Page:Care and Management of Rabbits.djvu/17



have been accustomed to thinking of the domesticated rabbit as a pet for so long that they are somewhat surprised to find that they have some very decided utility advantages.

The experience of the average person with rabbits is limited to a casual acquaintance with the wild cottontail or the jack rabbit of the western prairies or, perhaps, to a few "pets" kept by some youngster in the neighborhood.

We have not, in the past, paid any particular attention to the commercial possibilities in breeding rabbits in large number for the markets or for breeding purposes, largely because we did not have to. Meat, of various kinds, was comparatively cheap and within the reach of all.