42 REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



of land is being taken up for plant breeding purposes 

 only, where the new varieties can be grown on a 

 moderately large scale before being issued to the farmers. 

 At Long Ashton near Bristol, a visit was paid to the Fruit 

 Experiment Station in connection with the National Fruit 

 and Cider Institute wiiere a good deal of useful and 

 interesting work has been done. 



At most of the experiment stations in Great Britain 

 extensions are in progress due to the funds set free by the 

 Development grant. There is a marked tendency to endow 

 agricultural investigations, to make the work continuous 

 and to render it independent of what may be described as 

 irregular and precarious support. The progress of the 

 work under the Development Commission cannot fail to be 

 of interest to all concerned with the task of improving the 

 rural economy of India. 



Wheat. — The opportunity was taken of several consult- 

 ations with Mr. Humphries relating to the work in hand on 

 the improvement of Indian wmeats and the testing of the 

 resulting samples. Visits were also paid to Mark Lane 

 and the Baltic and the most reliable advice available in 

 London was obtained as to the best way of introducing the 

 new Indian wheats to the trade and marketing them to the 

 greatest advantage. In all these matters Mr. Humphries 

 was invaluable and he spared no pains to help the work in 

 every way. 



Publications. — A memoir on the inheritance of charac- 

 ters in tobacco was passed through the press in England 

 with a view of comparing the work done in Calcutta and 

 London and the corresponding cost. The result was to 

 show that printing and illustration work is both cheaper 

 and better in London while the labour of passing a paper 

 through the press there is materially reduced. 



Drainage. — The opportunity was taken of examining 

 the methods of drainage in use in northern and central 

 Italy and the care taken in these tracts in freeing the 

 arable land of excess water. The method adopted is iden- 

 tical in principle to that w T orked out in the Botanical area 



