112 
Supplement to the Tropical Af/riculturib-t." [Aug. lj 1894: 
could be desired ; those from Allahabad were good 
but contained rather much water. But they are 
all a very great advance on what is generally 
made and sold as butter, chemical analyses show- 
ing that the latter contains very much more curd 
and water than well-made butter, and in the 
matter of cleanliness there is no comparison. 
Vet. Capt. Mills, Principal of the Bombay 
Veterinary College, and late Inspector of Cattle 
Diseases in the Madras Presidency, gives the 
following advice: — "Young animals which In rr 
not yet completed their growth, must not be 
allowed to breed. The small size of many 
Indian breeds has undoubtedly been brought 
about by a neglect of this rule. Young Btnnted 
progeny is the result, and in duo course produce 
still smaller animals. There is much danger of 
this under the ordinary method of cattle manage- 
ment in this country. Directly the young female 
feels inclined to breed, the mate overs her, and 
thus she becomes big with young before she has 
strength to support the call, or to give enough 
milk for it after birth. Consequently, the growth 
of the mother is prevented, so that the unborn 
young may get nourishment to keep it alive. 
Much harm is done to males by allowing them 
to cover too early and too freely ; they become 
uncertain getters of young, and are very early 
worn out and unfit for breeding. They, too, 
become thereby stunted in growth, and apt to 
beget small and unhealthy offspring. If young 
bulls, unfitted for breeding were castrated before 
they were 6 months old, instead of at the age 
of 5 or 6, much good would result, as only 
the selected bulls could then be used for breed- 
ing." 
The hardships which native cattle often suffer 
during the hot season are well known, but the 
remarks of Capt. Mills under this head also 
deserve to he quoted as applicable to the state 
of affairs in our Island: — "Most Indian cattle 
select their own food from the grazing grounds 
of the village during the day time, and when 
they are brought in at night some are given 
paddy, straw, and other food. Instinct usually 
enables animals to decide what is good for 
food, but often want of water has so dried up 
the herbage that cattle have to appease their 
hunger by eating whatever they can rind. When 
all grass is dried up, they may be seen eating 
the bark of trees, prickly shrubs, and poisonous 
plants, such as at other times they would refuse. 
This is a frequent cause of disease, such as 
indigestion and poisoning. When the rains set 
in, all along the edges of rivers aud tanks, 
coarse grass and rank herbs grow in abundance, 
and are very dangerous to cattle, because when 
eaten.they may produce colic, gas in the stomach, 
or diarrhoea, and some of these rank herbs ai - e 
very poisonous. Thus, we see that too little or 
too much food many cause disease ; thei'efore 
the supply should be so managed as to insure 
enough iu dry weather, and not too much in 
the rainy season. The best way of regulating 
this is by storing fodder when it is plentiful, 
to make up for deficiency in dry seasons and 
tamine years. This is one of the most impor- 
tant means of preventing cattle disease in India. 
Outbreaks of disease prove much more serious 
arming Ifadly-kept and weal; animal)', than amo/ig*t 
t/wse which are well fed and cared for." 
Mr. Kipling, author of " 1} east and Mad in 
India," thus describes a case that came under 
his notice, showing the great importance of 
fresh air to cattle: — "I remember being told 
that our cow which had recently calved, was 
suddenly taken sick and like to die. The cow 
man had decided that she was suffering from Ml 
unusual form of deadly fever. 80 in the fierce 
hot weather he had her shut up in a close hyr<», 
stuffed the window with rags and straw, care- 
fully closed the door, and wrapped her in thick 
I clothing. She was very likely to die indeed, 
but recovered promptly on being rescued from 
heat and suffocation." 
THIS SALT MIKfiS OF KllEWKA. 
The salt hills of the Punjab are not usually 
found marked on the atlases used in schools, but 
the range is understood to extend from the town 
ofThelum eastward to Kalabagh on the Indus. 
There is a salt range extending beyond Kalabagh, 
across the Indus, but the salt is of a different age 
and position. The Cis-Iudus Range lies between 
73° and 71 30' East Longitude, and between 
32° 23' and 33° .North Latitude, — historic giound, 
famous alike in ancient and in modern times. 
Khewra is the name of the village where the 
most important of the mines are worked. The>e 
are called the Mayo Salt Mines in honour of 
Lord Mayo who visited them when Viceroy of 
India. The only inhabitants of Khewra are those 
whom the work connected with the mines render-* 
necessary, but a railway makes communication 
with Thelum and Lahore tasy. The depot where 
the salt is collected and despatched is called the 
Warthganj depot, after Dr. Warth, who was once 
the Collector of the Salt Hang district, and to 
whom the development of the mining industry is 
greatly indebted. In 1889, there were two 
European officers working in this depot ; there 
may be more now. Another officer was in charge 
of the mines, aud above these was the Assistant 
Commissioner, with judicial power. 
The Mayo Salt Mines are not mines in the sense 
of being far beneath the surface of the ground, 
like a coal mine, for instance. At the base of a 
high ragged hill there are two or three openings 
like the mouths of tunnels, and through these 
tunnels we walk or are trollied along, accom- 
panied and guided by miners with torches and 
little earthen saucer-lamps called dhivas to light 
up the encircling darkness. When the first sen- 
sations of novelty aud bewilderment are dimin- 
ished, we look above and around us, and see 
nothing but salt, — salt floor, salt walls, salt roof, 
all blackened and begrimed with the soot from 
torches and dhivas. Sometimes we come upon 
large recesses (called stations) where salt ready 
for removal is collected; sometimes we meet 
trucks passing by us carrying salt to the depot, 
or returning empty for another load ; and some- 
times a dark patch on the wall marks a passage 
leading upward, downward or in some horizontal 
direction to the different ''chambers" where the 
miners work, 
