43 



butcher or to any one who may be suspected of being interested 

 in the meat trade. The rural population, whether Hindu or 

 Mussalman, subsists normally on a vegetarian diet Under these 

 circumstances both th demand for meat and its supply a^e very ^ 

 definitely limited. The demand for beef of any kind is practically 

 confined to cantonments, civil stations, and the larger cities, and 

 the demand for high class beef to very limited sections of th^se 

 communities. The population of cantonments and the European 

 civil population is more or less fixed and there is no evidence that 

 the beef-eating population of the towns is largely increasing. The 

 demand for beef, such as it is, is therefore practically constant. 



The supply of beef is limited in the same way. The utmost 

 a butcher is prepared to pay for a bullock or a cow, unless, as 

 happens in very rare cases, it has been specially fattened for the 

 market, is Rs. 20, the butcher looking to obtain a profit of about 

 five rupees, not including the value of the hide. It is obvious 

 that it would be unprofitable for the zamindar to sell working 

 bullocks or milch cows of any value to the butcher. The but- 

 cher's purchases, as may be seen at any fair, are old and worn 

 out bullocks bought for the sale of the hide and the inferior meat, ' 

 and undersized, worn out, barren, or otherwise useless cows. 

 From an economic point of view practically no harm is caused by ~ 

 the disappearance of worn out animals, and undersized cows, 

 though their disappearance may be a loss from the point of view 

 of the milk supply, are seldom to be regretted from the stand- 

 point of the breed. Such animals are sold by Mussualmans direct 

 to the butchers. In the south of the province Hindus will usually 

 deal through a Hindu Banjara who disposes of the animal to his 

 Mussalman caste brother if there is nothing to gain by keeping 

 the animal alive, in addition to these classes of animals, how- 

 ever, there is no doubt that a considerable proportion of the 

 young stock sold to Banjarw-s and other dealers find their way 

 to the butcher. Large numbers are no doubt sold for draught 

 work, but if grazing is insufficient or it is otherwise inconvenient 

 to keep the animals longer they are sold off to butchers at the 

 weekly fairs in the neighbourhood of Delhi and other large 

 centres. In this way, no doubt, young heifers which might develop 

 into useful cows are lost to the country. The zamindar, however, f - 

 only disposes of his young stock because he has no space in which 

 they can be grazed, and because it is more profitable to stall 

 feed a buffalo than to stall feed a cow. If the conditions of home 

 breeding can be improved, and as it- becomes more profitable to 

 keep young stock than to sell them there will be fewer complaints 

 of the paucity of cows. It ia noteworthy that whereas the prices 



