

48 SCIENTIFIC REPORTS OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



One very interesting example of a Pusa 12 replacement 

 scheme entirely by means of unofficial agency should, how- 

 ever, be mentioned. This is the seed distribution scheme 

 in the Simla Hill tracts in which Mr. H. E. J. Peake, the 

 proprietor of the Khaltoo Fruit Orchards, and Sardar 

 Narain Singh, Chief Secretary of the Sirmoor State, have 

 interested themselves. In spite of the drought which last 

 season ruined manj* of the fields sown with the ordinary 

 crop, Pusa 12 did well. The number of villages growing 

 this wheat rose from three to eight and the area increased 

 nearly sevenfold. From small beginnings, a large bulk of 

 seed has now been obtained which will facilitate the 

 extended operations in progress. The aim is to establish 

 a large continuous block of this variety in Sirmoor. 



Intensive wheat cultivation. As pointed out in the 

 last report, the substitution of the country crop by an 

 improved variety is only the first step in raising wheat 

 production in India to a higher level. The increased 

 yields so obtained and the higher price per maund real- 

 ized for the produce, are important means of establishing 

 confidence and of setting up harmonious working relations 

 between the Agricultural Department and the cultivators. 

 The work of systematic substitution corresponds therefore 

 to the duties of the advance guard of an army. The next 

 step is the demonstration of the extraordinary response 

 of superior types like Pusa 12 and Pusa 4 to improved soil 

 conditions. It is here that the Agricultural Department 

 will encounter its greatest difficulties and where it will 

 eventually achieve its most striking triumphs. Briefly 

 stated, the problem is the removal, in advance, of the fac- 

 tors which now limit production. A beginning has 

 already been made in the direction indicated and results 

 are beginning to appear. At Shahjahanpur in the United 

 Provinces, Clarke has obtained 36-5 maunds of Pusa 12 to 

 the acre, after sugarcane, in a year which was not parti- 

 cularly favourable. At Indore, on the black soils of the 

 Malwa plateau, Coventry has obtained, on a plot of Pusa 

 4, 1-36 acres in area, sown on December 15th, a yield of 35> 



