April 1, 1898.] SuppUmBnt to the Tropical AoricuUurist," 
731 
give more milk than an ordinary Australian 
cow. But how are we to get over the prejudice in 
Ceylon against the use of buffalo milk? We re- 
member Mr. Mollison, the Supdt, of Farms, Bombay 
Presidency, being both astonished and amused t o 
hear of it? People here no doubt base thetr 
objections to buffalo milk on the habits of the am- 
phibious Ceylon buffalo fed on coarse and unwhole- 
some food. Our first experience of the Indian milch 
buffalo was at Poona where we were much struck by 
the maguificent specimens of the Surat and Jaffer- 
badi breeds kept in the dairy. Here is what ^ e 
wrote at the time of our visit, early lu 1893 
<• Buffaloes are in great favour on the Bombay 
side as milk and especially butter producers, ai.d 
much surprise was expressed by those engaged in 
dairying at my statement that there is an insur- 
mountable prejudice in Ceylon against buffalo 
butter. In the Bombay Presidency nearly 
all the butter is made from buffalo milk, the 
produce being slightly dyed with anatto. . . 
Colouring with a standard solution of anatto is 
of course quite common in English dairies. The 
Surat buffalo is, according to Mr. Mollison, unsur- 
passed as a butter producer, and even in the hot 
weather, while I was there, 11b. of butter was 
being got from lO lb-=. of milk, and the best milker 
was producing 86 lbs. of milk. With the price of 
butter at 12 annas (or 75 cts.) per lb., a 
good Surat buffalo thus gave by sale of its produce 
nearly E3 per day. In Poona, buffalo milk 
was selling at a higher price than cow milk. 
We have more than once recommended that the 
miserable breed of Ceylon buffiloes should be im- 
proved by the introduction of some good blood 
from India, and we hope that this will be re- 
m«“mbered in connection with the breeding estab- 
lishment at Walapana which is spoken of. Here 
is a reference to the Allahabad Dairy from the 
cutting sent us by Copt. Channel’ : 
One of the most successful departments of the 
Allahabad farm is the dairy, from which 
the troops draw their supply of rich wholesome 
milk and butter made according to British methods 
bv the aid of British dairy machinery of the most 
approved pattern. Three hundred female buffa- 
loes and two hundred milch-cows are housed and 
kept on the “soiling .system,” being let out 
merely for exercise for four or five hours in the 
forenoon before the greatest heat of the day 
occurs The buffalo is the great milch-cow of 
India, yielding double the amount given by an 
ordinary Indian cow, and, ivhen toellfed and cared 
for producing milk of e.x.traordiiiary richness in 
butter-fat and milk solids generally. One pound 
of butter can be produced from one gallon of 
such milk — an amount more than two and-a-half 
times that yielded by average cows’ milk in Great 
Britain, It is generally believed that buffalo 
milk is rank in flavour and inferior in quality, but 
that is true only of animals which feed on village 
garbage. Although it possesses, partly ow’ing to 
the large amount of solids present, characteristic 
features which enable the palate to distinguish 
it from cows’ milk, consumers who have had 
experience of it immediately complain if co.vs 
milk is substituted for it. 
The best female buffaloes come from the dis- 
tricts of Hissar and Eohtak, and cost from ^ RlOO 
to B300. Their daily average yield while in 
milk is four and-a-half gallons, while some have 
been known to give eight gallons a day. This is 
an indication that the practice adopted at 
Allahabad of keeping bulls specially selected 
from heavy-milking families will ere long greatly 
raise the yield of the herd. 
In addition to grass, silage, or hay, according 
to tlie season, an allowance of 7 lbs, of cmceii- 
traled food, consisting of linseed, cottonseed, and 
pulse-husks, is given in three feed.s daily to ani- 
mals, in full milk, the amount being lowered as 
the yield decreases towards the end of the season. 
The total annual cost per head, including a due 
proportion of the remuneration of an attendant, 
wh.o receives eight rupees a month or ^6 a year, 
is about .£11. 
Good butter sells freely in India at lid. per lb. ; 
but the white lard-like appearance of buffalo 
butter neces-^itates the colouring of the cream 
before churning, to please the eye of the consumer, 
though the quality i.s not thereby improved. 
The margin of profit at the above cost of produc- 
tion is quite large enough to make it possible to 
develop a remunerative trade in the export of 
butter to Europe. 
The milkers employed are Punjabi men with 
very powerful wrists, as may be gathered from 
the fact that each milks ten cows and ten buffa- 
loe.s morning and evening. Village cattle are 
prevented from passing the faim boundaries, 
with the object of warding off the various forms 
of contagious disease which are so common 
among Indian cattle and of averting the evil 
consequences which would result if the inferior 
bulls, herded with them, were to approach the 
selected females of which the dairy is made up. 
Young buffaloes begin to be milk-producing 
at about three and-a-half years of age, and young 
cows at three years. It is much to be deplored 
that in the surrounding district good cows are 
decreasing in numbers, and consequently rising in 
price. Prices have gone up wdthin recent years 
from R50 each to RlOO and R120 (£3 2s. 
4d, to £6 6s. and £7 12s.), chiefly owing 
to large numbers of the best milkers being taken 
to Calcutta and Bombay and slaughtered, after 
milking for but one season. This custom is mnin- 
ly due to the present impo.«sibility of getting food 
to tide them over the few months when they are 
not in milk and, in some measure, to the change 
of surroundings and probably to foodprodiicing 
temporary barrenness. It behoves Government to 
attempt some means to stop or minimise this dis- 
astrous drain upon the best milking stock of the 
country. And surely something could be devised 
to bring about the desired result without interfer- 
ing with the freedom of action of those engaged 
in the business. Another almost equally impor- 
tant result to be achieved, so far as these great 
centres of population are concerned, is the deve- 
lopment of a cheap and abundant milk supply, 
which would not be subjected to the dangers of 
adulteration now p>'evailing. 
In consideration of the value of the produce of 
milch-cattle, it was found that to keep all 
progeny of the cows at Allahabad was too expen- 
sive- All annual fair has been established, at 
which most of the superior young liulls bred on 
the Government farm are disposed of to the 
natives at twelve to fourteen months old, when 
