4 SCIENTIFIC REPORTS OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



Besides creating new centres of distribution of Pusa 

 12 and 4 which are now preferred to the country wheats 

 wherever they have been introduced, the Botanical Section 

 reached during the year an important stage in the breed- 

 ing of rust-resistant wheats. Many new forms which are 

 characterized by strong straw, rust-resistance, good stand- 

 ing power and heavy yields have been fixed, and these are 

 being tested on a field scale. The Howards' experiments 

 in water saving in wheat growing have shown that if the 

 texture of the soil has been improved and if the surface 

 has been properly graded, extremely heavy crops are possi- 

 ble with a comparatively small volume of irrigation water. 

 The agricultural side of the indigo problem continued to 

 be studied in this Section. The effect of drainage on crop 

 production and the pollination of Indian crops were some 

 of the other lines of work on which Mr. and Mrs. Howard 

 were engaged during the year. 



The Ufra disease of rice, the black band disease of 

 jute, sugarcane smut, the pigeon pea wilt and the diseases 

 of chilli principally engaged the attention of the Myco- 

 logical Section during the year under report. The various 

 diseases affecting fruit trees are also under study in the 

 orchards in the Kumaon hills, and spraying experiments 

 are being carried out both there and in Peshawar. 



In the Entomological Section, besides working in deter- 

 mining the relative immunity of certain varieties of cotton 

 from bollworm attack and studying the borer pests of 

 sugarcane and other graminaceous plants, special atten- 

 tion was paid during the year to the collection of infor- 

 mation regarding fruit-pests. It has been ascertained 

 that the " Tukra " disease of mulberry is caused by a 

 mealy-bug, and that the affected apical leaves if fed to 

 mulberry silkworms assist in inducing flacherie. The 

 enquiry regarding the occurrence in the Indian Empire of 

 any insects which may be used as efficient checks on the 

 growth of Lantana was completed during the year and the 

 results are being published separately. The work in con- 

 nection with bees, lac and silkworms was continued. 



