29
Government, gives the Department a fair start with a thoroughly clean piece of
land, fenced on all sides and capable of being made into a high class grass
reserve, when it will be possible to cut and harvest the whole crop and entirely
do away with the great waste of good grass that occurs annually in lands set
aside for grass purposes, half of which are covered with useless scrub jungle.
All fodder arrangements in connection with these horses are now complete and
in full working order, and I anticipate a very large saving annually. The
following statement gives receipts and expenditure, is worked out at contract
rates, and shows a net profit to Government of Rs. 951-8-0 under the above
system :—
Expenditure.
Pay of máli and motwála (6th
April 1897 to 31st March
1898) ... ...
Charges for maintaining a pair
of bullocks from 7th June
1897 to 31st March 1898 ...
Cost of jowári seed, including
railway charges ... ...
Pay of watchman (18th August
1897 to 24th January 1898) ...
Paid to contractor for cutting
grass in the Shendi kuran,
carting it to the stables, and
stacking it there ... ...
Total ...
Amount.
Rs.
189
109
36
37
326
698
a.
5
7
4
5
6
12
p.
4
7
3
7
1
10
Outturn.
Jowári seed, 60 lbs., at 15
lbs. a rupee ... ...
Kirbi, 1,770 lbs., at 30 lbs. a
rupee
...
...
Lucern, 1,450 lbs., at 100 lbs.
a rupee ... ...
Guinea grass, 3,330 lbs., at
100 lbs. a rupee
Grass from kuran, 66,195 lbs.,
at 43 lbs. a rupee
...
Total ...
Net profit to Government ...
Amount.
Rs.
4
59
14
33
1,539
1,650
951
a.
0
0
8
4
8
5
8
p.
0
0
0
5
8
1
3
86. Owing to the small quantity of oats grown in this Presidency and the
total ignorance of the majority of the Zamindárs of the existence of such a
grain and its value as a food stuff for horses, I have been endeavouring to
persuade a certain number to try experiments in various parts of the Presidency
and have succeeded in getting crops grown in the Ahmedabad District and
Sind. The crop in Sind was most successful and has yielded the best sample
of oats I have ever seen in this country. I have been unable to obtain full
details of the Ahmedabad experiments, but the Collector reports that our field of
fifteen gunthas produced about 20 Gujarát maunds of oats in good condition.
It is to be hoped that Zamindárs will realize the value of this crop, and that its
cultivation will spread, as the market rates compare very favourably with other
cereals, and much value would accrue to the land as a rotation crop.
Transfer of Sind.
87. According to Government Resolution No. 261 in the Revenue Depart-
ment, dated 11th January 1898, the stallions, veterinary dispensaries, and all.
work in connection with the Civil Veterinary Department in Bind was handed
over to the Superintendent, Civil Veterinary Department, Beluchistán, on the
1st April 1898. I take this opportunity of giving a few details in connection
with this Province that may be of assistance to the above-named officer, and
further to point out that a mistaken idea appears to have crept into the Govern-
ment of India's letter No. 1868-66-2, dated 16th December 1897, Revenue
and Agricultural Department, to the effect that the whole of Sind is a tract of
country which only requires to be thoroughly opened out to at once yield good
and promising results, both in horse and mule-breeding. I need hardly say that
this is not the case, and that it differs from its neighbour Beluchistán as much
as it is possible for two countries bordering each other to do. Parts of Sind are
absolutely worthless from a horse-breeding point of view and, unless it is
possible to make a considerable change both in the condition of the country and
the ideas of the people, no efforts on the part of the Civil Veterinary Department
are ever likely to be attended with the success that the letter would warrant
one to suppose.
B 302—8