AND COLLEGE, PUSA, FOR 1914-15. 37 



cultivation. A new variety of wheat, Pusa 4, has been 

 introduced which can be grown with indigo on high lands. 

 This wheat is a rapid grower, does not tiller much, has a 

 strong straw and is provided with few leaves. On this 

 account, the young indigo plants get a full supply of light 

 and air and the two crops do very well together. It is 

 hoped later on, when this new wheat spreads, to establish 

 a grade for the Calcutta market. 



Among the items of investigation now in progress with 

 regard to indigo may be mentioned the selection work on 

 Java and Sumatrana and the experiments devised to 

 increase the efficiency of seeth as a manure. New varieties 

 of Sumatrana and Java indigo are being tried this year on 

 an estate scale and the results will be dealt with later. 

 Evidence has been obtained that a part of the value of 

 seeth in tobacco growing is its power of aerating the soil 

 and of providing the soil organisms and the roots of the 

 tobacco with an adequate supply of air. If this is con- 

 firmed, seeth can probably be made to go further by adding 

 the proper proportion of broken tiles (thikara) to the soil. 



The progress that has already been made in the indigo 

 investigations indicates that the prospects of resuscitating 

 the industry are very favourable. The competition of the 

 synthetic product has, for the time, been removed, a period 

 of high prices has set in which will be the means of 

 establishing confidence and of putting the estates whiclj 

 are growing indigo into order. The value of the industry 

 to Bihar agriculture is considerable. Seeth is an excellent 

 manure and the part played by the Java plant in the 

 rotation in aerating the subsoil is much greater than is 

 commonly realized. Apart from all the other aspects of 

 indigo growing, the industry is well worth saving from 

 the point of view of the welfare of the people and of the 

 maintenance of the fertility of the soil. 



Gram. For some years, a botanical study of the 

 varieties of gram, cultivated in India, has been in progress 

 at Pusa and a good deal of work has been done on the 

 general requirements of this crop as regards soil and culti- 



