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be submitted by these men. It will now be printed in English and Urdu, and
will be circulated to all the subordinates of this Department; and, through
the Directors of Land Records, it will be submitted to all district officials, in
order that they may become acquainted with the duties of the men serving in
their districts. It is hoped that the publication of this short code will lead to
the better working of the Zilladars, especially who, at present, are not very
reliable.
Advice to breed-
ers, to be circu-
lated by means
of Covering and
Produce
Certi-
ficates.
595. During the year under review, the question of endeavouring to
increase the number of mares that hold, by the dissemination of knowledge as
to the treatment of the mare at the time of covering, was considered. Veteri-
nary Captain Pease's Manual on Horse-breeding cannot possibly reach each
individual breeder; it was therefore decided to print the following simple
instructions at the back of each Covering Certificate in English and in Urdu,
and this will therefore be done in future:—
" The mare, described on reverse, is entitled to the service of a Government stallion gratis.
No fees
should be paid to any official or syce in charge.
"The mare is much more likely to hold after being covered if the following precautions be taken, namely :—
" 1. It should first be ascertained beyond doubt that she is in season.
" 2. She should be well rested in a quiet place as long as possible before being covered.
"3. If she has been highly fed and is fat, she should have no corn, or heating food, or masalas, for a
week before being covered.
"4. After being covered, she should be rested again in a quiet place, as long as possible. A long
journey or violent exertion immediately afterwards is very likely to prevent holding.
"5. She should not have heating food for some days after she is covered.
" 6. The mare is in the best condition to hold from 8 to 10 days after foaling, if in season."
596. The first rule was inserted as a guarantee to the owner of the mare
that she is to receive the services of a Government stallion gratis, and was
inserted with a view of endeavouring to put a stop to cases of extortion on the
part of Tehsil subordinates, such as is reported to have occurred in the Umballa
District.
597. As an average of 14,000 mares are covered annually and receive this
certificate, it is hoped that the circulation of these few simple instructions
will have the desired effect.
598. It was further proposed that the class of stallion to which each
mare is allotted, be stamped across each certificate; this would have been
an excellent idea were we able to give effect to it, but at present I do not
see my way to carry it out. To give effect to this suggestion, we would require
an Arab, a Thoroughbred, and a Hackney, at each stand, and the idea is not
feasible; all we can do is to allot a stallion to each class that will suit the
majority of mares of that particular part of the country. The results that I
feared would arise if this suggestion were given effect to, were that Native
officials in charge of Government stallions would probably refuse to allow a
mare to be served if the services of the class of stallion to which she was
allotted, was not present at the time. Again, an owner very frequently will
not have his mare served by a horse of a certain class and will rather take his
mare to a country-bred stallion. To obviate this, it is often desirable to
humour the breeder. It was, therefore, with regret that I felt compelled to
veto the suggestion which was made by Veterinary Captain Joslen, Superintend-
ent, Civil Veterinary Department, South Punjab.
599. The question of printing simple instructions at the back of the
Produce Certificate is now receiving consideration, and I trust to see them
brought out soon. These will embrace the treatment of young stock generally,
especially from the time they are weaned until they are brought up for sale.
600. The instructions, both on the Covering and Produce Certificates,
will have to be printed in Hindi as well as in Urdu, in order to meet the require-
ments of some of the districts in the North-Western Provinces.
Urdu edition of
Manual on Horse-
breeding.
601. The Horse-breeding Manual published last year by Veterinary
Captain Pease, has met with much appreciation, and I feel certain that con-
taining, as it does, such useful and practical hints for selection and manage-
ment of brood mares and young stock, it will be the means of disseminating
much useful knowledge throughout our breeding districts.
602. A still more useful pamphlet has been published during the year.
The above Manual was taken as the basis, and from it all technical and scien-