66 SCIENTIFIC REPORTS OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



and shown at the Conversazione in connection with the 

 meeting of the Indian Science Congress. This attracted 

 many visitors and completely exhausted the first edition of 

 Bulletin No. 8 in which the process of sun-drying is des- 

 cribed in detail. A paper on this subject was read and 

 discussed in the Botanical Section of the Science Congress. 1 

 The medical men present were keenly interested in this 

 matter and as a result of the discussions we secured the co- 

 operation of Colonel Sir Leonard Rogers, F.R.S., in the 

 investigation of the anti-scorbutic and anti-berri berri pro- 

 perties of vegetables prepared in this manner. A number 

 of samples have since been despatched to Calcutta for these 

 experiments. 



As the only way of finding the value of a new thing is to 

 sell it, arrangements have been made to place sun-dried 

 vegetables on the market. Suitable agencies have been 

 arranged at Calcutta, Bombay and at Quetta and as soon as 

 the coloured labels (which are being designed and printed 

 by the Lucknow School of Arts and Crafts) arrive, half 

 pound tins of these vegetables, in a compressed form, can be 

 purchased by the public. The price charged will be below 

 that of the Californian tinned product which is put up wet 

 and which is very heavy and bulky to transport. Samples 

 of dried vegetables, in brick form, will also be available this 

 year for trial on the trade routes in Seistan and Persia. 



The quality of sun-dried vegetables depends on the way 

 in which the fresh product is grown. Most of the vegetables 

 produced for the market at Quetta are not well cultivated 

 and in almost all cases about half the irrig'ation water is 

 wasted. The result is that the fresh material now available 

 is not the best possible for sun-drying and the yield is some- 

 what low. The methods of vegetable growing in this 

 locality appear to be capable of considerable improvement 

 and arrangements have been made to grow a plot at the 

 Fruit Experiment Station in 1919 and to work out the best 

 methods applicable to local conditions. At the same time, 



1 " Sun-drying of vegetables." The Agricultural Journal of India, vol. XIII, 

 pt. IV, 1918. 



