2 



are misleading, unless supplemented by some estimate of the 

 quality and breed of the cattle enumerated, and some enquiry into 

 the relation of demand and supply. In the present report an 

 attempt has been made to focus the outstanding features of the 

 . subject, the extent to which the extraordinary spread of cultiva- 

 ' tion has diminished the sources of supply, the necessity of preserv- 

 ing and improving the remaining breeding centres, the develop- 

 ment of Government assistance, and the results which may be ex- 

 pected from co-operative effort. 



II. PRESENT CONDITIONS OF CATTLE-BREEDING IN 



THE PUNJAB. 



The last twenty years have been for the Punjab years of un- 

 exampled development. The great canal colonies have been 

 brought into existence, irrigation from the older canals has ex- 

 panded, while the pressure of population has brought under the 



; plough large areas of unirrigated land. The cultivated area of the 

 Punjab (excluding the districts transferred to the North-West 

 Frontier Province) has grown from 35,000 square miles in 1890 to 

 44,000 square miles in the present year, and the percentage of 

 this area receiving irrigation has increased from 30 to 41 , The 



' number of wells haa risen from 240,000 to 280,000 in the last 

 twenty years. Between 1891 and 1901 the population rose from 

 18| to over 23 millions. 



This rapid development called for a corresponding increase in 

 the number of bullocks required to work the ploughs and wells, 

 . and in the milch cattle which provide the dairy requirements of 

 the population. But hardly had this new demand declared itself 

 than the province was faced by a period of ten years' famine and 

 scarcity. The unirrigated tracts, which are the chief sources of 

 the cattle supply and were being heavily drawn upon to meet the 

 calls of expanding cultivation, suffered severely from the drought. 

 The stock decreased while there was no slackening of the demand. 

 Expanding cultivation meant diminished grazing grounds, and the 

 requirements of the growing population in the matter of dairy 

 produce were supplied with increasing difficulty. That the demand 

 for draught animals has been met is an undoubted fact, other- 

 wise we should hear of wells abandoned and land uncultivated. 

 But the strain of the transition period has been very great and 

 has affected the conditions of cattle-breeding and the cattle trade 

 throughout the province. 



The most obvious result has been the great enhancement of the 

 price of draught cattle and of dairy produce. In 1896 and 1899 



