4
of any important experiments being repeated, when necessary, in the plains
under different conditions to those which obtain at Muktesar and for other
purposes, and it is hoped that necessary money will be allotted in time for the
buildings to be completed before the cold weather, as the land has already been
taken over, with the sanction of His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor of the
North-Western Provinces, who kindly granted me an interview on the subject
at Bareilly in January last. The site which has been selected is situated four
miles out of Bareilly on the Badaun Road, and is about twelve acres in extent.
One laboratory room, with a quarter for a Veterinary Assistant and a godown,
will be constructed, together with sheds, which will suffice for cattle for rinder-
pest experiments, if it is found necessary to repeat these on plain cattle there in
the cold weather, or for horses or other animals if required. The officers of the
Laboratory will either live in Bareilly or camp on the ground when working
at this branch station.
6. Minor Improvements.—The entrance and other roads have been re-aligned
and railings have been put up along them. A garden has been laid out on
the ground to the north of the main building and also by the side of the space
leading to the Laboratory, and an avenue of deodars has been planted by the
side of the principal entrance road, and other small improvements tending
towards tidiness and good appearance of the place have been carried out during
the last few months.
7. Apparatus purchased during the Year.—Some important additions
have been made during the past year to the apparatus of the Laboratory. Two
new incubators for the maufacture of blood serum for a culture medium have
been obtained, and an instrument for evaporating serums and other material
at a low temperature in a vacuum has been received. A centrifugal machine
worked by a gas engine has been ordered, and as by means of this apparatus
twice as much serum can be obtained from a given quantity of blood as can be
got by letting it clot and separate in the way which has to be used at present,
the output of rinderpest serum will be greatly increased when this machine
is received and got into working order. The chemical room has still to be
fitted up with many reagents, but money will be available for this and other
necessaries during the current year. Some things which were required for the
rinderpest work have also been purchased out of this year's grant.
8. The Library.—Some new reference works have been added to the library
during the past year in addition to the periodicals received. The latter have
not, however, been bound since they were first paid for out of a Government
grant, that is, for the last four years, and the small sum of R50 which is allowed
yearly for this purpose under the head of "Contingencies" is totally inade-
quate for the purpose. As, however, the question of the purchase by the
Government of Dr. Lingard's very valuable and essential library of reference
works and important pathological and bacteriological journals, which include
the earlier numbers of nearly most of those which are now purchased yearly
with the Government grant and extend for several years back, may shortly come
up, the question of the binding of the library journals will be left for the
present, so that, if Dr. Lingard's volumes are purchased, the latter ones may be
bound in something like the same style.
9. Cultivation.—In order to overcome the difficulty of obtaining fodder for
the cattle at Muktesar, at the suggestion of the Inspector General of the Civil
Veterinary Department, some of the land belonging to the Laboratory was placed
under cultivation. This could only be done to a very limited extent on account
of want of labour, but as no Rinderpest experiments were going on during the
latter part of 1898, some of the coolies who had been sanctioned as cattle
attendants were available for employment on cultivation. During the present
year the labour difficulty has been greater owing to the cattle attendants being
fully employed in the sheds, and permission has been asked to spend a portion
of the sum allotted under the head of " Feed and keep of cattle " on the employ-
ment of coolies for cultivation, as this will result in some saving. In spite of
these disadvantages, some progress has been made with the cultivation. Some
Jowar seed was ordered in April 1898, but as it was not received until July,
it did not have a fair chance and was a failure at Muktesar, but did somewhat
better at Ritani, which is several hundred feet lower down. In September,
hill barley was sown both at Muktesar and at Ritani, and good crops have
resulted, although some damage was done by hail-storms in April. During the