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12 rabbit is not in any sense a boom. It is merely a growth which has been going on for several years. And the fact that it is assuming some of the aspects of a boom does not detract from the fact that it is a growth, steady and healthy, although tremendous when you stop to think of the number of rabbits that are being bred over the country today.

One of the most important reasons for this growth of rabbit breeding is the high cost of living and the fact that the rabbit, intelligently handled, offers a very potent factor in solving a part of that problem.

The domesticated rabbit as it is bred today is essentially a meat animal. Of the three most popular breeds, the Belgian Hare, the New Zealand Red and the Flemish Giant, all are essentially meat animals, and these three breeds range in weight at maturity from seven to twenty pounds.

Maturity is generally placed at seven to nine months, although the meat animals can be marketed as early as eight or nine weeks