42 REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



lOto. -. 



ing of the crop. Further, these improvements are well 

 within the means of an ordinary indigo estate. 



After the removal of the cover crop, it is the usual prac- 

 tice in Bihar to weed the young indigo crop by hand. This 

 process is tedious and expensive and the work is not always 

 well done. By the use of lever harrows in the early stages, 

 and by the use of spring tine cultivators later on, a great 

 deal of hand weeding can be avoided and at the same time 

 the young crop is greatly improved by the cultivation. 

 These lever harrows have been tried extensively on the 

 Dholi Estate for two seasons and Mr. Danby reports as 

 follows on the trials (Letter, dated January 3rd, 1914) : — 



" I meant to have written before about the lever har- 

 rows. I had six of these harrows in use last year and 1 

 have ordered six more from Messrs. Massey Harris. 



" I harrowed practically the whole of my Java crop in 

 February and March last after cutting the cover crop — 

 wheat and sursoo. The crop was greatly improved by the 

 harrowing, besides which the wheat stubble and weeds were 

 to a large extent removed. I estimate that the amount 

 saved in weeding alone in one year was more than the cost 

 of the harrows." 



Some consideration has been given at Pusa to the 

 discovery of some practicable method of reducing the 

 amount of wilt among Java indigo when grown for leaf. 

 Very promising results were obtained during 1913. As is 

 well known, the universal method of growing Java indigo 

 in Bihar is to sow it either broadcast or by drills in lines 

 close together. The result, in both cases, is a dense crop of 

 unbranched plants among which leaf- fall rapidly takes 

 place due to the crowding of the plants, thus leading to a 

 great loss of indigo. Further, interculture to keep down 

 weeds is impossible after the first cut. When the crop is 

 reaped, the indigo is cut down completely and the plant 

 has to produce new shoots during the monsoon at a time 

 when its roots are in very moist soil. Few plants will sur- 

 vive uninjured such treatment during a heavy monsoon. 

 When an indigo plant is suddenly cut down, the passage of 



