It's just fine to handle newborn rabbits. Photo by Grace of Happy Farm Bunnies

Will the Mom Kill Baby Holland Lops – or any breed -  if you Touch Them?

It’s a myth that even some wild animals reject their young when people touch them, let alone your rabbit who is very used to human smells, and associates it with food and petting.

It IS important to touch your baby rabbits.  Very important.  There are several reasons.  You need to make sure there are not any dead ones that can contaminate the nest.  You need to see if they are being fed.  You need to make sure none have gone missing.  I’ve had kits crawl out of the box and out of the cage and I found them, still alive, in the drop pan beneath the cage, or somewhere else on the barn floor.   Also, you need to check their bottoms.  Newborns cannot go potty without help.  Usually the doe licks their genitals to stimulate them, but still they can get a blockage.  If caught early, you can clear it away easily.  If it’s not cleared it can lead to a nasty buildup and even infection.

Also, handling your kits from the time they are very little gets them used to human interaction.  This will make them more friendly as adults and better companions.

Will my rabbit eat her babies?

Probably not.  It only happens occasionally, and then usually only right when she first gives birth.  It usually happens when the doe doesn’t think her kits will survive.  For instance, once I had a doe with an infection.  When she kindled she killed her litter because she realized her body wasn’t going to be able to take care of them, and didn’t want them to starve.  Likewise, it can happen when the doe isn’t getting enough good food to eat, or when there are predators around that she thinks might get the kits.  That said – it doesn’t happen very often.  The best thing you can do is just keep her environment clean and low-stress, and make sure she has plenty to eat.

How do you prevent babies freezing on the wire?

Why would the babies leave a warm nest?  Kits leave the nest because they are hungry.  They sleep most of the day except when their mom wakes them up to feed them.  If something else happens to wake them up, they will crawl out and try to find mom.  For instance, if I put my hand in the nestbox, I wake them up and they try to nurse from my hand.  I have to stay and watch to make sure they don’t crawl out of the box until they go back to sleep.

Sometimes if a doe is done nursing, the kits cling to her nipples and she pulls them out of the nesting box.  Rabbit mom’s aren’t like cats and won’t pick up babies with their teeth to put them back.  Really they don’t do much for their kits besides build a nest, feed them, and lick their bottoms.

Because it’s such a common problem for babies to crawl out, it’s important to have a box with a high front.  Ideally, the hole in the box should be in the top, not in the side.  Some people make boxes with a lip on the opening to keep kits in.  But none of those things are always effective.  I have resorted to taking the box out of the cage and covering it with a wire top to keep the babies inside.  Then I return the box to the doe once a day for feeding.  This continues until the kits are about 12 days old and have plenty of fur, then I put it back in with the doe full time.

This is actually a common practice.  Many breeders do it, either to keep the kits in the box or to bring the box in a heated area like the house for the night.  Holland Lop moms don’t visit the box more than once or maybe twice a day anyway, so they don’t miss it.  By nature they stay away from the nest most of the day, because in the wild, their presence would alert predators to the location of the nest.

How often should you clean the rabbit nesting box?

You should check the nestbox to see if it’s wet every 2-3 days at least — every day is fine, too — but don’t clean it unless it is wet. I usually clean the box only once, right at 9-11 days when the kits are starting to open their eyes and need a clean dry environment to prevent infection. If it’s wet, definitely clean the box and replace the bedding, saving as much of the pulled fur as you can. Make sure to put absorbent pine shavings in the bottom of the box, to soak up some of the moisture. Check it every few days till the kits are coming out and about.

Wishing you success!

A lovely blue Silver Marten Mini Rex - Now Fully Recognized. Photo by the Fuzzy Patch

Happy February!  That means  that this year’s updates to the ARBA Show Rules and Standard of Perfection are now in effect. (As of Feb. 1).  If you’re planning to compete in 4-H rabbit showmanship, royalty, breed identification, quiz bowls and so forth this year, you will want to know this stuff.

