50 SCIENTIFIC REPORTS OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



— soil-aeration and soil-temperature. The soil-temperature 

 factor can be kept in check by surface flooding when the soil 

 is kept cool by evaporation. This, however, destroys the 

 aeration and leads to poor growth. If the water supply is 

 kept too low, the soil warms up and the roots of the 

 young trees are affected by temperature. A satisfactory 

 working compromise between the various conflicting factors 

 has been tried for the last two years. To save water and to 

 promote soil-aeration, furrow irrigation has been adopted. 

 To keep the ground between the rows cool, the soil is mulched 

 in May before the hot weather begins with a deep covering 

 of a leguminous weed known as busunduk (Sopfiora alope- 

 curoides). This has been found to be successful even with 

 seedling apricots which are exceedingly sensitive to the 

 high temperatures of the soil in June and July. 



As the results obtained in the propagation of fruit trees 

 at Quetta are likely to be of more than local interest in 

 India, a bulletin dealing with these matters has been pre- 

 pared for publication. It might easily pay in extending 

 fruit culture in Kumaon, Kulu and Kashmir to import suit- 

 able stocks in bulk and to bud them locally. In this way, the 

 initial expense in establishing orchards would be greatly 

 reduced. 



IV. Programme and Publications. 



Programme of work for 1917-18. 



Work will be continued on the following crops on the 

 lines indicated in the annual reports and in the publications 

 of the section — wheat, tobacco, gram, fibre plants, indigo, 

 oil-seeds, fodder crops and fruit. 



Publications. 



The following papers were rjublished during the year. 

 In order to bring the list up to date, all papers in the press 

 which are referred to in this report have been included : — 



1. Third report on the improvement of indigo in Bihar. 

 Bulletin 67, Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, 1916. 



