MO  Supplement  to  the  Tropical  Agriculturist''  [Augi  1,  1895. 
it  yields  no  milk  for  the  time  between  its  going 
dry  and  coming  into  milk  again  ; and  it  would  be 
equally  unwise  for  a dairyman  to  retain  animals 
that  do  not  combine  tlie  abore  qualities,  and  con- 
tinue to  feed  them  with  the  prospect  of  their 
coming  into  milk  again  at  some  time,  and  yielding 
the  owner  supplies  that  are  below  the  average- 
The  object  of  every  dairyman  should  be  to  put 
together  as  satisfactory  a herd  of  milking  cows  as 
can  be  bad,  and  when  he  has  got  them  to  keep  them 
ns  long  as  he  can  witli  advantage  to  himself.  It  is, 
of  course,  not  possible  to  do  this  all  at  once,  but  it 
can  be  done  gradually.  All  animals  in  the  first 
selected  herd  which  have  turned  out  to  be  poor 
milkers  or  irregular  breeders  should  be  got  rid  of  ; 
and  such  cows  as  in  course  of  time  may  become 
untbrifty  or  old,  should  be  weeded  out.  But  let 
the  good  animals  be  retained,  a good  stock-bull 
kept,  and  good  progeny  for  tbe  future  use  of 
tbe  dairy  secured,  and  tbe  stock  .so  managed  that 
a uniform  supply  of  milk  will  be  always  kept  up. 
Here  we  have  an  ideal  sy-^-tem  of  dairying  or  rather 
dairy  farming.  The  advantages — financial  and 
otherwise — of  such  a system  cannot  correctly  be 
guaged  till  at  least  the  fourth  year  of  its  working, 
by  which  time  the  heifers  bred  on  the  farm 
will  have  begun  to  supply  the  places  of  their  dams, 
after  which  there  should  be  little  if  any  e.vpendi- 
ture  of  capital  on  account  of  stock  purchased 
Under  these  conditions  the  sale  of  the  bull  calves 
born  on  the  farm  will  be  an  important  item  of 
revenue.  The  management  of  a dairy  worked  on 
this  system,  in  addition  to  securing  financial  suc- 
cess, will  combine  all  the  pleasure  that  can  be 
desired  by  a cattle-fancier  in  the  complete  control 
he  could  exercise  overhis  herd,  and  the  opportunity 
afforded  him  of  applying  his  technical  knowledge 
of  stock  to  the  best  advatitage,  and  seeing  results 
work  out  to  his  satisfaction. 
OCCASIONAL  NOTES. 
The  amount  realized  by  the  sale  of  stock 
held  at  the  Government  Dairy  on  the  12th  July 
was  lll,262’00.  The  twelve  cows  fetched 
11787,  or  an  average  of  R6o‘d8.  Of  these  fifteen, 
five  were  Sind  cows  which  realized  R533  00,  or 
an  average  of  R106'60.  The  calves  (fourteen  in 
number)  fetched  R475’00,  or  an  average  of  R34'00. 
Of  these  nine  were  Sind  bull  calves  which  realized 
R421,  or  an  average  of  R4677.  The  different 
purchasers  were  Messrs.  S.  C.  Obe\'esekere,  F. 
Schrader,  Drs.  Rockwood  and  Stork,  Messrs.  Jacob 
de  Mel,  Rodrigo,  Farquharson,  Maricar,  Robson, 
Juanis,  Duckworth,  and  J.  W.  Vanderstraaten.  On 
the  whole  the  sale  may  be  considered  a very 
satisfactory  one. 
Of  late  there  has  been  some  discussion  in 
the  press  as  to  the  relative  merits  of  the 
Ouzerati  and  Sind  breeds  of  cattle.  Without 
taking  any  sides  in  this  discussion,  we  shi.uld 
wish  to  state  that  the  Sind  breed  of  cattle  li.ive 
been  given  a good  trial  in  tlie  Government  Dairy 
and  have  not  been  found  wanting.  To  the  Govern- 
ment Dairy  authorities  is  due  the  credit  of  having 
selected  the  breed  for  the  purposes  of  the  dairy 
and  so  introduced  them  into  the  Island,  and  to  the 
notice  of  tlie  Ceylon  public.  By  the  sales  which 
are  periodically  lield  in  the  dairy,  the  public  are 
given  an  opportunity  of  securing  animals  of  a 
superior  type  for  improving  the  breeds  of  cattle 
already  existing  in  the  Island.  Before  very 
long  the  influence  of  Sind  cattle  upon  the  in- 
digenous breed  should  be  marked. 
