Rabbits to the rescue
THE cut in the meat ration to 1s. 2d. worth of butcher’s meat each week puts a premium on such things as rabbits, wood-pigeons and old hens to eke out the official ration. In most villages there is at least one man who can always supply a rabbit. It may be impolitic to ask where it comes from, but in these days when the rabbit is a pest to the Ministry of Agriculture and a boon to the Ministry of Food, there is no need to be fussy.
‘One-and-eightpence is the price the village trapper has been charging for a decent-sized rabbit, and if the skin is returned, he pays 2d back. Someone comes round with a van each week and gives him 3d for the skins, and he tells me he generally has five or six dozen to send away. Wood-pigeons will also repay attention. They are worth shooting at 1s 6d each, which is the price the local butcher paid me for four plump pigeons last week.’ (Farming Notes, January 25, 1941)