INSTITUTE AND COLLEGE, PUSA, FOR 1912-13. 63 



this again is connected with the soil moisture, as it must 

 depend largely on the density of the crop and the vigour 

 of transpiration. 



Ground-nut diseases. 



The cultivation of ground-nut in the Bombay Presi- 

 dency underwent a progressive decline between 1895 and 

 1903. This decline was attributed in 1902 by Mr. Mollison, 

 then Inspector General of Agriculture, to the extension of 

 disease in the crop. In that year I found a fungal disease 

 (caused by Septogloeum Arachidis Rac.) was doing great 

 damage. Attempts to check it by spraying failed, and the 

 only hope seemed to lie in the introduction of early matur- 

 ing and resistant varieties. Recently the cultivation of 

 ground-nut has again expanded and various reports led me 

 to believe that this disease had diminished- On visiting 

 the Presidency I found that this was the case to such 

 a degree, that I had considerable difficulty in finding 

 any attacked plants. Coincident with the decline of the 

 disease there has been a change in the varieties of ground- 

 nut grown. The Bombay Department of Agriculture 

 introduced a number of foreign varieties in 1901 and the 

 following years, and these have almost replaced the old 

 varieties, except in the Poona District. It is difficult to 

 avoid the conclusion that the introduction of the new 

 varieties is connected in some way with the decline of the 

 disease, though a direct connection is hard to establish, 

 since the old varieties, still grown near Poona, are now 

 equally free from attack. It would, however, be interest- 

 ing to know how far natural crossing has occurred between 

 the new and the old varieties, as in this there is a possible 

 explanation of the difficulty. I think that Mr. Mollison 

 and the Bombay Department are entitled to claim the 

 credit of having successfully fought one of the worst 

 diseases of cultivated crops which I have seen in India. 

 The area under ground-nut in the Deccan rose from 56,000 

 acres in 1902-03, to nearly 200,000 acres in 1911-12. 



