CH. XVI] STOCK 141 



The provision of the best possible food supply is another 

 matter that requires very careful attention ; there is too much 

 casual or insufficient feeding going on among village cattle. It 

 is far better to keep only a few cattle and to feed them well, 

 than to keep more and feed them badly. In particular the 

 proper feeding and rearing of the young stock wants careful 

 attention. Even if the villager has plenty of food, he rarely 

 knows how to feed the beasts to the best advantage with it. 



There are many directions in which, on the other hand, 

 improvement can be at once put in hand, for instance in the 

 castration of cattle, which in many tropical countries is very 

 clumsily and cruelly performed, and in the treatment of epi- 

 demic diseases, such as rinderpest, by prompt and careful 

 sanitation. 



One direction which the breeding of improved races of cattle 

 might take, for example, is the production of a race of good 

 milkers. Almost all the breeds hitherto existing are for 

 draught, and the few milkers are not very well suited to other 

 climates than their own. 



Pig rearing is practised to some extent in the Malay Penin- 

 sula, and in other countries frequented by the Chinese, who 

 regard pork, etc., as great necessities of life, but there is little 

 doubt that the breeds could be further improved in many ways. 



Poultry in the tropics are as a rule of very mixed breeds, 

 and could, having careful regard to the limitations of the food 

 supply, be very considerably improved. 



