580 
Supplement  to  the  “ Tropical  AgHculturisV'  [Fer.  1,  1896. 
were  hopeless  cases.  Symptoms  of  abortion  be- 
came apparent  and  inversion  of  the  uterus  resulted 
in  every  case.  We  had  a post-mortem  e.vamina- 
tion  on  one  of  tliese  cases,  and  the  foetus  was 
found  to  have  characteristic  rinderpest  symptoms. 
As  far  as  I could  judge,  f areful  veterinary  treat- 
ment did  very  little  good.  The  most  effective 
medicine  was  carbolic  acid  given  in  gruel,  its  in- 
fluence being  a healing  one  on  the  highly  inflamed 
membranes  of  the  intestines.  1 believe  the  cure 
of  ca.ses  to  have  been  chiefly  due  to  careful  nurs- 
ing and  to  drenching  the  animals  with  good  gruel. 
The  gruel  consisted  of  linseed  boiled  with  rice, 
fresh  separated  milk,  and  water.  We  got  rid  of 
the  disease  by  segregation. 
The  disease  was  disa.strous  at  the  farm,  but  1 
can  conceive  that  it  was  far  more  so  in  the  city  of 
Toona  and  the  surrounding  vlllugas  where  it  was 
rife.  Under  existing  conditions  the  sj)read  of 
contagion  is  not  only  absolutely  uncontrolled,  but 
is  encouraged.  The  Mhnrs  eat  the  flesh  of  animals 
tliat  die  and  they  offer  the  diseaset.1  skins  in  any 
market  where  tliey  can  get  a good  price.  The 
carcase  is  generally  cut  up  on  the  bank  of  a naht 
or  stream,  and  the  offal  is  left  there  as  a centre 
of  contagion  for  every  healthy  animals  that  grazes 
in  I lie  vicinity.  It  is  common  knowledge  tliat 
when  outbreaks  of  rinderpest  occur  they  generally 
spread  along  the  course  of  streams  or  rivers. 
These  are  points  affecting  the  healthiness  of  the 
cattle  of  the  country.  But  there  is  another  ques- 
tion, viz.,  that  which  affects  the  public  health. 
It  is  absolutely  certain  that  milk  from  cattle 
suffering  from  rinderpest  was  sold  in  Poona  to 
the  public  during  tlie  prevalence  of  the  disease. 
There  is  some  comfort  in  tlie  fact  that  as  regards 
butialo’s  milk,  the  public  have  some  protection, 
inasmuch  as  a buffalo,  unlike  a cow,  when  infected 
wdth  rinderpest  or  ailing  in  otlier  ways  almost 
always  refuses  to  give  any. 
The  dairy  produce  from  about  seventy  milch 
cattle  was  sold  for  Rio, 303,  cattle  food,  fodder  and 
fodder  grazing  cost  RIO, 968.  There  was  a stock  of 
on  hand  at  tlie  end  of  the  year  worth  Rl,o07.  If 
the  dairy  herd  keejis  healtliy  tliere  will  be  no  diffi- 
culty in  any  year  in  making  the  dairy  a profitable 
institution.  The  price  of  diary  produce  supplied 
to  the  Commi.s.sariat  Department  for  sick  soldiers 
in  hospitals  is*lower  than  the  rates  charged  to  the 
public.  The  latter  rates  are  fixed  pnrjiosely  higher 
than  the  rates  of  private  dairymen  in  Poona. 
Yet  we  could  sell  to  private  families  to  a much 
greater  extent  than  is  done  now  if  there  was  an 
available  supply,  wdiich  there  is  not. 
THE  DISPOSAL  OF  NIGHT  SOIL. 
The  subject  of  the  disposal  of  night  soil  is  one  of 
general  importance,  but  particularly  so  in  tropical 
countries,  where  owing  to  the  heat  and  moist  ure 
which  generally  characterise  them,  decomiiosition 
and  fermentation  go  on  much  more  rapidly  than 
in  temperate  climes.  The  views  of  competent 
authorities  on  the  subject  of  night  soil  in  its 
relation  to  India,  and  a reference  to  the  methods 
of  disposing  of  it  there,  should  prove  useful  to  us 
in  Ceylon,  where  the  conditions  of  life  are  so 
similar  to  those  on  the  mainland. 
