40 REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



soil and lose their active root system if this condition per- 

 sists for too long a period. 



In searching for some practical remedy for this trouble, 

 two lines of attack suggested themselves. In the first place, 

 improvements in surface drainage and aeration of the soil 

 might be expected to prolong the life of the plant. Secondly, 

 sowing the crop specially for seed towards the end of the 

 monsoon, so that the developing root system would follow 

 the fall of the subsoil water, was a second possibility in 

 case improved drainage and cultivation failed to avert the 

 trouble in the case of indigo grown in the ordinary way. 

 Both these methods were tried simultaneously. 



Among the various methods of surface drainage and 

 interculture, tried during the monsoon on indigo cut for 

 leaf in the ordinary way, no practicable remedy for the 

 trouble was discovered. The waterlogging, which takes 

 place in the fine Bihar alluvium and which leads to the 

 destruction of the young roots of the indigo, cannot be 

 entirely prevented by ordinary surface drainage and cul- 

 tivation. The plants will not tolerate the constantly moist 

 condition of the soil for the whole of the monsoon period. 



In the case of August sown indigo, very different results 

 were obtained. The plants grew rapidly, escaped wilt 

 altogether and gave rise to a fine crop of healthy seed the 

 following March. After reaping the seed, the plants were 

 cut back and then gave a good crop of leaf in the ordinary 

 way the following rains. Similar results were obtained on 

 a large scale on the Dholi estate. The Pusa results showed 

 that, for seed purposes, Java indigo should be sown thickly, 

 in lines about two feet apart, early in August on high, well 

 drained land in good condition. In this way the plants 

 escape the disease. They grow to a large size by the end 

 of October and so carry a heavy crop of seed the following 

 cold weather. Thus one of the main obstacles to the culti- 

 vation of Java indigo in Bihar has been removed and the 

 planting community are now in a position to grow their 

 own seed without any great outlay. After gathering the 



