INSTITUTE, PUSA, FOR 1918-19 65 



During the present year (1919), the production of sun- 

 dried vegetables at Quetta has been increased and seven 

 selling agencies in India, in addition to the one at Quetta, 

 have been stocked. The cost of production has been con- 

 siderably reduced and the work accelerated by the use of 

 power peeling and slicing machines imported from 

 England. These have proved very successful and easy to 

 operate. 



The preliminary results obtained on the anti- scorbutic 

 and anti-beri beri properties of sun-dried vegetables were 

 communicated by Captain Shorten, I. M.S., Professor of 

 Physiology, Medical College, Calcutta, to the Medical Sec- 

 tion of the Indian Science Congress at Bombay. This 

 aspect of the work has since been considerably developed 

 and it is expected that the experiments will be completed 

 during the present year. 



VI. Fruit packing. 



The sale of improved fruit boxes to the trade at Quetta 

 continues to be satisfactory in spite of the delays on the 

 railways resulting from the military situation on the Fron- 

 tier in 1918 and 1919. It was expected that this cause 

 would be sufficient to put an end to the business for the 

 time being but the demand continues to increase and the 

 boxes are sold off as fast as they can be prepared. One 

 encouraging feature is the increasing tendency on the part 

 of the dealers to purchase the well made strong crates 

 holding 24 punnets which are now returned free of charge 

 from all stations in India to Quetta and Chaman and 

 which can be used many times. These are sold for Es. 5-8 

 each and are taken up readily. It is quite safe to say that 

 seven years ago when this work was started, not a single 

 returnable crate would have been bought by the dealers. 

 They have since found by experience, however, that it pays 

 iuo put- money into better packing and to adopt a system by 

 ^hich damage in transit is reduced to a minimum. 



