642 
Supplement h, thf " Tropical Agriculturist.'" [March 1. 1894. 
animal plagues are followed by human disease-Sf 
it becomes a general question, and as everyone 
values his own health, he will no doubt take 
an interest in preventing a fruitful cause of 
disease. 
In my last notes 1 had occasion to say some- 
thing about the system of native agriculture iu 
the remote districts of India. One thing which 
strikes a traveller most when passing througli 
an agricultural district is tlio ab^eiice of huv 
formidable weeds even in neglected lands. Tlii- 
no doubt is not a very promising sign, for 
whatever weeds may be accu.-it^d of, they at least 
tend to show that the land is capidilt' of ^upporf • 
ing some growth upon it; be.^idi'.--, a weed i-^ a 
natural renovator of jieglected land. Tlie weeds 
here are comparatively small, and nothing like 
oxir lantana. It cannot be said that lautaua 
has never been introduced to these districts, and 
hence it had no opportunity of showing itb power 
of propagation, for many a stray plant here 
and there is met with. Perhaps this shows 
that we have better soils in Ceylon. 
The worry- and trouble which the ryot in India 
has to undergo in raising a crop are more than 
an outsider could think of. For instance, in 
addition to an indifferent soil and the scanty 
rninfall, he has to wage a perpetual war against 
beast and birds at the time liis crop ripens. 
Various devises are adopted to drive away the 
birds which flock in thousands to pick the grain 
from the ripening ears. There are scarecrows 
set up 'which take the form of men and beasts, 
rattles of various descriptions worked by strings, 
and lastly, the posting of men and boys in 
convenient places, among the crops to act as living 
scarecrows, and, when birds alight on the plants 
to give vent to such unearthy sound as would 
frighten even bolder robbers. 
The powers of the buffalo in many parts 
of Ceylon are, so to speak, " wasted," for the 
only work he is expected to do is ploughing 
or puddling and threshing. One cannot quite 
understand why he is not made use of more. 
He is a strong animal capable of carrying much 
weight. It may be thought that as the buffalo 
is so fond of water that it would not be possible 
to drive him about on a road in a cart 
or with a load on his back. But this love of 
water in the buffalo could very easily be '•' cured." 
No one ever thinks of condemning the ox or 
the horse as incapable of doing work in an 
open country, becau.se they originally lived in 
woods and plains away from man. In many 
parts of India the buffalo is not excused on 
account of his love for water, and he has to 
take his share of work. In Bombay are kept 
hundreds of milch buffaloes, which do not get 
any marshy place to wallow in, but are 
housed as cows are. There are ngum hundreds 
of -working buffaloes which are used in 
mixing mortar for buikling purposes. These 
animals work in the hot sun without any 
iipparent inconvenience, and drag the beam of 
the mortar mill round and round. In the hill- 
countiy it is a common sight to see buffaloes 
drawiiig heavy carts here and there about the 
streets, and they do it with greater ease than 
the ox. It is not unusual to see a buffalo 
and aa ox forming the pair in a cart and 
working together quite contentedly and dis- 
proving the truth of a. common Siuhaktse 
proverb. The great use to which the buffalo 
is put is as a water carrier, in many old 
towns the streets are all watered with water 
carried on the back of buffaloes iu leathern 
bags. The bUhtee, or the water carrier, in 
addition has to supply the house with water, 
Hud he does this with tlie aid of the euduriuj,' 
! Ijiiifalo, 1 may mention, what would ^et•nJ 
curioue. to Ihf owners of buffaloes iu Ceylon, 
i that the working animals are shod us bullockK 
I !i re. 
I The donkey is auothe-- animal which i«- 
uiucli iu t-vidence in ^om*• of the Indian 
I villages, its uae is limited to only <>ae cUn- 
of people. The other cahtes believe that tlit- 
[ animal is not meant for them. Thi^e pour 
animals, though they do mucli work, seem (un- 
fortunately) to receive very little food and lest kind 
treatment in return. They ure generally small 
creatures, with dirty coats and slit not-es and 
are made to carry heavy loads. Iu fact, the load 
sometimes put on their backs is heaxier tlian 
what a man could carrj'. However heavy the 
load, the donkey seems to curry it about jtatiently. 
The greatest use to which the donkey is put i« 
to drag the scavengers cart. Every old Indian 
town has a special gang of scavengers of its own. 
These men are born scavengers, their father.^ 
before them were, and their sons after them will 
be the same ; in fact, the .«caveugers form m 
distinct caste of their own, and an importani 
class they are, for the public cannot do without 
them and their companions the donkeys. Thf 
city of Bombay, with one of the richest Mitni- 
cipnlitie?, the best-organized Health Depiirtments, 
and with a supply of the latest sanitary iijiplianff-^, 
felt its dependence on its horde of scivengiutt 
men, women and children duiing the latf 
Mohammedan riots, when owing to their 
not attending to their work for a few days, 
the insanitary condition of the city made its 
guardians fear that the results of a plague 
may he more disastrous than those of the riots. 
W. A. D. S 
BoMBAV. 
PRRSKRVATIVES FOR CBEAM AND MILK. 
This subject has been treated of in the Journal 
of the Royal Agricultural Society, England : 
and it would be interesting to many, in a climate 
such as ours, in which milk and cream and 
butter are liable to turn bad in a very short 
time, to note the means which have been adopt- 
ed to keep these products of the dairy in a 
state of preservation. Oue method of gaining 
this end (which however would seem to be an 
imperfect one) is sterilizing, which is effected 
by rai.sing the temperature to ISO^" or 160 F. 
and then reducing it below 40 = F., thus killing 
the lactic acid organism. This is said to be 
suitable for factories or larare pioducers, but 
on the whole it is by no meaus a convenient 
method. 
The other meaus, and that commonly in vofjue, 
is the use of pie.'servativfs : and a< rpgards this 
means the question arries, to what extent ia 