As you may be aware, five new varieties of rabbits and cavies were recognized by the ARBA at the convention last fall, and as of this month can now be shown in regular competition.  If you’ve purchased the Youth Rabbit Project Study Guide in the past year, you will want to make note of this in the appropriate places.   The most notable change is in the Rhinelander breed, which now recognizes blue/fawn spotted bunnies as well as black/orange.  The original black/orange color, which to this point was known as “standard,”  is now called “black.  The new variety is called “blue.”  Here’s a quick chart:

2012 New ARBA-Recognized Varieties of Rabbits and Cavies

Blue Tortoiseshell Netherland Dwarf Rabbit. Photo by the Fuzzy Patch

You can download the Standard of Perfection for these colors from the ARBA website, and I highly recommend you do so if you’re studying for Breed ID, royalty, showmanship, or a judges/registrar’s exam.

You’ll also want to download the ARBA show rules and read them.  As you may have heard, there have been some recent changes that are listed on the ARBA announcements page.  As this stuff is “news,” it will likely be in royalty exams this year.  The most recent change now allows Legs of Grand Championship for Reserve in Show, Best 4-class, and Best 6-class wins when they are awarded.   All shows are required to pick BIS.  All shows are NOT required to pick Reserve in Show, Best 4-class, or Best 6-class.  However, when shows choose to offer these awards, the ARBA now allows it a leg.

If you haven’t seen them yet, check out the corrections to the first printing of the 2011-2015 ARBA Standard of Perfection.

Details, Details!

Rabbit 4-H Showmanship Guide, Breed ID and Judging Contest Tips and More

If you haven’t seen the Youth Rabbit Project Study Guide yet, I welcome you to take a peek at the sample pages below!  This book is based on my experiences as a 4-H’er and ARBA Royalty participant. When I was in 4-H it took me a very long time to learn how to successfully raise rabbits and compete in contests such as showmanship, breed identification, and team judging.  When I did get to successfully competing on the national level, it just came naturally to produce materials to guide other kids there.

For more information, check out the Study Guide’s Own Page. Here are a few sample pages for you to look at:

Click for larger image

Click for larger image -- Showmanship Guide

Click for larger image -- Meat Pens

Click for larger image -- body types

Additional Book Features in the New Edition

• Guide to choosing your course in the project
• Judging contest tips from an ARBA judge
• Expanded Breed ID Guide
• Additional leader’s tips
• Polish Breed Judging Handout
• Rabbit Royalty Practice Questions
• Updated to reflect 2012 Standard of Perfection
• Still reproducible within your 4-H club.

Affordable Custom Business Card Design

Dog Kennel Used as Sample

(Non-official) Logo – The Hoppin’ Circle.

Hey have you checked out the new Rabbitry Blogging Network, the Hoppin’ Circle?  It’s a pretty cool deal, connecting bloggers and introducing people to the breeders behind them.

I was honored to be the first “Blogger of the Month” for the Hoppin’ Circle.  You can check out the interview here if you’re interested!

Bloggers’ Top Posts from January:

Fisher Farms shows us her wonderful
show results and ribbons. Congrats Clint on your first leg!

The Kelfla Project shares some scientific tidbits centered around rabbits.

Bella’s Rabbitry tells us about
new stock she has coming in, and announces that she isn’t selling out completely, after all.

At Home Pets tells us of a nice experience she had with a buyer.

4 Kings Rabbitry gives us a peek inside her extremely organized rabbitry by showing us her binder.

The Rabbit Shepherd shows that even rabbits can be supermodels.

Breeding goals are always important to have in a rabbitry. Hendricks Hearth shares some of theirs.

Rabbit Smarties is back to blogging with her post on the Rocky Syndrome.

The Fuzzy Patch shares some great changes they have planned for their herd.

The Nature Trail shows off an adorable picture of a Smoke Pearl Netherland Dwarf.

But get into it, and the good times are punctuated with lots of trouble.  Rabbits are extra wonderful because they are living things — but living things, well, stop living sometimes.  In this world, life comes with death.  Winning comes with losing.  But we stick with it.  Why?  Guest poster Laurie Stroupe answers that question…

Rabbits ARE Addictive

If you took psychology 101, you may remember the schedules of reinforcement. If you get a reward for doing something, you continue to do it. Once the reward stops, you discontinue the behavior.

But there are different schedules of rewards. Sometimes you get a reward everytime you do something. When the rewards stop, you stop the behavior very quickly. If you put quarters into a soft drink machine and get a soft drink, you’ll put quarters in next time you want one. But if you put several quarters in with no drink, you’ll quickly stop.

