55
SECTION II.—REVENUE.
Babugarh Instruction Farm.
1. The following note by the Inspector-General, Civil Veterinary Depart-
ment, shows clearly the objects with which the Instruction Farm has been
started.
*Revenue and Agricultural Department letter No.
1842-26, dated 11th August 1892.
The Instruction Farm at Babugarh has been established under the orders of the Govern-
ment of India* with the view of affording practi-
cal instruction in the following subjects:—
(a) The management of horse stock in the stables, and the due care and farm working
of stud horses and mares kept for breeding purposes.
(b) The cultivation of forage crops of kinds suitable and easily obtainable at a moderate
cost for the feeding of horse stock.
It has been, and is still in India, the custom to use only horned cattle for agricultural
and ordinary cart purposes, and so the demand for horses for draught work has been but
limited, except for hackney carriages in towns, and for dâk carriage and ekka purposes where
railways are not available. Hence the breeding of horse stock has been chiefly confined to
meet demands for horses required for army purposes and Native States.
To allow of horse-breeding in any country proving remunerative, there must be one of
two factors in operation, either—
(a) that pasture lands of a good class are available at little or no rent, and so brood
mares and young stock can be bred and reared at a very trifling cost; or
(b) that brood mares are employed in agricultural work, by which the cost of the keep
is fully defrayed by the results of their working, and thus the stock produced
from them yield by their sale a profit.
As pasture land suitable for horse-breeding is only obtainable in most districts to a very
limited extent—moreover, as the so-called pasture lands are as a rule not duly cultivated, and
the grasses found on them are often of an inferior kind—it cannot be expected that horse-
breeding can be followed under the conditions noted at (a).
Therefore, to allow of horse-breeding being made remunerative, it is essential that brood
mares be employed at agricultural or cart work, and this slow work is suitable for mares kept
for breeding purposes. Indeed, mares thus employed prove more sure breeders and produce
better stock than mares simply kept for brood and given no work.
In this country horses are used for such draught work as bullocks cannot perform in
sufficiently quick time, and it is well known that they can satisfactorily do fast work under
the tropical sun of India, It may therefore be expected that they will prove no less efficient
in the performance of the slower work of carting and of the farm.
Granted that the bullock is good for agricultural purposes, still it must be remembered
that he yields no produce. It is not intended to urge the general substitution of horse and
mare power in lieu of bullock power; but it is desirable to explain that in districts where horses
are found to thrive and do well, the employment of mares and stallions for farm and cart
work, and at the same time for breeding purposes, will be found profitable.
As practical evidence that horse-breeding conducted on the lines indicated is profitable,
it may be mentioned that at the Civil Veterinary Department Depôt Farm at Babugarh horse
and mare power only are used for all agricultural work, such as ploughing, harrowing, water-
lifting, and carting. No bullock is employed, and it is found that stallions and mares
perform the work as well as, and at a quicker rate than, bullocks. The mares having regular,
steady and slow work yield good produce.
The instruction afforded, as above indicated, will convince agriculturists that horse stock
can be used for all work now done by bullocks, and that by employing horse and mare power
additional profit results.
The native farmer rightly, conservative as he is in not adopting new lines unless they
prove paying, will, by witnessing the farm cultivation of the Babugarh Depôt, become assured
that he can safely and profitably use horses and mares in lieu of bullocks for cultivating his
farm and for carting produce to and from markets.
Hence it is desirable to allow native chiefs, zamindars, and others to have the opportunity
of seeing every kind of farm work performed by horse, mare, mule, and donkey power, and
so induce them to employ such labour instead of bullocks.
It may be hoped that in course of time horse stock will become generally used for the
farm purposes for which bullocks are now exclusively employed; that thus horse, pony, and
mule-breeding will spread and the supply of horse stock will increase, and the necessity at
present existing of importing for State purposes thousands of horses annually at a great cost