18 REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



REPORT or THE IMPERIAL ECONOMIC BOTA- 

 NIST, FOR THE YEAR 1909-10. 



(A. Howard, M.A.; A.R.C.S.; F-CS.; F.L.S.) 



Part I. 



Teaching, Training and Staff. — Two Supernumerary 

 Botanists were in training during the year under review. 

 Mr. G. P. Hector, M.A., B.Sc., the Economic Botanist- 

 designate of Eastern Bengal and Assam, proceeded to that 

 province on July 14th, 1909. Mr. E. Holmes-Smith, B.Sc-, 

 Supernumerary Botanist, worked at Pusa till February last 

 when he proceeded to Bombay. 



Five students attended the course on fruit growing 

 and in addition, there were four students who attended 

 special courses. One further short-course student was sent 

 for a few weeks by the Economic Botanist to the Govern- 

 ment of Bengal. 



Mr. Ijaz Husain, Manager of the Lyallpur Farm, gave 

 up his post in the Punjab Agricultural Department so as 

 to become trained in this section as third assistant. My 

 second assistant, Mr. Abdur Rahman Khan, has continued 

 his training in Economic Botany in the section. I have 

 pleasure in reporting the continued progress made by this 

 assistant who, I believe, possesses real aptitude for and 

 a thorough interest in Economic Botany. He is the joint 

 author of an important memoir on some aspects of plant 

 breedinsj in India recently submitted for publication. 



While all other members of the staff have improved in 

 their work, the services of my clerk, Ram Nechhawar Lai 

 and of my second fieldman, Sarup Singh, deserve mention. 



Part II. 



Investigations- 

 Wheat. — I am able to report very considerable progress 

 in the wheat investigations of this section along several 

 lines, 



