Page:Care and Management of Rabbits.djvu/212

This page has been validated.
196
CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF RABBITS

used in making felt hats, but as an article of fur it is worthless.

The fact that the domesticated rabbit has a thick, tough pelt when properly matured and cured has caused many furriers to turn to it as a source of supply in replenishing the loss occasioned by the smaller catches of wild fur each season.

While the price paid for rabbit pelts is not, at the present writing, sufficient to justify the raising of rabbits for the pelts alone, it is certainly worth considering. Last winter the demand increased greatly for rabbit skins, one house asking for one million more than it had received the year before and offering $1 each for prime skins.

In shipping pelts to these furriers, whose advertisements are to be found in practically every magazine during the fall and winter months, it is not necessary to cure the pelts. The skin is taken off the rabbit cased, as mentioned elsewhere in this book, and turned flesh side out and placed over a board or skin