S24 TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



advantage in the matter of milk production. Cows give less 

 milk in tropical climates. It is rare that cows of the best 

 breeding give more than 5,000 pounds of milk per year in a 

 tropical climate. The yield is more likely to be from 4 to 

 7 quarts per day. Moreover, all grains are higher in price 

 than in cold climates and cultivation of the soil and the pro- 

 duction of green crops are more expensive than is the case 

 in any of the well known dairy districts of the United States. 

 The prevalence of insect pests, particularly the horn fly, is 

 another large disadvantage of the Tropics. The horn fly pre- 

 vails in many tropical countries in numbers unheard of in 

 the dairy sections of the mainland, and the constant annoy- 

 ance of these pests helps to reduce the condition and the milk 

 yields of dairy cows. In consequence of these various disad- 

 vantages, the cost of producing milk in the Tropics is con- 

 siderably higher than in cold climates. The same tendency 

 may be observed on the mainland of the United States, milk 

 costing more and more as one proceeds from the North to 

 the South. In Honolulu, for example, it is questionable 

 whether the dairyman can make a reasonable profit on sani- 

 tary milk delivered to the consumer at a lower price than 15 

 cents per quart. 



It must be remembered, however, that tropical countries 

 do not depend for their milk upon the dairy breeds of cattle 

 with which we are familiar. In fact, most of the milk used 

 by the inhabitants of the Tropics does not come from the 

 ordinary humpless, taurine cattle with which we are familiar. 

 In India, Asia Minor, and Africa, milk is obtained from the 

 zebu, the water buffalo, sheep, goat, and mare. The water 

 buffalo, or carabao, as it is known in the Philippines, gives 

 a large yield of milk of a fairly high fat content. In a num- 

 ber of localities, some effort has been made to improve the 

 milking qualities of the buffalo by the ordinary methods of 

 selective breeding. Considerable success has been achieved 

 in this work. In Poona, India, for example, a strain of buffalo 



