the
fieas' would be of great service to us in
destroying the rabbit pest. for the rab-
bits could not stand out many days
longer against the assaults of the lively
parasites. But the fall rains are fatal
to the feas. The water kills them and
washes them off the rabbits and the lat
ter pitch in our vineyards and orchards
and grain with sharpened appetites."