The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-09-18
Highest of all Leavenng Powe-Latest US. Govt Report
R&!a!!! g! RsxassE Rskies
ABSOLUTELY PURE
THE RABBIT SCOURGE.
ABSOLUTELY PURE

| Then the New South Wales govern
ment, it will be remembered, offered a
reward of f25, 900 to any person or
persons who could suggest really eff
ficient method Of getting rid Of the
pest but, although this liberal offer
led to the receipt of no fewer than 3
| 900 schemes from all parts Of the
world, none of them was regarded as
satifactory, and the offer was with
drawn. The domestic cat was intro
duced, and in certain limited areas did
much service. Poisons were largely
used and ferrets ,stoats and weasels have
been imported in thousands into some
of the colonies and have increased fast.
But hitherto the rabbits, owing to the
rate at which they multiply, have
managed not only to hold their own,
but to constantly spread over new
ground, cary destruction with them
wherever they 60.
In South Australia, for instance, the
direct loss from the rabbits has been
put down at f250,OOO per annum and
the indirect loss at similar amount.
In Victoria the active operations for
the destruction of rabbits on crown
lands have been carried on by the gov
ernment since 1880, and from that date
to the middle of 1894 total of
nearly $780, 900 had been spent by the
state on that object. As for the mon
ey spent by private individuals for the
same purpose, that is almost incalcu-
liable, but it may be mentioned that on
one estate alone upward Of 900
have been expended by the owner,
with, with the view of clearing his
land OF the pest.
In the II years ending with 1898
nearly 69,OOO,OOO rabbit skins, valued
at f4O2, 900, were exported from Vic
toria, without counting the large guam
titles used by hat manufacturers in the
colony, one establishment alone using
374, 400 every year. Yet, notwith-
standing all this slaughter, the present
infested area throughout the colony is
estimated by the chief inspector at no
less than 81, ,75O, 900 acres, Adding to
the direct expenditure the deprecia-
tions Of the craving values of the land,
the loss to the colonies concerned
amount to millions of pounds sterling.
The final outcome of royal commits
sions, of international conferences and
of the testing of every practical meth
cd of determination, is that the most
effectual method Of dealing with the
evil is found to be the construction Of
rabbit proof netting, by means OF
which the animals can be kept from
areas not yet infested, can be shut off
from food supplies, and can be more
eftectually dealt with locally.
The length of these fences is enor-
nous. There is one starting at Bar
ringum, on the Queensland border, and
following the main trunk line from
Bourk to COrewa, distance OF 4O7
miles, and there is another along the
entire western boundary of New South
Wales, distance of 346 miles. The
Queenland government, too, has erect
ed similar fence along considerable
portion of the northern boundary of
the New South Wales, but the survey
or general of Queensland, in the report
already referred to, says that 'the rab-
bits must have come through the fence
in mobs and droves of innumerable
multitudes at some time," and thus
have established themselves in Queens
land as well.
This, of course, is the weak point in
regard to fences, which are liable to
break down in places, more especially
in times of flood and where they cross
over creeks, while the keeping of con-
STRAIT supervision over the fences, so
that immediate repairs can be done
where openings appear, is quite i'm
practicable were the distances are so
great. In many instances countless
thousands of rabbits have been seen Oh
one side of fence dead or dying Of
starvation after eating all the available
food supplies and leaping up at the
fence in their attempts to surmount it.
One can imagine how they would rush
through in the event of any opening
appearing and how single break in
the fence might be the doom OF coun-
try not previously infested.
There have been many projects Tor
the commercial utilization of the ami
mails by sending them over here in or
der to contribute both to our food sup
plies and to the cost of their own de-
struction, but hitherto tie enterprise
has not been very profitable, while
some of the most competent authori-
ties in the colonies think that if it
should be followed up the result may
be to conserve the rabbits instead OF
getting rid Of them. On the other
had, too, the shipping of some hun
dreds of thousands, or even million
or two, of rabbits to Great Britain every
year would not be likely to make any
appreciable difference on the numbers
left behind to constitute what it is
feared must be regarded as pest now
altogether ineradicable.