RABBITS FOR FOOD SIR,—How great a difference there can be
between the food values of an animal in a wild state and of the same animal in a " domestic " state I cannot say. But rabbit meat has been noted as comparatively worthless by such authorities as Clifford and Mottram (The Properties of Food) and Hutchin- son and Mottram (Food and the Principles of Dietetics). To produce too calories there are required, of rabbit, 107.0 grammes; of beef, 41.4; of mutton, 25.5. To provide an adult human with sufficient daily protein there are required, of rabbit, to+ ounces; of beef, pork, fresh herring, smoked had- dock, 81- ounces; of mutton, Hi- ounces; and, incidentally, of Cheddar cheese, 5 ounces.
Another point is the small percentage of edible meat on the rabbit-41.00.
And another and most important point is that rabbits lose in cooking much of such value as, in the raw, they do possess.
As for the rabbit's crimes from the human view, they are vast. Not only does it eat voraciously of pasturage, but also it actually deteriorates pasturage; four rabbits and their pro-. geny made absolutely useless one-eighth of an acre of pasture in fifteen months—in an experiment carried out at Datmtsey's School in Wiltshire, under the direction of Mr. J. 0. Thomas, M.Sc. It also devours young corn, and tramples standing corn, and undermines banks and hedges to an extent that should be seen to be believed. There can be no sane argu- ment for exploiting so disastrously expensive a creature.
The rabbit problem in this country was not significant until the last War, when the gin-trap began to be used extensiVely.
In parts of the country where the use of that trap has ceased the problem has practically disappeared. But with the solu- tion of the whole problem in our hands, why cannot we finish the thing altogether? It is a mystery to me, as to many others. Do the farmers love the trappers above all? It seems like it. For here is cyanide fumigation, well-proved by now
easy and safe to use, cheap, humane. And here is the way made clear by the passing of the new Act—Lord Sempffi's And there are other countries without rabbit problems (and
Without gin-traps). And here we still are bemoaning lugubri- ously our appalling rabbit problem.
P.S.—In the matter of consumption, does not a shrew- mouse leave Mr. Muntz's boa-constrictor with nothing what- Sut,—Thank you for inserting my letter, but may I make an important correction? I wrote Id. (a penny) a week for grain, not 6d. With the rise in price this may now be higher ; but z id. would be ample, or, including bedding, ad.—Yours
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