sture hay. Rabbits are subject to several diseases, as the
_rot_, which is caused by giving them too large a quantity of green
food, or the giving it fresh gathered, with the dew or rain hanging in
fresh drops upon it, as it is over-moisture that always causes the
disease; the green food should therefore always be given dry, and a
sufficient quantity of hay, or other dry food, intermixed with it, to
counteract the bad effects of it. And a sort of _madness_ often seizes
them: this may be known by their tumbling about; their heels upwards,
and hopping in an odd manner into the boxes. This distemper is supposed
to be owing to the rankness of their feeding; and the general cure is
the keeping them low and giving them the prickly herb called
tare-thistle to eat as much as possible. They are also subject to a sort
of scabby eruption, which is seldom removed. These should, however, be
directly separated from the rest of the stock.

RABBIT LIKE HARE. Choose a full-grown young rabbit, and hang it up three
or four days. Then skin it, and without washing, lay it in a seasoning
of black pepper and allspice, in very fine powder. Add a glass of port
wine, and the same quantity of vinegar. Baste it occasionally for forty
hours, then stuff and roast it as hare, and with the same sauce. Do not
wash off the liquor that it was soaked in.

RADISHES. These are raised from seed by different sowings from the end
of October till April, or the following month. They should have a light
fine mould, and the more early sowings be made on borders, under warm
walls, or other similar places, and in frames covered by glasses. The
common spindle-rooted, short-topped sorts are mostly made use of in
these early sowings, the seed being sown broadcast over the beds after
they have been prepared by digging over and raking the surface even,
being covered in with a slight raking. Some sow carrots with the early
crops of radishes. It is usual to protect the early sown crops in the
borders, during frosty nights and bad weather, by mats or dry wheat
straw, which should be carefully removed every mild day. By this means
they are brought more forward, as well as form better roots. When mats
are used, and supported by pegs or hoops, they are readily applied and
removed. A second more general sowing should be made in January or
February. When the crops have got their rough leaf; they should be
thinned out, where they are too thick, to the distance of two inches,