Ideal Home Life - online book

A valuable and well-organized system for home education(homeschooling) 3 to 12 years.

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238
IDEAL HOME LIFE
is stapled to the posts, leaving a projection of 6 inches or more at the top and about 18 inches at the ground, to be turned into the court. The lower edge should be covered with 10 or 12 inches of soil, to prevent the animals from digging out. The upper edge also is turned inward, to keep them from climbing over. Brackets at the tops of the posts make the best support for the overhanging netting, although horizontal pieces of wood nailed to the posts will answer.
Food and Feeding
The rabbit thrives well on a diversity of vegetable foods. Many writers on the care of this animal prescribe elaborate lists of foods to be followed week in and out. The fact is, that a few staple foods are sufficient, but no animal is more adaptable to sudden changes of diet, so that one can feed what is available or cheap.
The best grain for rabbits is oats, either whole or crushed, though cornmeal, barley, or other grain may often be fed by way of change. The crushed oats are best when freshly broken, and a hand mill for preparing them is a valuable adjunct to a rabbitry. ,
Hay is a necessary part of the rabbit's diet, and if possible that of the very best quality should be used. It should be entirely free from moldiness, and the unsweated is always preferable. If one has small grounds where suitable grass grows, the mowing may be done at short intervals and the hay thoroughly cured in such small quantities that no sweating takes place. However, if sweet hay is not available, the sweated may be fed to the rabbits without injury, unless it be moldy.
Rabbits require some green foods for winter. Cabbages, kale, spinach, and rape leaves are recommended. Turnips, beets, and mangels are often fed and have been recommended by many rabbit breeders, but they do not keep so well as the foods just named. Turnips, unless kept in the ground, wilt by midwinter and are then of little use. Beets keep better, but, on the whole, cabbages are more economical, as well as more satisfactory in every way. They are usually available until
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