56 REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE 



in so good a position as it appeared to be last year. The 

 well known anthracnose of chillies appears to be the cause 

 of a good deal of trouble in the chilli growing districts of 

 Burma and some form of treatment may be necessary. 



IV. Miscellaneous. 



A certain amount of work was done on the fungi of 

 Pusa soil. The chief interest of this preliminary investi- 

 gation was the striking similarity between the fungus flora 

 of an Indian soil and that which occurs in Europe. The 

 species isolated in Pusa were — 



Cunninghamella elegans Lendn. 



Aspergillus fumigatus Fres. 



Aspergillus niger v. Tiegh. Sterigmatocystis 



nigra v. Tiegh. 

 Rhizoctonia Napi West. 



of which the first three are all known in the soil in Europe. 

 The fungus which causes " red rot " of sugarcane was 

 found to be parasitic upon juar under laboratory condi- 

 tions but so far is not known to cause serious damage to 

 this crop in the field. A rot of bananas was examined by 

 the First Assistant and found to be due to a parasitic 

 Fusarium. A preliminary account has been published in 

 the Agricultural Journal of India, it appears that the 

 disease is distinct from the well known Panama disease of 

 bananas. The results of some observations on potato blight 

 in India have been published as a memoir of the Depart- 

 ment, the chief point of practical importance is the fact 

 that the fungus cannot survive in the heat of the plains. 

 Mr. Dastur has continued his work on Phytophthora with 

 the study of some forms parasitic on Vinca, it is hoped to 

 publish results shortly. 



Some preliminary work on the disease of chillies at 

 Peshawar indicated that the disease was of the type known 

 as " wilt.'' Inoculations with a fungus isolated from 

 diseased plants were not successful and this year the inci- 

 dence of the disease is much less. Treatment of oat smut 



