Vol. XIV. No. 347. 



THE AGKUTLTURAL NEWS 





SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE IN BENGAL. 



Perhaps no province in India is i ire suit ible in evi j 

 r, i for agricultural experiment a d research than Bengal, 



with if real rarietj of soils, its i p, hot climate, and its 



rich deltaic areas. The annu il rep f the - pei officers 



of the Bengal Department of \ i nding 



June 30, 191 I, testify to i )u-_ The chiei points are 

 summarized in the Piom i Hail. Three of the most importanl 

 crops "i India are rice, jute, and a u cane. All of these 

 flourish in Bengal, and have throughout the year been made 

 I iecial study bj the ecow iinic botanist, the fibre 

 expert, tin- agricultural chemists, and the Imperial mycologist. 

 In view of the great progress made in recent years in the 

 development of the Agricultural Di t, it is curious to 



recollect that a short decade ago ol the provinces bad an 



Agricultural Department at all. It was in 1904 that Lord 

 Burzon, with the help of Sir Denzil Ibbetson, took up the 

 question of the thorough reorganization of the department for 

 the whole of India, which resulted in the establishment ofthe 

 Imperial Agricultural College and Research Institute of Pusa, 

 and later on, of special departments and colleges for the 

 Provinces. How necessarj this action was, the result has 

 proved. Already great benefits have accrued to agriculture, 

 ami the opportunities of the future seem almost inexhaustible. 



In Bengal there is a system oi agricultural stations or 

 demonstration farms, each farm being under a special 

 superintendent of its own, where important experiments are 

 carried out undei adequate supervision. It is at these 

 agricultural stations that the fibre expert, the agricultural 

 chemist, and the economic botanist are able to test the 

 theories of the laboratory. There are now agricultural 

 stations or farms at Dacca, Ohinsura, Rajshahi, Burirhat, 

 Bangpur, Burdwan, Kalimpong, and Chittagong; so that 

 practically all the divisions of Bengal are represented. 



The fibre expert lias his headquarters at Dacca, the 

 centre of the flourishing jute trade of Eastern Bengal. Verj 

 interesting experiments have been made with regard to 

 manures for jute on red acid soils hi Bengal. These 

 manurial experiments were begun in 1911, and the results 

 now obtained confirm those ofthe previous years in a very 

 convincing manner. The lime applied in 1912 gave an 

 increase of t maunds per acre oi fibre over the unlimed plots: 

 and in 1913 the same plots without any further application 

 of lime yielded nearly 5 maunds per acre more fibre than the 

 nnlimed ones. This shows the great value of lime as 

 a manure on such soils. In addition to this, the fibre expert 

 Mr. Meggitt, is investigating tin effects of various forms of 



phosphoric acid on both limed arid unlimed land: ■There 



doubt that the act ion oi phosphates benefits 

 jute to a considerable extent; and there is at least 

 seme indication that their application actually tends 

 to increase the pen ent of the plant — a 



most important matter. Then a also indications of 

 their action in other directions; but further work is required, 

 not only on these pofcts, but also regards the form of 



phosphates whose application is most advantageous.' How 

 important these investigations are likely to be in their effect 

 upon the production of jute maj ! by the fact that 



in three years an aggregate expenditure of IN. 17 pei acre 

 on lime and bone has increased the aggregate yield of jute 

 and mustard on the Dacca plots to the value of no less than 

 lis. 144, representing an increased net return oi Rs. 97 per 



acre. It a nc re extensive test con rates the truth of these 



inferences, the fibre expert will have great ca ngratu 



latidi on the results, 



Turning to the report oi Me- economic bol . 



Mr. (;. I'. Hector, we find that special attention was paid to 



Mi- i food crop oi Bengal, namely rice. The Ufra paddy 



disease is on i Bei md very deadly 



effei ! - "ii the rice crop, bjeperiments have been made to 

 the effect i il I Ii' ii ough pi' i stubble burn 



tin Id dry months, and these experiments an 



on in consultation with Dr. Butler, the Pusa expert. There 



I ground for hope tint th supply a remedy for 

 1 i e, and it is proposed to extend tin- tests al ( lomilla 

 under as careful control as possible. With regard to 

 cane, s<aue valuable wo I ha ieen d b) Mi- Vnnett, 



Itural Chemisi t" the Government oi Bengal five 

 _ ir cane were tried on the 1 ) , with 



the object of finding out the, most suitable varietii 

 distribution to cultivators The results c show that 



the method of sampling recommended by Dr. I. 



Imperial Agricultural Chemist, gives extremely happ 



This met led will lie followed in future yeai I will 



re, nli in much saving of time in the chemical control of 



ixperiments. {Journal of tic I!- i v iety oj 



Arts. .Inly il. 1915.) 



Egret and Heron Rearing in Madagascar.— 

 An article in the Bulletin Economiqui de Madagascai 



an account of the domestication of heron-, and egrets in that 



island, whereby it has been found possible to obtain tin: 

 plumage of these birds without any of that horrible cruelty 

 which has come to lie associated with the plume hunters. 

 In the Vohemar Province egrets and herons are reared and 

 tamed by the natives, who keep them merely as pi I 



without an eye to profit. They are turned out by day to 

 seek their food in the marshes or from the ticks and pat 

 of the cattle, and return home to roost at night. The plumes 

 begin to appear when the bird is about six months old, but 

 they should not lie taken until it is sixteen months, or 

 perhaps not until it has produced its first brood. They are 

 finest at breeding-time, and are cast after this to appeal 

 year. They should be taken by cutting near the base, .md 

 the stumps should be removed later, when they have 

 dried up. The time to cut them is when the young begin 

 to leave the nest ami feed themselves. The article coi 

 information as to the treatment and feeding oi the birds. 

 There arc considerable difficult] ss in managing them — for one 

 thing, strange birds are apt to tight furiously with one 

 another, even to the death -but the plumage, if in 



c lit ion, is so valuable that it might well paj to starl die 



domestication ofthe birdsou a considerable scale {Journal 

 <>t tin- Royal Society oj Aits, for June 18, 1915.) 



It is proposed to create a ('(Mitral Agricultural Bureau in 

 Queensland, and to encourage the founding of branches. The 

 objects of the bureau will be, among other things, to gather 

 informal i 'especting plants, animals, and product.-, likely to 



prove useful, to collect and publish such information as would 



I £ value to persons engaged in the various barnches of 



tlture, and generally to raise the social and ei 



>t itUS of the man on the laud and his family. Bureaus, such 

 as indicated, will lie iiinneii-.eh helpful and advantageous to 



the distribution and cultivation now of wheat and maize, as 



also in the working -md recording oi experiments in dry 