But with a variable schedule of reward, sometimes you get a reward and sometimes you don’t. But when you get that reward, it’s so desirable that you keep trying for the next one. If you put quarters into a slot machine, you may not get a reward every time. But when you do, it’s very exciting. People put lots of quarters into slot machines with no wins, just hoping for the next time. It’s very addictive.

And so it is with rabbits. I’ve gotten emails from people who are discouraged. Perhaps they lost a littter. Perhaps nothing promising has come from their nest boxes in awhile. Perhaps they’ve had judging inconsistencies that are frustrating. They question why they even do this.

And then one day, they go to the barn, and “find” a very promising youngster. JACKPOT. All is forgotten and suddenly they are ready to go again.

Yup, it’s an addiction.

2. Surveillance Camera in the Barn. Useful when you forget where you last put the toenail trimmers.

3. Extra storage card. For when it feels you just HAVE to take more video of those sweet little babies…even if you never end up watching it.

4. Standard of Perfection. Um.  Uhh…..  Everybody else has one!

5. Super duty triple-action Fort Knox quality combination lock and chain. To wrap around the cage once you realize that you have your first keeper in nine litters.

6. Metal saw. For when you forget the combination to aforementioned lock.

7. A dish of mints on a table.  Bunnies have no more excuse for bad breath.

8. Brick wall. To forcefully apply one’s head against when you realize you just bought a rabbit with buck teeth.

9. Amazing odor neutralizer: turns bunny smells into the scent of daffodils. Sorry, product no longer available due to manufacturer facing charges of false advertising.

10. Wire snips. For when a kit gets its head stuck in the wire and you have to cut it out.  (This one is serious — it has happened to me!)

11. Air conditioning. For when you have an older junior growing hotter by the day.

12. Bottle of Bubbles. For when a bunny’s sneezing, a doe is nesting on the wire, and you just want to go out and pretend you’re seven years old again to relax.

Rocky's brother CQ - also had "the syndrome"

I once knew a girl whose AIM screenname was “Always2ndBest.”   Do you ever feel like that?   Yeeeaah…

In rabbits, Tiffany and I call it the Rocky Syndrome.  Those bunnies — usually bucks– that you can rely on placing in the top five in a large class, but never grand.  They rarely, if ever, come home with a win.  They’re always second-best.

Ever had one of those?

Rocky was a broken black Polish buck.  I bred him, but Tiffany showed him his whole career.  I would need to get the exact stats from her, but when Rocky finally retired he had one or two legs and at least 20 2nd or 3rd place finishes, in large classes.

His younger brother Conquistador had the same complex.  When I stopped showing CQ he had chalked up prestigious finishes such as second place at the ARBA convention AND Polish Nationals, but only had one leg to his name.

Why does this happen?  I think it happens to rabbits that are of very good quality, but just not quite great.  There’s nothing that jumps out about them that’s wrong, but they don’t have the flare of a BIS winner either.    Sometimes you can get a rabbit that looks just stunning…if you ignore all the scattered white hairs.  Or has some standout fault but is otherwise fantastic.  That kind of rabbit might win sometimes, and might not even be in the top five: it depends on how much that prominent fault bothers the judge.  Rocky and CQ weren’t like that.   They were all around good Polish rabbits:  short, round, deep, with good coats and a sort of “in the middle” head shape that could appease both the judges who like dwarfy heads and the ones that want longer, more refined heads.  But their patterns were plain, and they just didn’t have that edge.

So I’m curious to hear what you think: would you rather have a buck with the Rocky Syndrome, that doesn’t have any major issues and can rack up sweepstakes points (confess, you do care about sweeps points…), or would you rather have a rabbit that is flashy and almost amazing — but has a single glaring fault.

Not bad type on CQ

My answer:  Whichever makes better babies.

————————-

By the way –  I’m back to blogging!  Going to try to post twice a week.  If you haven’t added your breeders listing to the free directory at the Nature Trail, send me a note and I’ll put up your info!

Next post planned:  12 Unlikely Items to Keep in the Rabbitry in Case of Emergencies.

*Last update 11/7  11:30pm*  Keep checking back!!!  More results are coming in.    If you hear of any BOB/BOS results that I don’t have listed please let me know.  I have been updating this page every day.  These are not guaranteed to be official results, but the news that is being passed around.

