Live Stock, 



336 



[April, 1912. 



day in villages in which Brahmini bulls 

 are maintained is that these animals are 

 permitted to roam promiscuously, the 

 result being a poor quality of progeny. 

 It is nobody's business to see to the 

 proper housing, feeding, and watering of 

 the Brahmini bulls, and, as a result of 

 all this, what was intended by the 

 ancient Hindus to be a rational measure 

 of selection breeding is to-day almost 

 everywhere nothing better than a pro- 

 fitless religious superstition. Good breed- 

 ing bulls having, in the first instance, 

 been carefully selected with regard to 

 their points, their possession of local 

 characteristics, and their suitability to 

 local conditions, the next point is to 

 insure the regular and steady con- 

 tinuance of the work of improving the 

 quality of the indigenous stock, and this 

 is to be attained by selecting the very 

 best of the young bulls obtained. As 

 far as the West is concerned, this may 

 be considered scarcely more than the 

 A. B. C. of cattle-breeding, but in this 

 country, one who has watched the prob- 

 lem of cattle management need scarcely 

 be told that there are cattle breeders 

 who fancy they have done everything 

 necessary to improve stock permanently 

 in procuring a healthy bull. Indeed, 

 the necessity of continuous breeding 

 operations from generation to gener- 

 ation is one of the first principles which 

 requires to be inculcated in a country 

 where the thoroughness of the ancient 

 times has been almost everywhere re- 

 placed by spasmodic energy, and a pecu- 

 liar species of inability to work at any- 

 thing with sustained effort and with con- 

 centration of purpose. The ancient cult 

 of the Brahmini bull gave India a robust 

 type of cattle, noted for their stamina, 

 their draught and milk-yielding qualities, 

 and their fine appearance, regarding 

 which last there is frequent mention in 

 Sanskrit literature. As we have shown, 

 the cult has not been quite destroyed, 

 only it has been thickly encrusted with 

 superstition and profitless sentiment. 

 When by the intelligent fusion of 

 Eastern and Western methods, the 

 Brahmini bull is restored to its rightful 

 place in the Indian economic scheme, we 



shall cease to lament the degeneracy of 

 the cattle of India, and the agriculturist, 

 who everywhere has not enough live- 

 stock for the satisfactory pursuit of his 

 industry, will have reason to bless his 

 ancestors who, in their sagacity, gave 

 the Indian ox a position of religious 

 sanctity. 



POULTRY NOTES. 



By P. A. V. 



Infertile Eggs. 

 Mr. E. T. Bird, the great English 

 poultry expert who has travelled pretty 

 well all over the world studying 

 poultry-breeding in all climes and con- 

 ditions, points out very truly that a 

 frequent cause of infertility in eggs is 

 the fat state of the breeding stock. 

 Laying hens should be maintained in 

 a lean hard condition, and on no account 

 allowed to become fat and flabby, be- 

 cause in the latter case the eggs will 

 not only be more liable to contain no 

 germ, but they will probably be much 

 fewer in number. There is always a 

 tendency during winter months when 

 the hens are under cover a good deal, 

 and the nights are long for them to 

 get too fat, and this is a point that 

 must be carefully watched. If the male 

 bird gets too fat, he becomes lazy and 

 will not perform his duties in a satis- 

 factory manner. As far as possible, ex- 

 ercise should be encouraged, as nothing 

 helps so much to keep the birds in a 

 good working condition. The fowls com- 

 posing the breeding-pen should be perio- 

 dically examined, and if they are too 

 fat, the food should be reduced, while 

 if, on the other hand, they are too thin, 

 the ration should be increased. 



Mating V. P. 

 When mating up a breeding-pen, 

 fanciers must be guided as regards the 

 number of hens to run with a male 

 by the time of year, the age of the 

 birds and the variety. In the case of 

 large breeds of the Asiatic, Orpington 

 or heavy American type, it is not advis- 

 able to run more than four or five hens 

 with a cock in the early part of tfye 



