38 REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE 



shaftal in August 1915. The land was manured with 

 farm-yard manure at the rate of about 20 tons per acre and 

 sown with shaftal under a thin cover-crop of maize. Six 

 cuts of clover were obtained by the middle of June 1916, the 

 total weight of which was over 33 tons per acre. At eight 

 annas per 100 lb., the year's produce is worth Rs. 371 per 

 acre — an income obtained with the minimum expenditure 

 of water and resulting in an increased fertility of the land. 

 This result, which has been confirmed many times at Quetta, 

 indicates the methods which should be adopted in fodder 

 growing in India— intensive cultivation with the minimum 

 expenditure of irrigation water. 



While shaftal has proved a useful green fodder, parti- 

 cularly for dairy cows and buffaloes, its best use to 

 Baluchistan is in the form of clover hay, put up in bales 

 suitable for storage and for easy transport on mules or 

 camels. Real hay is unknown in India, its place being 

 taken by in-nutritious substances like dried grass and 

 bhusa. A considerable amount of attention has therefore 

 been paid to the drying and baling of shaftal and to the 

 preparation of real hay. In European countries, the diffi- 

 culties in hay-making are concerned largely with the slow 

 rate of drying and with the interference caused by frequent 

 showers. At Quetta, the problem is reversed. The air is 

 so dry and the sun is so strong that the hay easily becomes 

 overdried and so brittle that it is broken to powder when 

 handled. Baling such a product is out of the question and 

 even if it could be stacked, no mild after-fermentation 

 could take place. These difficulties are overcome by drying 

 in stages in heaps on the field and by preserving sufficient 

 natural moisture for a slight fermentation to take place in 

 the stack before baling. Early last year, trials of the new 

 baled fodder were carried out with the horses of the 72nd 

 Heavy Battery at Quetta under the Commandant, Colonel 

 H. M. Courtenay, R.A., who reported very favourably on 

 the results. The transfer of this unit and the death of the 

 Commandant on active service put an end to the trials. 

 They have, however, been continued by Brigadier- General 



