Supplement to the "Tropical Agriculturist." [Jan. i, 1904. 
A visit made to the Agricultural College in 
Colombo was very interestiug in this connection. 
In the college herd the three breeds were 
represented. 
The bulls of the Sind variety are great, hand" 
some fellows, with immense humps on their 
shoulders, for they belong to the Sos itidicus 
species. They were dark chestnut in color, with 
black extremities, and one could find nowhere 
healthier-looking animals than these Sind speci- 
mens which were some time ago imported from 
Karachi. The cows were sleek coated, with large 
udders and fine broad backs — pictures of health. 
The Madras animals were of that long-legged, 
lean type which is so common in the Oriental 
Tropics, and the cows had small udders and 
peaked backs ; while the Jersey bull which had 
been brought down from one of the-liigh altitude 
tea estates, for breeding purposes, was a sad 
enough sight, pale about the eyes and mouth, 
sway-backed, and with hind legs all out of shape, 
though not nearly so ill-conditioned as the pitiful 
looking, emaciated cows of the same breed, which 
were seemingly in the very last stages of consump- 
tion. 
jThe object lesson could not have been more 
convincing nor .the contrast between the perfect 
health of Sind cattle and the mangy appearance 
of the European race more striking. 
The statement by Mr. Drieberg, the director) 
that without the Sind cattle it would be im- 
possible to make up the Ceylon dairy was quite 
significant. 
While in Poona, India, the site of the Bombay 
Agricultural School, I saw more of this Sind 
breed of cattle and learned that although it 
deserved all that it was credited with in Ceylon, 
it has been superseded, for butter-making pur- 
I)0se8, at least in the Bombay presidency, by the 
milch carabaos. 
The carabao or water buffalo (Bubahes bubalist 
Lyd.) is a well-known object in Manila, and its 
use as a beast of burden thoroughly understood, 
but, so far as I am aware, little attention has been 
paid to it as a milk producer. 
Unthinking prejudice, which prevents us from 
eating many excellent things, may play the same 
role in Manila that it does in Ceylon, and forbid 
the employment of buffalo milk. If this is so 
it is a great pity, for there is a race of water 
buffaloes which come from Delhi, India, that 
gives over 30 pounds of milk per day, while the 
best Sind cattle give only 18, and this buffalo 
milk is so rich in fat that 12 to 13 pounds of it 
make a pound of butter, whereas 20 pounds of 
milk of a Sind cow are required. 
These Delhi buffaloes are easier to keep, less 
expensive, and cleaner (having almost no hair) 
than ordinary cattle. They sell for about 180 
rupees, or |5G gold, in Bombay, and can be 
tought at Dawanp, the buffalo market, near 
Grant lload Station, but could be best secured by 
applying to Mr. Mollison, director-general of 
agriculture for India, at I'oona, who could prob- 
ably be prevailed upon to arrange to have good 
speciwens picked out, 
In general, the animals are priced according to 
the amount of milk they give, 10 rupees being 
added to the price for every two additional 
pounds of milk given per day.- 
Another good variety of milch buffalo is that 
from Gujarat, called the Surti. It yields only 
about 20 pounds of milk per day, and is sold at 
from $33 to $36 gold. The cost of keeping this 
variety per day amounts at Poona to only 16 
cents gold, and it is considered the most econ- 
omical race by Mr, Kelkar, the foreman in 
charge of the college herd. According to him, a 
dairy should have both buffaloes and Sind cattle. 
The buffaloes are better for butter production, 
and the cattle are superior for milk purposes, 
because the milk fetches a better price, being, in 
fact, much preferred to that of the buffaloes, 
which has a bluish color and a slight, though not 
disagreeable, odor. 
Both the buffaloes fiom Delhi and Gujarat and 
the Sind cattle are well worth introducing into 
the Philippines. The buffaloes should be tested 
for butter making, though they cost more to feed 
than the Sind cattle, which latter will prove, 
however, especially useful for milk. 
Breeding animals of these different races might 
be secured through Director Mollison, of Poonn, 
who could arrange for their shipment to Manila 
through such a well-known shipping firm as 
Latham & Co., of Bombay. 
As regards the quality of the butter made from 
buffaloes' milk, I can only judge from its general 
use in tie Bombay presidency that it is in no 
way really objectionable, though its white color 
is not so attractive nor its aroma so full as that 
of Danish butter. 
The introduction of these good milch breeds of 
cattle and buffaloes would add materially to the 
comfort of the white people in the Philippines, 
and deserves the serious attention of the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. 
David G. Faibchild. 
THE JERUSALEM AETICIIOKE. 
The drought-resisting nature of this plant gives 
it special value as a food crop for both man and 
beast. Paradoxical as it may sound, the Jerusalem 
Artichoke is not an artichoke, and has nothing to 
do with Jerusalem. The latter word is a strange 
corruption of the Italian term Girasole applied 
both to this and the Sunflower. 
Botanically the Jerusalem Artichoke is Selian- 
thus tuberosus, and originally came from America. 
The flowers resemble miniature sunflowers. The 
foliage may be used as green fodder, the dry" 
stems for fuel or bean supports. The tubers, 
however, are the most valuable part of the plant. 
They are eaten fried in butter or baked or 
steamed, preferably under hot ashes. As a milk- 
producing as well as a fattening cattle food they 
rank high. Their feeding value is about equal to 
the English potato, and far superior to the turnip 
and mangel- In place of the starch of the potato 
they have inulin. When compared with the sweet 
potato they are found richer la proteia or flesU* 