ARBA CONVENTION VIDEO!

Check this out — also from Kristina.  ARBA convention video

Convention Pictures!!!

Kristina Ruth of Fuzzy Patch has pictures up on her facebook page.   Julie re-posted the pictures of the presentation animals that are trying to be accepted as new breeds and varieties.  Tim of Tru Luv Rabbitry has some neat shots also.  You can get some good pictures on the NCAG blog. Whitney put up a lot of good pictures of the Rhinelander judging.  And here’s a flickr album with some photos … caution, there’s a bit of swearing in the captions.

We’re so grateful to you for the updates!!!!

New Breed/Variety Presentation Results

Blue Rhinelanders, Silver Marten Mini Rex, and Blue Tortoise Netherland Dwarfs passed their third showing and will be fully accepted varieties as of February 1, 2012!

Click for a larger image.  Photo courtesy of Kristina.  Thanks!!!

Click for the results of the new breed and variety presentations

Best in Show Winners

BIS Live Tweeting!  A gentleman was live tweeting during the BIS ceremonies and you can read the recap here: http://twitter.com/#!/search?q=%23arba2011 Or if the link doesn’t work, search #arba2011   Scroll to the bottom of this page for his few-paragraph summary.

OPEN

BIS – New Zealand by Bob Crawford, NC

Open Results

Netherland Dwarf –

BOB -  Allen Mesick and Randy Shumaker with an otter junior buck – ALSO WON BEST OF GROUP (as in a runner-up for BIS.  Pictures HERE)

BOS – Rita Stelzer and Ruby Rezak with a Chestnut Jr doe

BOSV Chocolate (Jr. Buck)- Leslie Hobbs
Chocolate Sr. Doe- Vicki Weisgerber
BOV Opal (Sr. Buck)- Nikki Seehafer
BOV Fawn (Senior Buck)- Amanda O’Gorman
Chin Jr. Doe- Leslie Hobbs
BOG Shaded (Siamese SableSr. Buck)- Mark Jacobs
BOSG Shaded (Sable Point Jr. Doe)- Nikki Seehafer
BOV Sable Point- Mark Jacobs
BOSV Smoke Pearl: SanDee Northam
Sable Point Sr. Doe- Mark Jacobs
Smoke Pearl Sr. Doe- SanDee Northam
Smoke Pearl Jr. Doe- SanDee Northam
REW Jr. Buck- Cheryl Oney
Himi Sr. Doe- Farrah Stewart

Mini Rex

BOB – Richard/Hilda Lowing

Pat with her BOB Polish at ARBA Convention. Photo copyright Pat Hanberry

Polish

BOB – Black buck by Pat Glenn of Indiana.  Pictured right.

BOS – Jeannie Webb

BOV and BOSV Broken – Tiffany McCord

American Sable

BOS – Myron Dinsdale

Britannia Petitie

BOB – Renee Goedderz

Champagne D’Argent

BOS Jerrold Fisher

Dutch

BOB Briony Barnes

Dwarf Hotot:
BOB Sr. Buck – Bill Whaley
BOS Jr. Doe – Sharon Toon

English Angora-

BOB and BOS by Marcus Rhoden

You can get more angora results and pictures from the NCAG blog.
English Lop
BOB – Dave and Trina Carlson
BOS – Larry Nash from Ohio.   He only brought  one rabbit to convention!      (Thanks Russ for the report!)

French Lop

BOB – Tammy Shaw – Solid Sr Buck
BOS – Lynn and Patrick Eden – Broken 6-8 Doe – Bred by Steph Anderson

Flemish Giant

BOS Flemish Giant. Fawn buck.

BOB – Fred Russell, Light Gray doe
BOS – Dan Brink, Fawn buck   More Pictures on this flickr album

Havana

BOB – Brad and Katie Boyce

BOS – Sarah Carden

Himalayan-

BOB – Laurie Adams

Jersey Wooly
BOB (Tan Sr. Buck)- Brian Caudill
BOSB (Chestnut Sr. Doe)- Brian Caudill
BOG Self- Brian Caudill
BOSG Self- Kristen Drum

BOG Shaded – Amber Henderson

Holland Lop
BOB (SSB)- Blackburn/Taylor
BOS (SSD)- Jenny Poprawski
BJD/BOSV- Judy Macheyne

Harlequin

BOS – Gatewood Farms

Mini Satin
BOB – Scott Rudolph

New Zealand

BOB – Bob Crawford with a white. Also won BIS!

