50 



At the same time considerable progress has been made in the 

 last four years. The District Boards' bulls in 1906 only numbered 

 256. These are now 472. In the last four years 431 bulls have 

 been bought, so that allowing for replacements the number has 

 nearly doubled. In 1906 the Agricultural Department in their 

 scheme for utilizing the special annual grant of one lakh for veteri- 

 nary improvements recommended that one bull should be bought 

 \ for each tahsil every year. Taking the province as a whole this 

 standard has almost been attained. In somo districts the number 

 of bulls bought has exceeded the standard, m others owing to the 

 want of a definite scheme and to difficulties in the matter of 

 maintenance little has been done. Allowing for the considerable 

 expenditure which had to be incurred in providing Veterinary 

 Hospitals District Boards may be said to have fully utilized the 

 portion of the special grant, allotted for the purchase of balls. 

 Government have decided to continue the grant of one lakh per 

 annum and further improvements may be expected.* Much 

 remains to be done. Ifc is somewhat surprising for instance to 

 find that there are at present no Government bulls in the Jhelum 

 Colony. At present little care is taken to trace the effect of the 

 bulls on the stock of surrounding villages. The attention of the 

 Boards might be directed towards this important matter. 



The District Boards of all districts south of the Sutlej, and 

 the central districts, Lahore* Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Gujranwala 

 and Lyallpur, buy their bulls from the Hissar Cattle Farm. The 

 Hissar bull is specially suited to the uplands of Ferozepur and 

 Ludhiana where conditions of soil and climate are not too far 

 removed from those prevailing in Hissar and where the indigenous 

 cow is not too small. The resulting stock is generally of good 

 type and commands a very fair price, but it is not to be compared 

 with the animals Imported direct from Hariana, or the Hariana 

 \ bullocks reared in the Cis-Sutlej States. It is being recognized 

 that in the Bet tracts where the cows are stunted the Hissar bull 

 is not so useful as the Dhanni, and the District Boards of Ferozepur 

 and Gurdaspur have lately bought a number of Dhanni bulls for 

 the riverain tracts. It is a common complaint, especially in the 

 Hariana Districts, that the bulls from the Hissar Cattle Farm pro- 

 duce sluggish stock far less hardy than the offspring of the 

 zamindar's own bull. The reason for tbese complaints is to be 

 found in the history of the Hissar Farm during the last ten years. 

 Previous to 1900 the Hissar bull was of extremely mixed breeding. 

 Bulls of all the best Indian breeds had been congregated in the 

 farm and no attempt had been made to preserve distinctive types. 

 The result was too often an animal, sometimes powerful enough 



* See the recent circular isiued by the Agricultural Department in Appendix No, 4. 



