Not. 1, 1901. J ' Supplement to the " Tropical Agriculturist." 366 
in the day, and assuming that the cultivator bottom and sides with clay and sprinkle a little 
burns I of this quantity he loses about li-6 lb. ashes and spread a thin layer of whatever litter 
of nitrogen if his cattle do not get concentrated may be available. The manger for holding the 
food, and 36 lb. of nitrogen if they do, as in the straw and other fodder will be in front of the 
case of cart bullocks or plough cattle belonging cattle- For a pair of cattle, the shed may be 
to the better cultivators in the Meerut Division. about 7 feet broad and about 10 feet long. When 
The case of this objectionable practice is the more than a pair are to be housed a long shed of 
want of sufficient fuel. This can be met to a certain the above width may be used, allowing at the rate 
extent by live fences, by fuel plantations and of about 10 feet length of shed for each pair. It 
by greater attention to those crops that supply may be found convenient to separate the lot of 
in their stalks fuel also, such as arhar, cotton, each pair by two or more bamboos put across the 
castor, &c. Under present conditions, however, shed. Every morning after the cattle have gone 
it cannot be expected that the whole of the dung out for work the cattle attendant enters the shed, 
will be saved. takes the dung dropped during the previous day 
In certain parts of India, as in parts of the Madras and night, sprinkles it all over rhe shed; covers 
Presidency, the Panjdb and Gujerat, where the fuel it with the dry part of the bedding in the seed and 
supply is better, or where the general agricultural spreads about 6 or 6 lb. more bedding for each pair 
practice is of a higher order, the cultivators do not of cattle. That part of the bedding which is wet 
burn their cattle dung but carefully preserve it to wiih urine may be spread likewise, before using 
be put to its legitimate use. In this respect the tl-e fresh bedding of the day. In the rainy 
North-Western Provinces and Oudh appears to weather somewhat more bedding will be necessary, 
be the worst, probably on account of the more and especially when the roof happens to be leaky, 
crowded population and greater scarcity of fuel. The manure will go on accumulating and the box 
The Urine is weight for tveight, a richer Manure will get full in about six to eight months accord- 
than the Dung. — We have seen this already. Dr. ing to the size of the cattle and the amount of 
Yoelcker found one specimen of the urine of litter used. When the box is full, the fresh 
Indian working cattle to contain 1'16 per accumulation at the surface may be first removed, 
cent, of nitrogen, and Dr. Leather found in another and the rest :f the manure dug out and carted to 
specimen that he analysed, 0 87 per cent, of the field for immediate use. The manure thus 
nitrogen. A pair of working cattle can be taken made will be moist, well-rotted and of a rich- 
to void about 4,000 lb. in the year during nights brown colour. In the corners and those parts of 
•and non-working hours, and this would mean the shed where the cattle do not tread much, the 
about 35 lb. of nitrogen. But the cultirator in manure may be dry, mouldy and very hot. A little 
his ordinary practice not only does not utilize it, care on the part of the cattle attendant while 
but allows it to ferment in the s-heds and become sprinkling the wetted straw in the mornings, and 
a nuisance to his cattle and the people living in his treading down these parts with his foot will 
the house. less this mouldiness considerably. The unrotted 
The nitrogen in the urine is in the form of top portion may be put back into the box to be 
. urea, and this substance speedily undergoes fer- taken out with the next removal of the manure, 
mentation and changes into ammonium carbonate The box-system of housing cattle is now frequent- 
and passes oil into the air. The loss of nitrogen ly adopted by the more enterprising farmers of 
in this way occurs chiefly in the cattle shed. The Europe and America for fattening as well as work- 
strong pungent smell so common in ordinary ing cattle, one of the objects being to make as 
cattle sheds is due to the formation and evapora- large a quantity of rich well-rotted manure as 
tion of this ammonium carbonate. The best and possible. For one thing well-known to the west- 
surest way of getting most of this nitrogen into eru farmers and practised by them is that if they 
the soil is to have tile cattle sheds on the land want a large quantity of manure they must make 
of the farmer, and failing it at least to tether the it, and they can if they like. The box system has 
cattle on the land as long as circumstances and been under trial at the College Farm in Saidapet 
•weather will permit- So long as this is not done (Madras) for the past 22 years and at the Cawn- 
and cattle are tied in villages a certain part of the pore and other Indian experimental farms for 
nitrogen of the urine cannot but be lost into the some years. The cattle have been found to keep 
air, do what we may ; and only a varyiug perfectly healthy like those in other sheds, and 
fraction of it can be got to do work as manure. the objection that is raised against it by those 
The way commonly adopted in Europe and in who have not tried it, as affecting the feet and 
the United States of America for securing the health of cattle, is against all experience in India 
urine and preventing the loss of its nitrogen is the and other countries. By this means about 12,000 
use of litter. In this country the want of bedding lb. or 150 maunds of rich manure can be made 
material is the difficulty, but this can be got over from every pair of working cattle, 
in many places, by careful collection and preser- /y,^ concluded.) 
vation of the leaves of sugarcane, sheesham, ^ 
mangoes, jack or other trees, and all kinds 
of vegetable refuse. The following system of GENERAL ITEMS, 
housing cattle, known as the Box system, is well — 
suited for absorbing urine and supplying a well- The temperature, pulse and respiration of 
rotted, rich farm yardmanure. domestic animals varies considerably. The artery 
Box system. — Dig the floor of the ordinary usually selected for taking the pulse of the horse 
cattle shed about 3 to 05 feet deep. Plaster the is the sub-maxillary where it winds around the 
