INSTITUTE, PUSA, FOR 1916-17 39 



of the Army, the agricultural work carried out at the Fruit 

 Experiment Station at Quetta has been extended very con- 

 siderably during the year. The district work among the 

 cultivators has necessitated the appointment of a Travel- 

 ling Instructor in Agriculture while the fodder experiments 

 in progress with the Army have involved extra expenditure 

 on presses and seed. The cost of the experiments on vege- 

 table drying has been met by a grant from Army Head- 

 quarters, Simla, while the fodder trials have been financed 

 from an advance of five thousand rupees from the Assistant 

 Director of Supplies and Transport, Fourth (Quetta) Divi- 

 sion. The supply of fruit boxes to the public has been made 

 possible by means of temporary loans from the Treasury. 



1. The saving of irrigation water. 



The principles underlying water-saving were referred 

 to in detail in the last Annual Report as well as the result 

 of a trial of the new system on the fields of a zamindar. 

 During the past year, the demonstration work has been 

 extended considerably near Quetta and trials have also been 

 carried out by the Political Agent at Pishin and by the 

 Irrigation Officer at Khushdil Khan. In spite of the fact 

 that the winter rains last season were less than half the 

 average, none of the demonstration crops failed and in all 

 cases the wheat reached maturity and good yields were 

 obtained, in some cases over 20 maunds to the acre. The suc- 

 cess of the new methods, when carried out under cultivators' 

 conditions, is now assured and their general adoption is 

 only a question of time. In connection with these trials it 

 is satisfactory to note that the people are taking to the lever 

 harrows for crust-breaking and are favourably impressed 

 by the rate at which irrigated land can be dealt with by the 

 combined use of the five tine spring-tooth cultivator and the 

 levelling beam. For the operations connected with tilth 

 production and water saving prior to sowing, the spring- 

 tooth cultivator is essential and its use in areas like the 

 Pishin Valley will multiply the available cattle power by a 