BOS – Benker Family with a Broken black

Palomino

BOB – Rabbit’s name:  Pellham’s Needs No Introduction (aka ‘Dorothy’), senior, golden, GC doe with 2 RIS.

Owners: Patty Montag and sister, Kellie Jo Williams of Oklahoma.

Rhinelander

BOB;  jr. doe, Evylen Halsey
BOS ; jr buck, Evie Cunningham.

Best of Breed Palomino at ARBA Convention. Thanks Jojuan C. for the photo!

You can see photos of the judging on the Imagination Acres Blog!

Standard Chinchilla

BOB – Donna Abel, MN

Tan

BOB- Laural Sohns

Thrianta

BOB- Krystal Willhite with Sr. Doe

BOS-Daniel Long with Sr. Buck

Complete results at the ATRBA website

Youth Results

Dwarf Hotot

BOB Sr. Doe – Ashleigh Budrick
BOS Sr. Buck – Sarah Mugge

English Lop Youth

BOB- Melody Miller, Solid Sr Buck.  Same buck that won last year

BOS- Zach Sauer, Broken Doe.

French Lop

BOB  – Ciera Allen  from MI – Solid 6-8 doe
BOS – VanWienen girls from IN – Solid Jr Buck

Jersey Wooly - BOB and BOS by Nicole Boulier.  The Jersey Wooly club did a live video broadcast of the BOB judging and you can watch the replay at www.ustream.tv by searching for the channel tllrabbits.”

BOSG Agouti- Jessica & Taylor Usokowski
BOG Tan- Jessica & Taylor Usokowski
Agouti Jr. Buck- Eric Lorensten Chin
Self Jr. Buck- Eric Lorensten REW
Self Jr. Doe- Eric Lorensten REW
BOG Self- Eric Lorensten REW
Shaded Jr. Buck- Melani Fletcher

Holland Lop
BOB (SSB)- Tonya Crews of Florida.  Also won BIS! Note: I saw owner’s name listed elsewhere as Riley and Reagan Crews.
BOS (BSD)- Briana Hall

Netherland Dwarf-
BOB – Black Jr Buck – Cole Simons
BOSB – Black Doe – Lindsey Gilbert

New Zealand

BOB – Blake & Brock Hadley with a Black Jr. Doe

Polish

BOB – Jessica Cotter

BOS – Ryland Sypnieski

Silver

BOB – Collin Starkey

BOS – Collin Starkey

Thrianta

BOB- Brontee Anderson with Sr. Buck

BOS-Amanda Grove with Sr., Doe

Complete results at the ATRBA website

BIS Recap by “The original turtle”

I actually live-tweeted the Best In Show judging on Monday… the best youth rabbit was a broken tort Holland Lop bred by a girl in Florida who was not actually present for the award, and the best open rabbit was a spectacular New Zealand. I also live-tweeted the youth and open group selections (four of each) and which judges did the picks.

The way they did it was, they broke the showroom into four “lanes” according to distribution of wabbits from Minneapolis. Breeds were broken into four groups (as well as youth and open) according to these distributions. At the BIS spectacular, which was in an adjoining hockey rink where the Indiana Ice play in the CHL (they actually had a game Saturday), each cluster of breeds got a youth and an open judge — both groups had the same breeds in youth and open regardless of the actual number of wabbits — and they picked their choice from that “lane.”

That meant that for the final BIS, there were four wabbits in open and four in youth. There was no 1st or 2nd reserve. Various sponsors contributed money and trophies for the lane winners and the youth and open picks. There were also various sponsored trophies and cash awards for youth and open BOBs.

If you go on Twitter and search for the #arba2011 hashtag that I used, you can probably go back and view my play-by-play, I didn’t miss any of the eight winners. I didn’t necessarily get names of the breeders, and I may not have spelled the judge names right if I don’t know them myself, but all that stuff will be in the ARBA convention book and the official results.

