STOCK-RAISING. The above table of does not embrace fodder These, however, are not important, as other t:oyernitient tables show, a fact which suggests the uninipor tanee of the stock•raising industry. During the decade ending willi 1900 the area of the fodder crops varied front less than 2.000,000 to nearly 3,000.000 acres, showing some to in crease during the decade. .1 mother of conditions are responsible for the undeveloped and unsatis factory state of stock-raising. .1s is common in a tropical climate, the people are given almost wholly to a vegetable diet. Religious or caste prejudices prevent the greater portion of the from eating beef or !mirk. The period preceding the annual rains is characterized over It large portion of the Country by a scarcity of both water and pasturage. and stock are gen•rally re duced almost to starvation. This tends to make the breeds deteriorate. The disregard of proper methods in breeding has a similar intim mee. The grade of stock. therefore, is generally very in ferior. Over the greater portion of British India cattle serve the same purpose that horses do in most countries. The breed of cattle is one that is unknown in this country, being of the humped variety. Illiffaloes are also used as work-animals
throughout almost all India. They are somewhat hardier than cattle and thrive in districts cli matically unfavorable to the latter. .Mules and donkeys are about equal ill number to horses and ponies, the former heir; raised in the largest numbers in the Punjab and the latter in the 'United Provinces of Agra.
In the dry regions of the Lower Punjab and Sindh camels are the principal domesticated ani coals. In a few localities elephants are of great value in Performing certain kinds of work, but their number and use are much more limited than is popularly supposed. The grazing industry is best represented in the of sheep and goats. These animals are.valuedchietly for their wool. Some pigs are raised, but their number is not recorded in the Government reports. The preeeding table shows the number of domestic animals by provinces for the year 1899-1900. Compared with the figures of a decade earlier a slight increase is found for almost every variety in most of the provinces.