I have kept rabbits during the winter in open hutches and not had the slightest trouble with them. It isn't the coldness of the atmosphere that causes the trouble; it is the dampness.
The hutch rabbit must be kept free from dampness and if you can keep the hutches clean and dry you have won more than half of the battle. The other part consists in feeding intelligently and wisely.
The domesticated rabbit likes a ration of clover or alfalfa hay, whole oats, hard bread and milk occasionally, root crops such as carrots, lettuce and green food, loves dandelions and chicory or ordinary grass clippings. That is about the extent of the variety of feed it requires.
By feeding mashes and special combinations as recommended in a later chapter, the cost of feeding the rabbit can be materially reduced and it is in this sort of feeding that the rabbit makes its greatest gains.
It needs and demands thorough and systematic care. It should not only be fed prop-
