56 SCIENTIFIC REPORTS OP THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



IV. The Development of the Agriculture of 



Baluchistan. 



The increase in the agricultural work carried out at the 

 Fruit Experiment Station, Quetta, referred to in the last 

 report continues. All the land available has now been 

 taken up and no further expansion is possible with the 

 means at present available. The extension of the vegetable- 

 drying experiments has been rendered possible by means of 

 a special grant of Rs. 1,500 from the Baluchistan Adminis- 

 tration. 



1. Soil aeration. 



The decision of the Baluchistan Administration in 1911 

 to start a small experimental station near Quetta for the 

 study of local questions has, in one direction, suggested 

 far-reaching developments in Indian agriculture. Tn the 

 Quetta valley, the texture of the soil is such that after sur- 

 face flooding, ventilation is very easily impeded with 

 disastrous results to the crops. The investigation of this 

 matter led to the recognition of the importance of soil aera- 

 tion as a factor in crop production and to the working out 

 of an improved system of irrigation which, if adopted 

 generally in Tndia, would bring in every year an additional 

 revenue of at least £5,000,000 — enough to pay the interest 

 on the war loan. Now that the investigation of the various 

 aspects of soil aeration has reached a stage when the results 

 can be summed up with advantage and their practical 

 applications to Indian agriculture have become clear and 

 definite, the present is a convenient opportunity for bringing 

 together the various sides of this question and for emphasiz- 

 ing their importance in the future development of the 

 country. 



During the years 1912 to 1914, a number of observations 

 and results had accumulated at Quetta which appeared to 

 be most easily explained on the assumption that the stiff 

 loess soils of the valley suffered from want of aeration and 

 that in the removal of this factor lay the best line of advance. 

 A similar explanation seemed to underlie numerous other 