I only breed Flemish, and I did not show any wabbits here this year. I came out to be with the club and to buy rabbits… I got an amazing junior sandy buck who is actually sitting on the hotel bed here in Ohio watching me type this!

There was no way I could run around and get pictures of everything and everybody, so I picked and chose. As far as exhibition and presentation breeds and varieties, once again, the lionheads failed. However, Netherland dwarf blue tort was accepted!

The dates of the 2011 ARBA National Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana are October 29th- November 2nd.  Yikes!  That’s coming up soon!  Convention is so much fun, and so much work, both before and after.  In all the busyness, don’t forget to think about something special you might want to wear to any banquets you would like to attend.

At Convention, there’s a general open banquet and a special youth banquet, and most breed clubs also have their own banquets.  Awards for the year are passed out at these events, and it’s usually worth attending to support your clubs and spend some social time with bunny people.  If you don’t mind sitting through a speech or two at the ARBA open banquet, you are usually rewarded with some entertainment.  You don’t need to be a youth to attend the youth banquet, and they always have a DJ come to put on a dance.  But what should you wear?

National Breed Club banquets are not usually formal, and a decent looking shirt and pants set will do.  As you might imagine, the more popular breeds have bigger banquets and you’re more likely to find someone in formal dress at the Mini Rex or Holland Lop banquet than the backyard silver breeders’ meet-up.

Attendees to the ARBA open banquet usually dress up more.  Think “church clothes.”  But they’re not going to turn you out at the door if you come under-dressed.

The ARBA youth banquet can be more like a homecoming dance, especially for the kids who are competing in royalty.  You’ll see everything from plain skirts and tops to prom dresses and elaborate hair-do’s.  Again, dressing up isn’t required for attendance, but if you plan to compete in judging, breed ID, or royalty and hope to go on stage, you will want to wear something nice, or even very nice.  See the picture at the left of the girls with their awards at the youth banquet 2008.

As you may know, I am working on rebuilding the Nature Trail rabbit information website.  I came across a post written by Laurie Stroupe on this very topic, written right before the ARBA convention in Indianapolis…in 2005.  For interest’s sake, here it is:

ARBA Convention Youth, Open and Breed Banquets Dress

If you are going to ARBA Convention, you are probably going to a banquet, whether to the ARBA banquet or to your breed specialty banquet. If that’s the case, pick out what you are going to wear now.

If you don’t, time will sneak up on you. And just when you are neck deep in pressure cleaning carriers and checking who has blown a coat, you will need to stop and go shopping.

And they won’t have what you want at the first 9 stores you visit – or at least not in your size. The tension will mount up and you will panic.

Not that I’ve ever done that myself . . .

You don’t want that, do you? Noooooooooooo. Of course not. So take a minute now and think about it.

While you are at it, make sure you locate your jacket or sweater and other fall clothes. Just because you are experiencing Indian summer where you are, doesn’t mean that you won’t need long sleeves in Indianapolis.

According to NOAA, the average high for Indianapolis in October is 65.6 degrees and the average low is 43.6. The average temperature is just 54.6. And the average SNOWFALL is 0.4 inches.

Personally, my fall clothes are still in the attic and I’m still wearing shorts every day. I guess it’s take to get them out and see what I need for my trip – before I’m neck deep in pressure washing carriers and checking to see who has blown their coats.

Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry

Who knows whose noses these are? Just for fun, guess which breed each rabbit is just by looking at the photo of the nose. Click each pic for the answer!

Thanks for playing!

It was a dark and stormy night. The bunny, with glowing eyes...

Kristina has brought a trend to the rabbit blogoshphere: Blogtober! You’re supposed to blog every day in October, or at least more often than normal.  I thought it was too cute an idea to pass up, though I think I’ll be in the second category of “more often than normal.”  I was planning to blog more come this fall anyway, so it seemed a good time to start!

I just posted a rabbit faults and DQ’s quiz for those who want to practice for ARBA royalty or judges’ tests.  But as that is probably boring to many of the other blogging RA’ers, I’m hereby putting up my dark and stormy scary bunny picture (see left) and posting one of my favorite poems (I have a lot of favorites)…

October

by that Robert Frost dude.

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,

Begin the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
one from our trees, one far away.
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.

Slow, slow!
For the grapes’ sake, if the were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost–
For the grapes’ sake along the all.