THE 
AGRICULTURAL rOAGAZIOC, 
COLOMBO. 
Added as a Supplement Monthly to the " TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST:' 
The following pages include the Contents of the AgHc.itltUrcpl Magazine 
for June : — 
Vol. VI.] JUNE, 1895. [No. 12. 
NATIVE CATTLE IN TOWNS. 
HE damage done by native cattle to 
cultivated areas is a cause of 
common complaint, and quite late- 
ly we had the Director of Botanical 
jiC^-y AfcrtH Gardens writing on the subject and 
9aying " I have fought against this nuisance for 
veal's, but without much effect, as the existing 
laws and public opinion appear to be against any 
real efficacious measures." Our present complaint 
is also against the existing laws and against 
public opinion, which are as patient of cattle 
trespass as of what is, if a less destructive, 
a yet more dangerous custom of the country, 
viz., the driving of large herds of cattle for 
pasture nlong the public roads. This practice 
is a source of danger in more than one sense. 
It is dangerous to pedestrians, especially child- 
ren, who frequent the public parks in the suburbs 
of the city, and it is dangerous to equestrians 
and those who drive in their carriages. The 
droves of cattle to be met along our public 
roads are supposed to be on their way to or 
from the pasture grounds, which are a source of 
revenue to the Municipality or other bodies or 
proprietors who charge a capitation fee of one 
rupee per month for cattle grazed on their lands. 
But the drover -and there is no more than one 
man for some fifteen or twenty head of cattle 
neve* loses the opportunity of utilizing all 
the forage to be picked up free of cost on the 
roadsides* whore the grass is generally thick 
and luxuriant. Native cattle, and particularly 
native buffuloes, are by no means the most [ 
domesticated of the so-called domestic animals 
of Ceylon, and there is therefore always the 
possibility of men, women and children being 
gored, or of horses and carriages being wrecked, 
through the incapacity of the drover to con- 
trol his herd. Indeed, we know of many acci- 
dents that have occurred through this source 
of danger. 
But the practice against which we complain 
is a source of danger in a more serious way, 
namely, as a means of disseminating cattle 
disease, particularly foot and mouth disease, 
and murrian — which are so'easily conveyed from one 
animal to another. We have seen herds of native 
cattle being driven along the public roads, andround 
about infected areas, when both these forms of 
disease were prevalent in the town. The ani- 
mals are so little under the control of the herdsman, 
that often some of them breaks away from 
the herd, and, effecting an entrance through a 
live hedge or through wire fencing (as only 
native cattle in Ceylon can), cuter an an a to 
which they carry or from which they convey the 
infection of disease. We consider this evil of 
driving imtethered cattle along the public roads 
a most serious one which calls for speedy redress. 
It is all very well to be told that due restrictions 
are imposed on the movements of animals during 
times of diseases. We ourselves have not seen 
much good come out of these regulations: but 
this we are confident of, that the licence which 
allows of cattle wandering along public roads, 
skirting private grounds, gives great facilities tor 
the spread of disease among live stock. The 
grazing of cattle by the roadside, aud especially 
