Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 March 1893 — A RABBIT DRIVE. [ARTICLE]

A RABBIT DRIVE.

WAS ON THE PESTS EVERY YEAR IN CALIFORNIA. Fanners Forced to Kill Them to Protect Their Crops—How a Drive is Conducted. The valleys of Central and Southern California swarm with jack rabbits. For years they proved themselves a pest of the worst kind to farmers. They rooted over the grain fields, and destroyed young grape vines and fruit trees by girdling them near the ground with their sharp teeth. All sorts of schemes were resorted to for the annihilation of these creatures, but in spite of the poisoned baits and the traps prepared for them, they increased jn numbers until they threatened to destroy every crop of grain that was planted, and every vine and tree that was set out. Five years ago the farmers of Fresno County resolved to rid the county of some of the animals, and they planned a rabbit drive. On a certain duy the grain and fruit growers for miles around assembled in the fields at the southeast of France. The country was virtually deserted, and the ranks of the farmers were strengthened by men, women and children from the town who made sport of what the farmers considered business. First, a corral was built of wire fencing about four feet wide. This inclosare surrounding about an acre 'of land, and in form representing a Bartlett pear split lengthwise. The entrance was at the' small end. Running out from each side of this gateway were wings of wire fencing extending nearly a quarter of a mile each way. From the extremities of these wings the people were arranged in line, spreading out as far into the field as their number would permit without breaking the rank, until they formed a living circle around a tract of land twenty acres in extent. The women and children were placed nearest the fences, for in the field active work was to be done. When the line was completed and all things were in readiness, the leader of the drive gave the signal, and, yelling at the top of their lungs and beating the ground with clubs, the line closed slowly in. When the advance toward the corral began, now and then the drivers, at some point in the line, would be aroused to a degree of enthusiasm that seemed almost! manical by a light brown hump that roso from the ground and stretched itself into a dim streak that momentarily lengthened toward the opposite line of drivers. That was a jack rabbit, started from his lair. As the lines of men drew near each other the brown streaks doubled rapidly on themseves, and finally began to zig-zag wildly across the inclosure, as the frightened, long-eared creatures ran hither and thither in search of an opening through which they might escape. Gradually the animals were driven toward the corral until finally the last one was in the inclosure, which was an undulating mass of hopping and skipping bunnies completely at the mercy of their enemies. As many of the men and boys as cared to do so entered the inclosure, and with clubs slew the rabbits, a sharp crack on the skull being all that wa3 necessary to put a permanent quietus on the animals. In about four hours’ time upward of 10,030 rabbits were killed. The undertaking was voted a complete success by the farmers, and from that day the rabbit drive has been an established thing in Southern and Central California. The most exciting and successful rabbit driye ever held came off on the 10th of March, 1893, near Fresno. It was the last day of encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic, which was being held in that city. A crowd of people numbering 8,000, including war veterans and visitors to the encampment, encircled a vast territory. It was a disastrous day for rabbits, and also for a good many of the drivers who, after the fun was over, had a picturesque assortment of bumps and bruises to exhibit, a 3 a result of wreckless use of the clubs. An immense corral was built and after a few hours of enthusiastic labor it was literally alive with rabbits. Twenty thousand is the estimate of the number of animals killed on that occasion. The ground within the wire fence was heaped with the carcasses of the dead creatures. The months of March and April are the ones in which the farmers are the most anxious to exterminate the rabbits, for in May and June, and, in fact, through all the summer months, they propagate and multiply at an alarming rate. The farmer reckons that every rabbit that he kills in March and April prevents the birth of fifty of its kind. In the vineyards and orchards the rabbits are especially destructive. In the former, the animal watches for the bursting forth of the green shoot that, if allowed to grow, would, in July and August, bend under the weight of luscious fruit. Of these tender and juicy sprouts the jaok rabbit is very fond, and he nibbles them off with great relish. In instances where vineyards have just been planted, the young vines are eaten off close to the ground. The fact that these rabbits will go through a vineyard of twenty acres in a single night and strip it of every vestige of foliage, shows how great a pest these animals are.— t New York Times.