Page:Care and Management of Rabbits.djvu/57

Rh properly handled will make as good a commercial rabbit as any that can be bred.

It has a good quality of flesh, fine texture and flavor and because of its great popularity is in demand everywhere. In fact, the Belgian craze of a generation ago so well advertised it that many people today suppose that all rabbits bred in hutches are Belgian hares.

In picking a commercial rabbit, it is not wise to let sentiment rule your reason. If the enterprise is to be for meat, pick a breed that will mature fast and bring you more at market age than any other. If you are breeding for both meat and for fancy purposes, it is well to choose a breed that combines these qualities as much as possible.

And, in the end, it isn't the breed that counts for so much after all, as it is the strain and the breeding vitality back of the animals you choose. It is the individual and not the breed that counts in the long run.