34 REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE 



Wheat-breeding. Considerable progress has been 

 made during the year in still further improving Indian 

 wheats in the direction of increased rust-resistance, better 

 standing power and higher yield. The past year has been 

 perhaps the worst for wheat so far experienced at Pusa. 

 The root development was poor, due to the warmth of the 

 sub-soil, and, after the crop came into ear, the wet weather 

 was followed by an epidemic of rust. Notwithstanding 

 these adverse conditions, a good many of the cultures were 

 not affected by either of the three rust fungi which attack 

 wheat in Bihar. These new wheats are now in the fifth 

 generation and are practically fixed. 



Tobacco. The demand for seed of the cigarette 

 tobacco, Type 28, continues to increase and a large quantity 

 was distributed during the year. It will be necessary to 

 raise still larger quantities of this seed in future years to 

 meet the ever increasing demand. The seed was cleaned 

 and separated into two grades before issue by a special 

 machine on the principle of a corn dresser. All light and 

 poorly matured seeds are removed and the resulting seed- 

 lings are stronger and more robust than those raised from 

 ordinary untreated seed. The tobacco seed is so minute 

 that only those individuals which are heavy and well filled 

 contain sufficient reserve material for producing rapidly- 

 growing seedlings. 



During the year, the practical results obtained in the 

 cultivation and curing of tobacco were published as a 

 bulletin. These have been referred to in previous reports 

 and it is unnecessary to repeat them here. The experiments 

 connected with improved methods of raising tobacco seed- 

 lings and with green-manuring for this crop are being 

 continued. 



Progress has been made during the year in tobacco 

 breeding and in the study of the inheritance of characters 

 in both N. tabacum and N. rustica. 



Indigo. A considerable amount of progress was made 

 in the indigo investigations which enabled definite recom- 