Dr.  J.  W.  Leather,  agricultural  chemist,  writes 
a note  on  the  subject,  which  is  issued  as  one  of 
the  Agricultural  Ledger  series  of  publications. 
There  is  perhaps  no  more  important  subject  in 
relation  to  agriculture,  says  Dr.  Leather,  than  the 
proper  disposal  of  night  soil  and  other  town  refuse, 
for  it  may  be  said  without  e.xaggeration  that 
nearly  one-half  of  the  plant  food  extracted  by 
food  crops  from  the  soil  is  contained  in  the 
materials  which  are  included  under  the.se  two 
heads.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  on  their  proper 
disposal  and  return  to  the  soil  depends  the 
addition  cf  a large  projiortion  of  the  food  neces- 
sary for  the  crops.  In  tlie  case  of  small  villages 
in  India,  he  says,  the  customs  of  the  people  in  a 
great  measure  fulfil  what  is  required.  At  the 
same  time  it  would  appear  that  there  are  excep- 
tions even  to  this  practice  in  some  places.  For 
instance.  Dr.  Nicholson,  writing  of  the  Coimba- 
tore district  says  : “ Generally  speaking  the  lanes 
and  hedges  around  houses  are  fouled  wdth  matter 
in  its  w'rong  place,  and  the  chief  manurial  agent 
becomes  a curse  for  want  of  employment.’' 
In  any  case,  in  reference  to  the  custom  of  the 
jieople  of  using  the  fields  next  to  the  village, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  would  be  a groat 
improvement,  from  a sanitary  point  of  view,  if 
the  people  could  be  persuaded  to  employ  a 
covering  of  earth.  The  desirability  of  this  will 
have  been  observed  by  all  who  have  had  occasion 
to  vi.sit  village.s.  But  in  the  ca.se  of  the  large 
towns  a more  systematic  disiiosal  of  both  night 
soil  and  sweepings  is  nece.ssary. 
Dr.  A’oelcker,  in  his  report  on  the  Improvement 
of  Indian  Agriculture,  says  : “ 1 regard  the  spread 
of  a good  sy.stem  of  utilizing  human  and  house- 
hold refuse,  street-sweepings,  N:c.  on  the  land  as  a 
potent  factor  in  the  improvement  of  Indian  agri- 
culture, and  having  had  among  other  duties  to 
eiupiireinto  different  .schemes  for  town  sanitation, 
1 must  record  my  conviction  that  the  dry  system 
is  the  one  best  suited  to  Indian  circumstances,  and 
that  any  system  which  diverts  from  its  proper  des- 
tination, the  land,  that  which  has  originally  come 
from  it,  would  be  attended  by  loss  to  the  cultivator 
and  to  the  State,  and  would  not  be  satisfactorj- 
from  a sanitary  point  of  view.  ” 
Dr.  Leather  states  that  the  jiractice  in  some 
places  consists  in  dejiositing  all  relnse  in  jiits 
about  3 feet  deep  and  of  considerable  area,  and 
after  the  wdiole  has  been  thus  filled,  crops  or 
fruit-trees  are  growm  on  the  land.  The  objection 
to  this  practice,  which  is  adopted  in  Dumraon, 
i.s,  says  Dr.  Leather,  that  the  refuse  might  be 
advantageously  spread  over  considerably  greater 
areas. 
Another  system  referred  to  is  the  digging  of 
long  trenches  about  6 inches  or  1 foot  deep  and  a 
foot  wide,  and  filling  them  in  w’ith  3 to  6 inches 
of  refuse  and  then  covering  over  with  the  earth 
w'hih  has  been  removed.  This,  says  Dr.  Leather, 
is  undoubtedly  a good  method,  but  even  here 
there  is  a great  concentration  of  the  material, 
and  it  has  been  found  in  some  instance.^,  that 
owing  to  carelessness  in  putting  more  than  the 
proper  amount  of  night  soil  in  one  place,  the 
earth  thrown  over  the  surface  has  been  in- 
sufficient to  properly  deodorize  the  refuse. 
Dr.  Leather  further  goes  on  to  remark  that  it 
is  an  advantage  in  the  systematic  disposal  of 
night  soil  if  it  can  be  distributed  over  a large 
area  and  net  concentrated  iinnecess.arily  in  one 
place,  and  it  is  a^so  an  advantage  if  the  sy.stcm 
employed  does  not  necessitate  its  removal  after  it 
has  once  been  deposited  in  the  soil. 