We  would  draw  attention  to  the  specially 
interesting  paper  on  Contagious  Diseases  in  Insects, 
by  Professor  Woodworth  of  the  State  Univer^^itj’, 
wdiich  we  have  taken  over  from  the  official 
organ  of  the  Dej  artment  of  Agriculture  of  the 
Cape  Colony.  The  question  of  how  to  get  rid 
of  our  plant  pests  is  always  an  important  one 
to  the  agriculturist,  and  any  contribution  that 
shows  the  way'  to  solving  it  in  some  measure, 
is  always  welcome. 
An  editorial  note  in  the  Indian  Af/ricnlfurist 
again  reminds  us  how  much  in  need  we  are 
of  stock  inspectors  in  the  Island — for  the  matter 
of  that  in  Colombo — to  carry  on  work  that,  from 
being  distributed  among  a number  of  irre- 
sponsible parties,  is  imperfectly  done  or  altogether 
neglected.  The  suggestions  made  by  Mr.  William 
Smith  in  his  notes  on  “ Murrain  ” which 
appeared  in  the  pages  of  the  Magazine  a 
little  time  ago,  should  surely’  have  carried  weight 
as  coming  from  one  who  is  not  lacking  in  local 
experience,  or  knowledge  of  stock,  and  is  a veteri- 
nary’ surgeon  to  boot.  Veterinary  Science — at 
least  in  its  relation  to  cattle — -has  up  till  now 
been  in  that  state  which  has  been  suggestively 
described  as  “ marking  time.” 
Here  is  how  the  Indian  Ayiuculturist  refers 
to  this  subject: — In  a country’  like  India,  whose 
interests  are  almost  entirely  agricultural,  the 
importance  of  a training  college  for  veterinary 
assistants  is  too  obvious  to  need  demonstration. 
Agricultural  stock  is  the  standby  of  tlie  cultivator 
all  over  the  country,  and  not  only  in  those 
districts  where  stock-rasing  is  undertaken  as  a 
regular  and  independent  pursuit.  The  necessity’, 
then,  is  clear  of  having  a body’  of  men  di.s- 
tiibuted  tliroughout  the  country  sufficiently 
acquainted  with  the  principles  of  the  morbid 
pathology  of  animals  to  detect  and  report  special 
outbreaks  of  serious  disease  in  due  time.  E.xperts 
are  not  wanted,  and  could  not  be  supported, 
except  at  a few  more  important  centres.  But 
there  is,  we  believe,  an  opening  for  youths  who 
have  attended  a veterinary  college  long  enough 
to  advise  stock  owners  as  to  the  precautionary 
measures  that  should  be  taken  to  protect  tbeir 
animals  against  contagious  and  infectious  diseases, 
to  superintend  the  inland  trade  in  cattle,  to 
treat  ordinary  animal  ailments,  to  take  charge 
of  public  veterinary  dispensaries  or  private  stud 
farms,  and  to  collect  information  upon  veterinary 
subjects  generally  for  thr  public  benefit.  A great 
cry’  is  ])eriodically  raiseo  about  tbt>  tlegenera- 
tion  of  the  live  .«tock  of  the  country,  and  un- 
fortunately’ it  is  too  .seriou>ly  warranted  by 
the  facts.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how  any’ 
permanent  improvement  can  take  place,  or  even 
how  the  process  of  degeiv  ration  is  to  be  arrested, 
unless  more  attention  is  paid  to  animals  and 
the  conditions  under  which  th(>y  thrive.  Like 
everything  else,  live  stock  needs  study,  and  its 
importance  in  the  economy  of  Indian  life  is 
surely  a strong  reason  for  the  bestowal  of  pains 
upon  it. 
