The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1910-08-05

catching vermin is to place the body
of the vermin under the trap, or along.
side the shank; the smell soon leads
another to destruction. And this leads
the writer to remark on the spring
steel traps for rabbits; they are cruel
in the extreme, and the needless suf-
fering caused to such a timid animal
as a rabbit, kept in torture possibly
for several hours, ought to be put a
stop to in any country priding itself
on Christianity or humanity. The So
ciety for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals does excellent service; but
if its inspectors saw what the writer
has seen in his time, this cruelty would
be put an immediate stop to. The
keeper has to trap in the runs made
for stoats, weasels and rats. but all
these marauders will bite fiercely and
fight when caught, are rightly termed
vermin, and must be exterminated as
such. Another important matter is
the dressing of the ground after the
seasons killing, to sweeren It, An
equal mixture of slaked lime and rock
salt broken fine is one of the best for
the purpose; after a few rains have
fallen on it If the soil is benefited i'm
mensely. If the warren is on peaty
soil. peat burned to ashes and the re-
sultant spread well over the ground
serves the same purpose.
An excellent addition to the warren
er's income is provided by planting
fruit trees at regular intervals; but
these must be carefully protected dur
ing hard weather by rabbit-proof net
ting, otherwise rabbits will gnaw the
bark and kill the trees. The fallen
fruit will be appreciated by ''Brer
Rabbit" and will keep him in health;
and it will be found that the gathered
fruit will provide good round sum
to credit. especially as years go on.
The area of rabbit farm, of course,
depends upon circumstances. Moor
land and heath or any poor land re-
quires larger acreage to carry a
given head of rabbits. The grass lands
are eminently suitable for this pur-
pose. Easy reach of good markets
is most important consideration
and, while on this topic, the writer
would draw attention to fact which
applies to winged game as well as to
rabbits. Never attempt to find mar
ket in an aristocratic residential town;
failing the metropolis, pick manufac-
turing city if possible. These are
the places where game of all sorts
ND in nrin0C tho for.
mer description of town it is true a
higher class of people reside, but they
have generally friends and relatives
who have shoots and who send them
presents of game and rabbits, and, be-
sides this, the gentlemen of such FAM
lilies are asked here and there to
shoot, generally bringing home brace
or leash of birds shot by themselves
Tor some one else); consequently
game does not find so good a market
as where manufacturers. their man
ayers, clerks and foremen reside. The
rabbit farmer should approach a relia.
BILE game dealer some time before his
killing season comes on and get him to
name a top price per dozen for the
rabbits, explaining that they are war;
rem bred and preserved, and heavy in
weight through the Belgian hare
blood introduced. Also that they will
be all clean killed, for the best plan
in this direction is to bolt the rabbits
into purse nets with ferrets. and in
passing we may note that the breed
ing and sale of ferrets can easily be
made a profitable adjunct to the rab-
bit warren.
The first year alone will show mar
gin of profit; but providing sufficient
stock is allowed to remain, it is the
following years which pay we'll. Let
the legitimate killing season be rigor-
ously observed from October 1 to
February 1, and the writer will guar
antee satisfactory results. This allows
four months for killing and eight
months for breeding.
AUGUSTUS J. COTHERAlN.