140 
Supplement to the " Tropical Agriculturist." [Aug. 1, 1894. 
FODDER CROPS AND CATTLE-KEEPING 
IN CEYLON. 
" Farm stock " in Ceylon consists mainly, indeed 
we may say only, of cattle and buffaloes; and 
though in advanced farming animals are 
kept for draught purposes, farm labour and the 
production of milk, meat and manure, the native 
cultivator of Ceylon does not seem to keep 
cattle with any definite object in view. lie 
may sell a few animals for draught purposes, 
especially as trotting bullocks, but the majority of 
our cart bulls are brought from India. In farm 
labour, he generally uses buffaloes and sometimes 
black cattle in ploughing and puddling the paddy 
fields, but hardly in any other form of cultivation. 
There is no desire in him for utilizing the milk 
except in the vicinity of towns, where there is a 
regular demand for the article. Moorman 
traders often travel in the villages and buy 
a few animals for sale for slaughtering purposes, 
but the idea of fattening stock for the butcher 
seldom or never enters the mind of a cattle- 
owner. As for manure the ordinary cultivator 
hardly thinks it worth his while to collect the 
dung. 
It is also a noteworthy fact that our cultiva- 
tors are very fond of owning stock, though 
they are sadly ignorant of their proper manage- 
ment or of the methods of obtaining the best 
profits out of them. 
They complain that they are not encouraged to 
adopt better methods, because they cannot see 
their way to obtaining remuneration for extra 
trouble. One cannot but be struck by the utter 
absence of system in the treatment of native 
cattle, and the only way of impressing upon the 
cattle-owner the need of system is by force of 
example. If it can be practically proved to his 
satisfaction that the proper management of cattle 
will be to his benefit, there is some hope of his 
adopting a better method. But first and foremost 
the Ceylon goyiya should be made to see the 
absurdity of attempting to keep a large number 
of animals than he is able to manage. As tilings 
go, he never waits to think how he can feed, 
graze and shelter his stock, and his one desire 
seems to be to increase his herd at any cost, 
even at the expense of his own and his neighbours' 
crops. The question of profitable cattle-keeping 
will be more likely to be solved if native owners 
can be made to keep onlj such a number of 
animals as they can properly manage ; and in 
this connection the quantity of fodder he could 
supply, the shelter he could provide, the legiti- 
mate pasture at his disposal, and the attention he 
is able to bestow, should all be taken into con- 
sideration. 
It need hardly be said that the present careless 
method of cattle-keeping among native owners is 
a ruinous one in many ways. We have lately 
read a good deal, in the local press, in condemna- 
tion of the nuisance caused by cattle trespass. 
If certain restrictions were placed on cattle- 
owners, whereby they may not keep more animals 
than they could attend to, this nuisance, too, 
will in all probability be repressed. The 
necessary decrease in numbers which would be 
caused by such restrictions will no doubt result in 
the better treatment of the reduced herd and in an 
increase of the capabilities and improvement of 
the produce of native cattle. As an example we 
may take the case of a villager owning a herd of 
say forty neat cattle. Of these he will have about 
ten ploughing cattle, four draught animals, ten 
cows and sixteen calves. The plough cattle are 
of such a size and of such condition, that they can 
hardly do a day's work if used continually for a 
few weeks. Two pairs of good animals would do 
more work than all the ten put together. The 
four dra light animals could be replaced by two 
good ones, which could in addition be uiswd in 
the plough. The ten cows would hardly yield t«-n 
bottles of milk a day, whereas two good cows 
would yield the same amount or more. Thus 
instead of an ill-fed herd of forty it would be 
more profitable to keep a herd of twelve, — six 
bullocks, two cows and say four calves. When 
the number is less more attention could be paid 
to them, better shelter could be given, and above 
all, a fairly large supply of fodder will be 
available. How can all this be attained P 
In what way can the restriction as to numbers 
be practically enforced ? It 6eems probable that 
the restriction would come of itself, if cattle own- 
ers are forced to shelter all their stock and prevent 
them from grazing on their neighbour's properties, 
whether fenced or not, uncultivated or in crops, 
under penalty of heavy fines. Such a course 
would bring many other advantages in itB train, 
as for example a diminution of the ravages of 
cattle-plague &C. 
Again, it is very probable that when res- 
triction as to grazing is brought about, a necessity 
of growing fodder crops will follow. This is as 
it ought to lie. There is perhaps no other county 
in the world where the cultivator totally neglects 
to grow food for his stock or utilize extra supplies 
of natural fodder for future use. Ceylon is cap- 
able of growing a variety of fodder crops, not 
only with advantage to cattle and their owners, 
but with a decided advantage to the soils. 
According to the present system of cultivation, 
hardly a single soil renovating crop is grown, and 
with regard to almost all varieties of fodder 
crops, but specially leguminous crops, it is a 
well-known fact that they not only tend to make 
land fit for more profitable plants, but also 
actually increase their fertility. 
Before we proceed to consider what fodder 
plants could be profitably grown in this country, 
we might enquire what the present sources 
of the scanty fodder snpply here are. These 
may be summed up in a few words, — they are 
the natural grasses and paddy straw which is 
very poor in quality. Even in the case of natural 
grasses, no attempt is made to utilize them for 
future use, w r here an abundance is met with after 
a favourable season. 
The natural grasses in Ceylon are many, but 
the principal ones are comprised under the 
genuses Paspalum, Panicum, Cynodon, Andropo- 
gon, Heteropogon, Eleusine Ischaemum, Chryso- 
pogon, and a few others. These either grow in 
cultivated grounds as in coconut lands, on the 
borders of gardens, the ridges of paddy-fields, and 
more often in the paddy-fields themselves, during 
the time they are not under cultivation. Natural 
grasses are also met with in the j ungles and the 
oivitas. 
The other source of fodder supply — rice straw 
— is obtained wherever paddy is grown, and is 
