THE MAQAZINB 
OF 
TRG mWOL OF AGHICULTUHG, 
COLOMBO. 
Addsd as a Supplement monthlij to the " TROPICAL AGRIGULTURLST.u 
The following pages include the routents of the Magazine of the School of 
Agriculture for November :— 
Vol. v.] 
NOVEMBER, 1893. 
[No. 5 
GOVERNMENT DAIRY FARMING 
IN INDIA. 
I HE subject of dairy-farming lias 
now a special interest for us since 
the establishment of a government 
dairy at Colombo. The policy of 
government in founding this institution, in order 
to secure a reliable source of milk for the medical 
institutions in the capital, has beenmuch discussed, 
and though there are still a few who stubbornly 
assert that the policy is a bad one, and that 
there is no more virtue in a Government dairy 
than in a native cowshead, the opinion of those 
•whose opinion is worth something, is that the 
establishment has supplied a long-felt want. 
It is interesting to read from time to time of the 
progress of the Government dairies that have been 
established in the neighbouring Continent. We 
hare already referred to the Poona dairy farm, 
and would here make reference to an account of 
the Allahabad dairy, which appeared in the 
Pioneer some time ago. Says the writer of the 
account : — 
" It may be noted as a curious fact that 
although the military authorities have done 
many things for the comfort and health of the 
British soldier in India, they have most unac- 
countably never seriouBly (jongidered oue of the 
most fruitful sources of disease among the 
troops, viz., the milk and butter supply. As 
with grass and other supplies, the contract 
system has been accepted in the case of milk, 
and in all probability enteric fever frequently 
owes its origin to the milk supplied for the use 
of troops, resulting in many cases in the death 
of hundreds of young soldiers who cost the 
Government large sums of money to import. 
The outbreaks of enteric fever at Rawul Pindee, 
Lucknow, and .some other cantonments recently 
have been traced by some to the milk supply, 
and there is a strong belief that if similar out- 
breaks are to be guarded against in the future, 
some radical changes must be made in the 
system of milk supply. This conclusion has 
been forced upon the attention of the militarj' 
authorities by recent events, and one result of 
it is the establishment of cantonment dairy farms. 
The reason why such a step was not taken 
earlier was, I believe, that there was some fear 
of its interfering with private enterprise. 
But if private enterprise will not rise to the 
occasion, it cannot reasonably expect the Gov- 
ernment to sit quietly and see hundreds of 
British soldiers carried olf by preventable diseases 
without taking measures to find a remedy for 
the growing evil. Cantonment dairy farms have 
been established at a few centres, notably 
Allahabad, Cherat, and Aligarh, where they have 
been worked with such marked success, that 
during the short time they have been in exist- 
ence a gratifying decrease in the sickntss and 
mortality of the troops has been observed. 
That the Government have done well in starting 
the Allahabad dairy may be gathered from the 
fact that the working of it during six mouths 
has resulted in a profit of Rs. 1,300. But apart 
from this, the immense benefit the troop.^ have 
derived from a pure and wholesome supply of 
milk aud butter should outweigh other coHbideru- 
