ho SCIENTIFIC REPORTS OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



continue to be very slow in establishing the fibre of this 

 improved variety as an article of commerce. 



5. Oil seeds and gram. 



The work on these crops at Pusa, referred to in previous 

 reports, was almost at a standstill during the year due tc 

 the lack of suitable land for the culture work. The linseed 

 cultures had to be grown on two new plots in the old fruit 

 area which proved to be too uneven for such purposes. 

 These cultures will be repeated if possible during the 

 coming year. 



6. Root development. 



In a paper read before the Botanical Section of the 

 Indian Science Congress at Bangalore in 1917, an account 

 was given of the results obtained in the study of the root 

 systems of the varieties of agricultural crops. It was 

 suggested that this aspect of variety trials has been 

 neglected in the past and that a study of the root systems 

 of a set of types throws a considerable amount of light on 

 the results of field experiments. During the past year, 

 the work has been continued and further results have been 

 obtained. 



One of the difficulties in these investigations is to 

 remove the soil so as to lay bare the distribution of the 

 entire root system, including the finer branches. In the 

 case of leguminous crops, it is also necessary to expose the 

 nodules without damage. The best method so far found 

 for use in fine, silt-like, alluvial soils, like those at Pusa, 

 is to remove the soil by means of a knapsack sprayer. By 

 this means, two plants can be dealt with in an ordinary 

 working day and all the fine ramifications down to the 

 piliferous layer and the root cap can be traced without 

 damage. With leguminous plants, great care is necessary 

 if all the nodules are to be obtained attached to the roots. 



In soil aeration experiments, where it is necessary to 

 study root development in relation to the physical condi- 

 tion of the soil, some method of growing a large number of 



