INSTITUTE, PUSA, FOR 1916-17 47 



crop escapes the early frosts and little irrigation water is 

 needed as the plants are grown in deep trenches protected 

 from the drying winds. Very rarely is the crop damaged 

 by rain during the ripening period. As regards the market, 

 this is provided by the teeming population of India, a large 

 proportion of whom are vegetarians who are willing to pay 

 .good prices for this fruit. 



Baluchistan labours under one disadvantage as a fruit- 

 producing area. This is the absence of a supply of cheap 

 wood for the fruit boxes. The wood has either to be brought 

 by sea from Norway or else hauled across the Punjab from 

 the valleys of the Himalayas. The cost of freight on the 

 box boards will always militate against the use of the light 

 non-returnable package which is only used once. A method 

 of getting over the difficulty is to use stronger crates and to 

 arrange for their return to Quetta so that they can be used 

 over and over again. If a crate would last for 20 to 30 double 

 journeys to and from Quetta, the cost of the package per trip 

 would not be very great. It might then easily pay the more 

 substantial merchants to put a certain amount of their 

 capital into well made crates. A suitable returnable crate 

 has been designed and has been on the market for the last 

 two or three years. Its extensive adoption, however, was 

 hampered by the rules in force on the railways relating to 

 the weighing of consignments and to the return of empties. 

 Through the good offices of the President of the Railway 

 Board, these obstacles have been removed. Two suggested 

 concessions for the fruit trade received the support of the 

 Railway Board at the last meeting of the Railway Confer- 

 ence Association at Simla. These were that consignments 

 •of fruit should be grouped for purposes of charge and that 

 returnable packages, approved by the North Western Rail- 

 way, should be returned free of charge to Quetta, Gulistan 

 or Chaman. This was agreed to by all the chief railways in 

 India. During the present year the Agent (Sir Robert 

 Gales) and the Traffic Manager (Mr. Boalth) visifed the 

 Fruit Experiment Station at Quetta and agreed to recom- 

 mend to the other railways that the cardboard boxes as well 



