5
these are either the property of the Local Bodies or of Government. As
directed la9t year, a record is now being kept by the Veterinary Assistants
of the services of the various bulls, and the result will be recorded in the
report of the coming year. The bulls kept at the jails are for the purpose
of the jail cattle only, although in some cases their services are allowed to
the outside cattle, but the fees being charged are in most instances fairly
high so that the owners but seldom take advantage of this privilege.
45. Requests for good bulls were received from several districts, but
could not be complied with in all cases for want of suitable animals. Six
Siri bulls were supplied to the Darjeeling district by purchasing them at
Tee8ta at an average cost of Rs. 60, and one cross bull was sent to the
District Board of Malda. In the latter case a bull-calf of 18 months old was
purchased from the Keventer's Farm at Calcutta and sent to Malda to be
retained and suitably fed, according to instructions by the district board,
till it is fit for stud purposes (six months' time). The expanse of transit
in this case was considerable, viz., Rs. 70 but the initial cost being small and
the bull a particularly suitable one, I feel sure the Board will be amply
compensated by its services when it is full grown. I intend following up
this scheme of buying young bulls and having them properly cared for in
the last few months of their adolescence by the district boards and hope
thereby to procure more of them and improve their efficiency as stud animals.
46. Two bull-calves (cross-Montgomary) were purchased during the
year by the District Board of Barisal from the local jail at an average cost
of Rs. 22, and two more (one cross-Australian and one Patna) were presented
to the Veterinary Hospital by two gentlemen of the town.
47. One country-bred bull-calf was presented to the District Board of
Jalpaiguri by Rai Preonath Bannerjee Bahadur of Jalpaiguri.
48. Making use of cross-bred bulls in this way may be rather zig-zag
breeding, but our first object must be improvement of the milk-producing
and work-performing qualities rather than attempts to laying down special
types or breeds in such a vast country as Bengal. These highly specialized
lines can be followed only when the people themselves have become sufficient-
ly civilised and educated to carry them on unceasingly, with profit to them-
selves and the community at large. The possibility of creating a single
type or breed of cattle which will be everlastingly and ubiquitously success-
ful has yet to be revealed. The prevailing degeneracy—or at least of arrested
progress—of the cattle of Bengal is too exhaustive a subject to be treated
adequately here, but if the predominating causes (indiscriminate breeding
plus profound ignorance or apathy of owners in applying care and manage-
ment) be looked into even casually a primary solution of the problem appears
possible through the medium of stud bulls. In Bengal good mature bulls
are few in number in comparison with the number of cows, and as most of
them are at work all day long, opportunities for breeding fall to their less
robust and unfit companions grazing with the herd. The result is a continu-
ous process of reproduction of calves of a worthless type and in addition, the
ravages of in-breeding are frequently allowed to play their part. Therefore,
the aim of having at stud three to four bulls at every sub-divisional headquarters
or, better still, one to two at- each thana is fully warranted under these
circumstances and district boards' opinions will be asked for. Scarcity of bulls
of suitable type is at. present the chief hinderance to progress along these
lines, and some means must be evolved soon to correct this want before
district boards are approached further.
Fairs and Shows.
49. Tables XIII and XIV show the particulars of horse and cattle
fairs held during the year.
50. All these were visited either by the Divisional Veterinary Inspectors
or local Veterinary Assistants who helped in the judging of cattle and ex-
plained to the people present the various methods of diagnosis and treatment
of diseases and of improving their stock by proper care and management.
3 A