50
year's working only. Of the 32 coverings made by the District Board stallion
at Hyderabad 4 only were successful, 24 did not hold, and the result of 4 is
unknown.
Remounts purchased.
9. The number of remounts purchased during the year amounted to 521
or 164 less than in the previous year. Less number
was purchased for the Native Cavalry and Sind Police.
Of the total number, 193 or 37 per cent. were purchased at the principal shows
in the Presidency. The places where purchases were made have been shown
as required by the Government of India, and these disclose that 28 per cent. of
the remounts were bought outside the Presidency. It is satisfactory to note
that the Rearing Depôt is securing year by year an increasing number of young
stock suitable for remounts. Purchases for it were made for the first time in Sind
with successful results. The Superintendent notes with satisfaction the improve-
ment found in the Depôt animals. Of the total number purchased, about 28
per cent. were the known produce of Government sires, 49 per cent. were country-
bred and the rest of unknown origin.
Castration.
10. Castration makes little progress, the number of animals operated upon
falling from 171 to 151. Veterinary Assistants cas-
trated only 32 animals: 8 in Belgaum and Hyderabad
each, 6 in Surat, 3 in Karáchi, 2 in Ahmadabad and the rest elsewhere. The
work done is far from satisfactory.
Donkey stallions and their
work.
11. The number of donkey stallions (26) remained stationary. Four
Italian donkeys were imported to replace an equal
number removed from the register, one having died,
2 destroyed and one sold. Two stallions were bought
for His Highness the Mir of Khairpur and one for a Jamindár in Sind. The
total number actually at stud work was 23.03. These covered 872 mares during
the year against 763 in the previous year. The average number of coverings
per stallion rose from 33.43 to 37.86. This shows some improvement, though
the number is still below that of 1893-94, which stood at 41.99. Out of 33.43
coverings per stallion made in 1894-95, only 4.42 foaled, 21.61 having not held,
and the result of the rest being unknown. This gives only 13 foals per hundred
coverings. The number of coverings in the Deccan and Gujarát shows a steady
increase, but the progress made is so slow that the Superintendent despairs of
making the industry popular in these tracts. Government have, however,
recently expressed their unwillingness to abandon the scheme on such short
trial and have directed the Superintendent to watch the progress and notice the
results in his annual reports with a view to obtain further experience. The
Superintendent notes that the Khorásán donkeys are more popular, much cheaper
and apparently surer foal-getters than the Italians, and he has arranged for
importing a few of them for stud purposes. The results are apparently based
on a single stallion owned by the Department, who covered 33 mares in 1894-95,
of which only 7 are known to have turned out successful. The Commissariat
Department purchased 27 mules for transport purposes and 13 were bought by
Captain Willis for the Army.
Branding of mares.
12. During the year the Superintendent branded in all 1,465 mares,—621
for horse, 294 for pony and 550 for mule-breeding,
against 433 in the previous year. It will be noticed
that nearly 84 per cent. of the mares were branded in Sind, where, as mentioned
above, the Superintendent made a prolonged tour in the Upper Sind Frontier
District and also in the hitherto unvisited but promising Lower Sind.
Cost of feed and keep of
stallions.
13. The average cost of maintenance of each horse and pony stallion came
to Rs. 368-12-6 or Rs. 6-12-11 more than last year,
and not Rs. 11-0-5 as shown by the Superintendent,
the correct charge for last year being Rs. 361-15-7 per
head and not Rs. 357-12-1 as shown. The average cost of maintenance of each
donkey stallion has also been miscalculated at Rs. 291 instead of RS. 292-5-3,
which shows a rise of Rs. 5-11-5 over last year's cost. The net increase over
the total cost of last year comes to Rs. 326, but the Superintendent is not cor-
rect in showing the average increase per head at Rs. 3½ only. It is incorrect