52 REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE 



this work did not give any conclusive results. The experi- 

 ment is being repeated this year with additional precau- 

 tions. 



Working with small plots at Pusa it was found that the 

 disease could lie dormant in the soil and infect a new crop. 

 Cutting the diseased crop and burning it in situ, with a 

 little kerosine, prevented the infection of a succeeding 

 crop. It is unsafe, however, to generalise from a small 

 experiment such as this, for it is possible to subject a small 

 area to a much more thorough burning than would be 

 practicable on a field scale. 



The infected area in Eastern Bengal appears to be much 

 the same as last year (see map) and the disease has been 

 again reported in the vicinity of Eanchi, in Bihar and 

 Orissa, where it is said to occur on transplanted paddy and 

 not upon the early broadcast. 



A diseased condition of the paddy crop in Balasore and 

 on the Government Farm at Bankipore was investigated 

 but " ufra " was not found; at Balasore drought appeared 

 to be the cause of the trouble but at Bankipore the condi- 

 tion was said by local officers to be that known as " chatra/' 

 however, no trace of a parasite could be found. 



The " gwa-bo " disease, which is the cause of extensive 

 damage in Burma, was investigated without any very defi- 

 nite result. In some areas about 50 per cent, of the disease 

 appears to be due to Sclerotium Oryzce Catt. (vide Memoirs 

 of the Department of Agriculture in India, Botanical 

 Series, Vol. VI, No. 2, July, 1913) but it is almost certain 

 that the diseased condition is the result of the combination 

 of a number of adverse factors and is not due to the attack 

 of any single parasite. In particular some insects appear 

 to be responsible for a large amount of the disease. 



(2) Tobacco. Field experiments with " tokra " of 

 tobacco were commenced and yielded some results of 

 scientific interest. Orobanche cernua Loefl. and Orobanche 

 indica Buch. both occur on tobacco but 0. cernua is much 

 the more serious parasite of tobacco and solanaceous crops 

 generally, while 0, indica is a source of heavy damage to 



