INSTITUTE, PUSA, EOR 1917-18 36 



favourable locality, to which the work of the present 

 Botanical Section at Pusa can be transferred. 



For the first time since the war, the transport of seed 

 from the farms in Bihar has been interrupted due to the 

 railway restrictions now in force. At harvest time, it was 

 only possible to send seed to distant parts of India by 

 passenger train. Such a method is out of the question in 

 the case of hundreds of maunds of seed. Several impor- 

 tant indents from Central India, Kathiawar and Bengal for 

 this reason could not be met. The Bengal North-Western 

 Railway, however, were able to provide sufficient transport 

 for the wheat produced and distribution had to be confined 

 to Bihar and the United Provinces. These difficulties were 

 represented to the Central Transport and Foodstuffs Board 

 with the suggestion that facilities should be given to the 

 Agricultural Department generally in the transport of seed 

 of all improved varieties of food grains intended for sowing, 

 This has been accepted and the Directors of Civil Supplies 

 have been instructed to issue priority certificates in class 2 

 (b) for all consignments of improved varieties of seed for 

 sowing purposes booked by or under the order of the Agri- 

 cultural Department. 



II. Investigations at Pusa. 



1. Wheat. 



Substantial progress has been made during the year in 

 the wheat investigations at Pusa both as regards seed dis- 

 tribution and also in connection with wheat breeding. 

 Two of the early series — Pusa 4 and Pusa 12 — are estab- 

 lishing themselves rapidly over large areas of the country 

 as a result of the efforts of the Agricultural Departments. 

 The rate of replacement of the country wheats by these 

 improved types is now a question of organization, of the 

 supply of seed and of adequate funds. 



Pusa 12. The United Provinces are a long way ahead 

 in the replacement of the mixed country wheats by an im- 

 proved grade which also satisfies the cultivator on the 

 important question of yield. 



