88 REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



soil moisture by transpiration during the growth of the 

 green manure, and partly to the necessity for providing a 

 considerable percentage of soil water to ensure the proper 

 decomposition of the buried material. Further experi- 

 ments during the current season include a special method 

 of dealing with a green manure crop designed to avoid the 

 loss due to want of sufficient soil moisture to ensure com- 

 plete decomposition after burying; this method consists 

 in hastening the initial stages of decomposition by steeping 

 the cut crop in water and then fermenting it in heaps, 

 under which conditions the less readily decomposed cell 

 walls and lignified tissues are rapidly attacked by bacteria 

 favoured by semi-anserobic conditions; the fermented 

 material is then used in the same way as farm yard manure. 

 The advantages of this method, in addition to the principal 

 one of eliminating the uncertainty of the rainfall as a factor 

 in decomposing the buried green material, include the pos- 

 sibility of applying the fermented manure at the best rate 

 per acre and at the best time for producing its optimum 

 manurial effects; at the same time it is not necessary to 

 grow the green manure crop on the land which is to carry 

 the " rabi " crop intended to benefit by its manurial effect; 

 in some cases this might be of great advantage with regard 

 to the depletion of the soil moisture consequent on trans- 

 piration during the period of growth of the green manure 

 crop. This method of dealing with a green manure crop 

 closely resembles the practice in indigo-growing districts 

 of manuring tobacco and other soils with the refuse 

 (*' Seet ") from the indigo factory, which is obtained by 

 steeping the cut indigo plant in water for some 24 hours 

 and subsequently allowing the sodden plants to lie in 

 heaps in which fermentation goes on; the rotted material 

 thus produced is generally applied to tobacco lands, the 

 rented value of which depends almost entirely upon the 

 local availability of the indigo " Seet." 



The field experiments with green manure in 1912-13 

 included the growth of a " rabi ' crop (wheat) on the 

 experimental area. In no case was there any increase in 



