2
and the decision of Government not at present to charge fees for inoculation
rescues the treatment from threatened collapse. There is a reduction shew in
equine disease, but the Chief Superintendent doubts the accuracy of the
figures. The veterinary assistants have treated 24,000 less cases on tour,
but nearly 24,000 more cases have been treated in hospitals. The popularity
of the hospitals is undoubtedly rapidly extending.
Cattle in breeding dis¬
tricts.
5. It is to be hoped that cattle-breeding receives a larger share of
the superintendents' attention than the meagre proportion
of the report devoted to the subject would indicate. Mr.
Stow's model report has laid down the lines to be followed
in future. It is useless to summarize it ; everyone interested in cattle-
breeding should read it. Perhaps the most important lesson is that different
problems have to be solved in breeding and in importing tracts. In
breeding tracts the bull is the pivot. The number of stud bulls at work is more
than last year, but there are no statistics available as to their produce.
I hope it will be possible in future to obtain fuller information — even
though it is not statistical—of the work done by these bulls. In any
case they can have but little influence on the breed of the cattle among the
enormously preponderating crowd of miscellaneous bulls, — pun cattle, imma-
ture bulls, village selected bulls, and the rest. Gaoshalas should help in shutting
up unsatisfactory bulls. Hissar Farm bulls do not seem to be uniformly appre-
ciated even in Hariana itself. In one district I found a good looking farm
bull which had been standing idle and unappropriated for about six months
because no village would take him over. Excessive weight was the reason
given ; but it may be that a fine imposed on a village for the loss of another
bull had frightened others from undertaking the responsibility. Newly imported
Hissar bulls are of course more likely to wander than the home-bred animals.
The Kaliana Stud Farm referred to in the report has been founded by the
grant of 2,300 acres of land to a private gentleman on condition that he keeps
up a herd of 150 adult pure-bred Montgomery cows which have been approved
by the Director of Agriculture. Nothing has yet been done to preserve and ex-
tend the Dhanni breed. Mr. Carless prepared a report on the cattle of the
Jhelum district; but it was not of sufficient value for publication. Both as
regards Dhanni cattle and as regards the Hariana breed, fruitful effort must
be deferred till the appointment of more superintendents—a matter still under
consideration. In the meantime circulars have been issued directing the at-
tention of District Boards to the subject.
Cattle in non-breeding
districts.
6. In importing—that is, non-breeding—districts the care of his young
stock is what the zamindar neglects, and ultimately this
is due to the want of grazing and the small area of land
devoted to fodder crops. Can it be shown to the zamin-
dar that he will gain pecuniarily by growing more fodder and rearing his
young stock, so as to replace some at least of his purchased bullocks, instead
of letting them die ? Hindu sentiment ought to help here, but does not.
Cattle and horse fairs.
7. The importance of cattle and horse fairs as markets cannot be
over-estimated, but as shows they probably fail. Some
Rs. 15,000 are given annually by local bodies as prizes
to cattle and horses in shows, but out of 22,210 beasts at the Rewari shows
last year only 62 competed for prizes, out of 57,206 at the Hissar shows
only 461 competed, and in Sialkot of 44,375 only 158 entered the rings.
There are a few professional pot-hunters, but the ordinary cattle-breeder and
zamindar care nothing for prizes ; and District Boards might well consider
whether the money now devoted to prizes could not be more profitably spent
in the promotion of fodder reserves, the extension of fodder crops or the
purchase of bulls. If prizes are still to be awarded, surely—in breeding districts
at any rate, if not universally—classes should be arranged by breed and not only
by age. Local bodies might consider this.