54 SCIENTIFIC KEPORTS OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



than the Bihar types, which are also all spinose, and for 

 both reasons should be more valuable. 



During the season, the crop of safflower was severely at- 

 tacked by a fungus disease, identified by the Imperial Myco- 

 logist as Rhizoctonia napi. The first sign of disease ap- 

 peared in the first week of January and the spread was 

 continuous right through up to the seed-maturing stage- 

 In the case of local Bihar types the attack was late and 

 more pronounced, and consequently very little seed set in 

 these types. 



Yams. Eleven varieties of yams were received from the 

 Straits Settlements last year and were sown with local yams 

 for a comparative trial of yield and quality. The tubers 

 received were very different in appearance from the common 

 local yam, suthni (Dioscorea fasiculata Roxb.). 



To test the quality, some tubers of each variety, after 

 boiling, were given to local people, and two varieties, No.. 

 288 and No. 290, were declared to be superior to the local 



suthni, and have again been sown for a further trial. 



VI. Rice. 



A considerable part of the time of the Officiating Im- 

 perial Economic Botanist has been spent in supervising 

 work in Bengal on rice, in conjunction with the Acting Eco- 

 nomic Botanist, Bengal. This work has, for its main object, 

 the selection, and production by crossing, of high-yielding 

 types, suitable for the various districts of the province, 

 together with the study of the varietal and field characters 

 of types and of their inheritance on crossing. In addition 

 to the types already under distribution, the department now 

 has two other high-yielding pure-line types of transplanted 

 paddy, suitable for distribution in the eastern districts., 

 while a new selection at Chinsurah promises to replace 

 Indrasail (Dacca No. 1) and the local Nagra. The problem 

 in West Bengal is briefly to reduce the duration of high- 

 yielding types, such as Indrasail, without materially 

 decreasing the yield. Owing to the prevalence of a short 

 rainfall in the latter end of the season, the types selected for . 



