2 SCIENTIFIC REPORTS OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



adopted to ensure the development of local resources, and 

 has now been appointed Controller (Agricultural Require- 

 ments, Mesopotamia) under the Munitions Board. Mr. 

 Wynne Sayer, Assistant to the Agricultural Adviser, has 

 been placed temporarily in charge of the work of the Im- 

 perial Agriculturist in addition to his own duties. 



II. Work of the Institute. 



Scientific Work. The more important enquiries of the 

 year were the following : — 



On the Pusa farm permanent manurial and rotational 

 experiments form an important piece of work. But the 

 most important work is the breeding of pedigree herds of 

 cattle : (i) a pure-bred pedigree herd of Montgomery cattle 

 and (ii) a cross-bred herd (Montgomery x Ayrshire). The re- 

 sults of crossing are so far very favourable. Alibi, the first 

 crossbred heifer to complete her lactation period, has given 

 over 7,000 lb. in a lactation period of 10 months— nearly 

 double the quantity yielded by a good Montgomery cow. 

 The Ayrshire-Montgomery cross bullocks have also proved 

 good workers. Pusa is now able to supply good stock to 

 cattle breeders and zamindars. A sale of surplus stock was 

 held in March when the 53 head offered were very keenly 

 bid for and realized very handsome prices. Another sale 

 is to be held early in December. 



The results of the cross-breeding work at Pusa are of 

 very great importance in view of the known shortage of 

 cattle in this country and their low milk yield. 



In the Section of Chemistry the utility of Dyer's method 

 of estimating the available plant food in highly calcareous 

 soils is being investigated and the relationship of the gase- 

 ous products of decomposition to the paddy soils, particu- 

 larly with reference to carbon dioxide and hydrogen, is 

 being studied. The question whether or not the use of 

 ammoniacal manures can be advantageously combined with 

 green-manuring in the case of the paddy crop is also under 

 examination. As regards sugarcane, investigations into 

 the effect of storing canes by clamping and of windrowing 

 are in hand. The importance of these investigations lies 



