INSTITUTE AND COLLEGE, PUSA, FOR 1912-13. 51 



the valley has been clearly indicated by the tomato experi- 

 ment of this year and equally striking results are possible 

 with other fruit crops. What is wanted is the application 

 of scientific principles to crop production and the only way 

 of doing this is for Government to continue to act as the 

 pioneering agency and to show the way. 



As regards the future the following are the chief lines 

 of work which remain to be developed : — 



1. Propagation.- — More attention will be necessary in 

 the raising of young trees for planting. A greater range 

 of stocks is desirable and the trees should be trained while 

 in the nursery. A large selection of kinds should be raised 

 so as to prolong the season of each fruit and the losses to 

 the Province in the past from the distribution of bad stock 

 should be prevented in the future. 



2. Improvement in yield and quality. — Great advances 

 in the yield and quality of fruit are necessary before the 

 industry can be developed. At present the yield of fruit 

 per acre is very small and the quality is not good. Varie- 

 ties which require good cultivation like peaches are very 

 short-lived and the prevalence of the yellowing of the 

 leaves indicates that these trees are not properly grown. 

 Pruning is hardly understood at present and the trees 

 carry only a small proportion of poor fruit compared with 

 what is easily possible. 



3. Water conservation. — The great need in agriculture 

 in Baluchistan is the saving of water. In this connection 

 the preliminary work which has been done on surface cul- 

 tivation, furrow irrigation and the increasing of the water- 

 holding capacity of t"ie soil by green manuring should be 

 developed and the j ossibilities of water-saving demon- 

 strated by actual exanples. 



4. Vegetable growing.— Good vegetables can be grown 

 at Quetta at a time when there are no supplies to be had in 

 the plains. It has been demonstrated that tomatoes can be 

 sent to Calcutta at a good profit and there is little doubt 

 that this line of work can be extended considerably in the 

 i'uture. 



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