THE MAGAZINE 
OF 
THE SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE, 
COLOMBO. 
Added as a Supplement monthly to the "TROPICAL AGBICULTUBIST." 
The following pages include the contents of the Magazine of the School of 
Agriculture for November: — 
HOW DOES SCIENCE HELP AGEICULTUEE ? 
V. 
By C. Deiebee0, b.a., f.h.a.s. 
Cattle are always associated with Agriculture in 
some way, whether for draught purposes or for milk 
and meat production. In Great Britain the use of 
cattle for the var ious agricultural operations has al- 
most entirely died out — being now confined to a few 
districts in the southern counties of England. In 
Ceylon on the other hand cattle are exclusively em- 
ployed for preparing the land and for any succeed- 
ing operations. Not only are cattle used for this 
purpose in agriculture, but nearly all the carriage 
in a country where the extent of railway is so small, 
and where horaes are unsuitable for many reasons, 
is done by cattle. 
How necessary then is a practical knowledge of 
Veterinary Science to those to whom cattle are so 
useful. Some of our landowners who own large 
areas of land at long distances from railway stations 
and towns are obliged to keep many head of cattle 
for cartage of the produce of their estates. The 
smaller landowners again keep cattle for milking pur- 
poses, while there are those who keep bulls for hir- 
ing out with carts and hackeries. The owners of 
grass-fields generally have a number of animals for 
the sake of the manure which they require for their 
land, for carting about the grass, as well as for milk- 
ing. And yet if there is one thing more than another 
which has been neglected by the owners of stock, 
and allowed to be neglected by those in authority> 
it is the proper care of cattle. The careless manner 
in which cattle are exposed to the weather, the need 
of shelter and litter, as well as the insanitary state 
of the grounds where cattle are tethered, have brought 
about a condition of affairs which for other reasons 
than the deterioration in the value of the animals 
and their produce, calls for authorized interference. 
If the owners of cattle knew anything of the dangers 
arising from this careless treatment of their stock, 
apart from the loss they incur by it, they would 
hardly continue acting in the same groove to which 
they have hitherto kept. Of late the subject of 
cattle disease has been ventila'ed to a great extent, 
and those who have read the information gathered, 
and opinions expressed on the subject, must by this 
be aware of the dangers with which the general 
public is threatened. In the matter of proper dieting 
with a view to the production of 'meat and milk 
and that of breeding, there is room for much im- 
provement. What facilities have cattle owners had 
towards gaining the desired knowledge which Veteri- 
nary Science can give, or the aid which they might 
expect from higher sources ? The fact is that 
there is no one who is authorized to come to their 
aid in special epidemic attacks which mean ruin for 
the smaller stock-owners ; and there is no informa- 
tion being circulated for their benefit by anybody 
who is looking ioto this much-neglected matter — the 
improvements of cattle in Oeylon. The subject is 
one which presents a new field in so far as no one 
has looked into the matter from any but a purely 
remunerative point of view. 
The importance that Veterinary Science has risen 
to in Great Britain and the Continent, especially in 
its relation to Agriculture, is no matter of surprise 
when we consider the dangers and losses which 
cattle- diseases bring about. "It was not till 1861," 
says Professor Wortley Axe, in an article on Veteri- 
nary Progress, " that notwithstanding that every 
nation in Europe had from time to time suffered 
enormous losses from bovine and other scourges, that 
any attempt was made to stem the tide of barbarism 
which had long flourished under the guise of farriery, 
and contributed so largely to the mortality of the 
live-stock of the world. Blacksmiths, grooms, shoe- 
makers and horse-breakers were the oracles of the 
time. Armed with traditional rules and barbarous 
recipes, handed down from age to uge, these miser- 
able quacks vied with each other in the worst abuses 
of both drugs and knife. Bleeding, balling, blistering, 
and rowelling were practised with unmeasured fero- 
city. Every law of health and life were outraged 
under the pretence of medical knowledge, and the 
body tormented by a system which long survived the 
institution of our Veterinary schools." Professor Axe 
then goes on to contrast this state of things with the 
