May 1, 1894.] Supplement to the " Tropical AffrictiUiirist." 
785 
inducements, the diflSculty at present is to get a 
student to undertake the charge, as the College 
examination is so close at hand that no one cares 
to miss it, and there is every likelihood that the 
animals will be left here till May. The (/ir 
bulls have a fine short head with a broad forehead, 
a pair of horns that incline backwards and large 
pendant ears. They liave a large and well- 
developed hump, deep chest and well-proportioned 
legs, and are known as very good draught animals; 
the cows on the other hand being considered 
excellent milkers. 
It is not generally known that animals which 
suffer from rinderpest once enjoy immunity from 
the disease ever afterwards. There are some 
who believe that this immunity extends only 
for six or seven years. The fact however is of | 
great importance as regards the value of animals 
which have once suffered from the disease ; and 
such animals ought to be worth more after 
recovery from an attack of rinderpest than before. 
As there are not many authentic records on the 
subject, it would be well to take note of the 
animals which have recovered from the disease 
and the year in which they suffered from 
the plague. 
The immense quantities of hay, or vutlier dry 
grass, brought to Bombay from tlie outlying 
districts reminds one that much may be done in 
the matter of hay-making in Ceylon. There we 
have to depend chiefly upon paddy straw, which 
is at the best not a very nutritive food. In 
this city, where so many horses and working 
bullocks are kept, it would almost be a matter of 
impossibility to meet a hundreth part of their 
wants even if owners used rice straw. As for green 
grass, even several hundreds of acres of Guinea 
or Mauritius grass, (the last of which by the 
way is not grown here;, will not supply the 
demand, and but for the provision made by dry 
grass it would be a matter of impossibility to 
maintain the large number of draught animals in 
any of the big towns. The grass from which 
hay is made grows in the jungles and waste lands 
in the country and attains a height of about two 
to three feet on an average. A month or so 
after the rains the grass cutters mow it and 
leave it on the ground to dry, after which it is 
made into bundles and disposed of. There are 
many species of wild grass, but the common 
kinds appear to consist mostly of andropor/ons 
quite similar to the andropogon grass* of which a 
specimen was grown at the School from seed 
obtained from Delft. There is, I believe, no lack 
of wild grass in the vicinity of Ceylon forests 
where a little more attention might be pnid to it. 
One of the great drawbacks as regards cattle 
breeding in Ceylon is undoubtedly to be attributed 
to the insufficiency of fodiler. There are two 
species of wild andropogons which ai'e put to some 
use here. One is the well-known kus-kus grass, 
andropogon jtiuricatus, the Sevendara of tlie Sin- 
halese, which possesses fragrant roots, and is used 
in making tatties and hand punkhas, and for ex- 
tracting a perfume. It is a common sight to 
see mats made of kus-kus roots hung up in 
verandahs and kept moisteniid in order to lower 
the temperature of dwellings. 
* A' Schcecantbut var. Versicolor, 
Tlie other useful species of andropogon is of 
more wide economic interest and grows wild in 
Central India and riinjab. It is known as 
rusa grass or sweet calamus, aadropoyoa calamug 
aromaticus, and resembles greatly oar own Pen- 
giriman, or the citronella gra.ss. The oil 
obtained from the leaves of the grass fetches a 
good price in England, and is sold as grass oil or 
oil of rose-scented geranium. In the vermicular 
the oil goes under tlie name of roshnetel. 
Sometime back there was a discussion as to 
the advisability of trying well irrigation in Cey- 
lon. The more one sees of Indian cultivation, 
the more will he be convinced of the feasibility 
of this system. In some places the wells from 
which water is obtained for irrigating tlie land 
are very deep and must have cost much money 
and labour, but the cultivator does not consider 
any money spent on a well as wasted; on tlie other 
hand he will spend his last penny in getting a well 
excavated, and when he has succeeded will con- - 
sider it to be a real treasure. The methods of 
water lifting have already been explained in the 
columns of the Magazine. The single mliote, the 
double mhote, the lever lift, the Persian wheel, 
are all in use here. The system of land tenure 
in some of the Native States encourages the 
excavation of wells and the improvement of 
the lands generally. In some States all the land 
belongs to the Eajah and the cultivators pay a land 
tax. If a cultivator excavate and build a well 
in any area he is cultivating, such land comes to 
be held on a permanent lease by him. In this way 
in some of the Native States almost every holder 
of land has got a well for irrigating his crops. 
These wells in Central India cost as much as 
R2oO or R300 each 
W. A. D. S, 
Bombay. 
IIOAV TO MAIiE GOOD DRY GRASS OR HAY. 
The following is a Memorandum issued by 
the Superintendent of the Horse Breeding De- 
partment, Meerut, for making good drj' grass or 
hay :— 
Cut when green and in flower, tie up in bundles 
of about 8 to 10 lb. weight, and place three of 
such bundles on their broad ends leaning against 
each other. By this arrangement the grass will 
not become damaged by rain, and the central 
grass of each bundle will ferment and acquire 
more nutritious properties from containing sac- 
charine and starchy matter. 
When the bundles are sufficiently dry they 
may be stacked. Dry grass thus prepared will 
be found very nutritious and sweet, and animals 
will eat it readily. It is nearly as good as fair 
hay made in England. Proper haymaking 
requires much practical experience. 
If the weather is hot and tlie sun powerful, 
grass will bo dry enough as a rule, in 2 or 3 
days, and can be then stacked but it should be 
stacked in small ricks, in cose of any heating 
taking place, for if grass be stacked when too 
green or wet, it will t,ure]y heat too much, go 
beyond the fermenting process of making sugary 
matter &c. and may toko fire. 
A little heating mokes the grass sugaiy und 
gives a very sweet odour, the odoui- of hay 
