34 SCIENTIFIC REPORTS OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



adopted on the Dholi estate on the large scale, and has 

 proved of the greatest use. Previously, this estate often lost 

 large areas of wheat from a hot seed-bed. 



2. Tobacco. 



The increasing popularity of Type 28 for cigarettes in 

 many of the tobacco-producing districts of India and Burma 

 mentioned in the last report has become still more marked 

 during the last twelve months. Not only for cigarette 

 manufacture but also for general use, the cultivation of this 

 type continues to spread. The indents for seed are increas- 

 ing both in numbers and in the total weight required. From 

 all sides favourable results are reported. The principal 

 agent of distribution is the branch of the Peninsular 

 Tobacco Company at Dalsing Serai in North Bihar where 

 the seed given out to ryots in the present year was much 

 greater than in 1916. Numerous indents from South Bihar, 

 the United Provinces, Punjab, Bengal and Burma were 

 also received. To meet the increasing demand for seed, it 

 was necessary to postpone the plant-breeding work in this 

 crop last year and to devote the area set aside for this in- 

 vestigation to the growth of seed for distribution. 



3. Fibres. 



Considerable progress has to be reported on the Mende- 

 lian work in connection with the varieties of Roselle 

 (Hibiscus Sabdariffa). The gametic constitution of the 

 four varieties described in the Botanical Series of the 

 Memoirs of the Department of Agriculture in India, 

 { Vol. IV, No. 2) has proved to be exceedingly complex and a 

 very large number of unit species has now been isolated in 

 pure culture. The unravelling of the various problems 

 involved in this work will shortly reach a stage when it will 

 be possible to commit the results to paper. 



In the case of patwa (Hibiscus cannabinus), an improved 

 variety of which was brought out some years ago under the 

 designation of Type 3, further promising reports have been 

 received from various parts of India. These reports, how- 



