INSTITUTE AND COLLEGE, PUSA, FOR 1912-13. 47 



tobacco. A preliminary trial of this system was carried 

 out at Pusa last cold weather, where it proved a great 

 success. On repeating the experiment at Quetta, the as- 

 sistant in charge failed to raise a proper supply of seedlings 

 by the time I arrived in May, so that a miscellaneous collec- 

 tion of seedlings left over in the gardens of various vege- 

 table-growers had to be collected and the best made of this 

 very inferior planting material together with a small supply 

 of plants raised by the Overseer of the Residency Garden. 

 The plants, however, did better than was expected and up 

 to the time of writing (September 19th) the income from an 

 area of four-tenths of the acre has exceeded Rs. 600. About 

 half of the fruit is not yet ripe and of this a good deal has 

 already been destroyed by the early frosts. There is no 

 doubt, however, that if the tomato seedlings are raised at 

 Sibi and planted in good time for the whole crop to ripen 

 before the cold weather sets in, the income from an acre of 

 tomatoes (sold at Rs. 3 per maund) would result in a clear 

 profit of Rs. 1,500 per acre at least. The amount of water 

 required is small and the expenses of training and pruning 

 are not very great. The experiment will be continued next 

 year and will be conducted by Hira Lai, the Overseer of the 

 Residency Garden. The experiment has greatly impressed 

 the local growers, and has attracted a good deal of attention. 

 Several vegetable-growers propose to take up this method of 

 growing the crop next year. 



2. The transport of tomatoes. — In order to test the 

 demand for Qnetta tomatoes in the Calcutta market, twelve 

 crates of fruit have been exposed for sale in the shop con- 

 nected with the Great Eastern Hotel. Packed in crates 

 holding 24 chip baskets, each holding one seer, the fruit 

 reached Calcutta in excellent condition and was sold at 

 twelve annas per basket. This leaves a margin of profit 

 of Rs. 12 per crate of 24 seers. 



3. The yellowing of peach trees in Quetta. — In the Civil 

 Station of Quetta, the peach trees have, as a rule, very yel- 

 low foliage, often accompanied by excessive gumming. Such 

 trees are said to die very quickly and this experience has 



