180 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



June 11, 1910. 



FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES. 



FRUIT CULTIVATION IN INDIA. 



The Second Report on the Fruit Experiments at Pusa, 

 by A. Hoivard, M.A., A.R.C.S., F.L.S. (sometime [Mycologist 

 on the staff of the Imperial Department of Agriculture), 

 which forms Bulletin No. 16 of the Agricultural Research 

 Institute, Pusa, contains an account of experiments that have 

 been conducted in the treatment of soils under fruit trees. It 

 points out that little or no attention appears to be paid, at 

 present, to the tillage of fruit lands in India. In some cases, 

 the plantations are under grass, in others the surface is almost 

 entirely neglected, being covered with weeds and grass. Some- 

 times the trees are planted so closely together that no surface 

 growth beneath them is possible, while it is a general rule 

 that vegetables or bananas are generally grown, for profit, 

 between the young trees. All this results in the production 

 of fruit trees having a neglected and half-starved appearance. 

 It was in order that information maybe obtained, which would 

 lead to the amelioration of these conditions, that the experi- 

 ments at Pusa were commenced in 1 90.5. 



In each of these experiments, three plots were included, 

 which received the following treatment: (1) normal cultiva- 

 tion, (2) no cultivation, but with the removal of weeds, (3) 

 grassing down. 



In the first plot, the tillage is carried out according to 

 the best methods of England and the United States, so that 

 the surface is kept free from weeds, the land is well cultivated 

 in the cold weather, and a loo.se surface mulch, for the con- 

 servation of water, is maintained. While the trees are young, 

 the soil is provided with a green manure by gi-owing a cover 

 crop of sunn hemp {Crotalaria juncen), which is ploughed in 

 during the rains. 



Weeds are kept out of the uncultivated plot, as far as 

 possible, but this cannot be done perfectly on account of the 

 quick growth of the common red weed of the plains {Ettpliorh- 

 ia thymifolia), which flourishes under the special conditions. 



On the grassed down plot the turf practically consists 

 solely of C'l/nodoti Dactylon, the 'devd's grass' of the West 

 Indies. This grass is kept, as far as possiljle, free from other 

 plants. It is maintained in a clo.sely cut condition, by means 

 of a lawn mower, and the cut grass is allowed to remain on 

 the surface. 



In the cultivation experiment, the normal treatment was 

 only commenced when the plants were well established. It 



has therefore been in operation only two year.s, but the results 

 obtained during this time are of a very definite nature, and 

 show the value of proper tillage for fruit trees. 



In regard to the non-cultivated plot, during the first year 

 it .showed no difference from the cultivated one. There is, 

 however, a certain amount of difference to be seen at the 

 present time, more especially in the fact that the foliage of 

 the trees in the uncultivated plot has a paler green colour 

 than that in the control plots. It is possible that the effect 

 of withholding tillage will be more evident as the time of the 

 experiment extends. The interesting observation was made 

 that, owing to the absence of cultivation, the cost of keeping 

 these plots free from weeds is almost as great as that of 

 cultivating and weeding them in the ordinary way. ' 



The effect of laying the plots down to gra-:s is -shown m 

 a strikingly similar manner in the case of all the trees with 

 which the experiments were made. The greatest damage 

 appears to have been done in the case of limes, lemons, 

 oranges, pumelows, plums, custard apples and loquats, many 

 of the trees nf which are dead, while the nthers are in a deplor- 

 able condition; the untoward effect seems to be especially 

 .'ihown in the case of the citrus trees. Peaches, guavas and 

 figs have been affected to the least extent, though their growth 

 is considerably checked; their better state may be partly due 

 to the fact that they were more completely established than 

 the others before the grassing down was commenced, and 

 partly to the great vigour of these trees at Pusa. A review 

 is given of recent work that has been conducted in connexion 

 with the effect of grass on trees, and the author states that, 

 in his opinion, the difterences between the plots are due to 

 the fact that there was always more moisture in the soil of 

 the tilled plots than in that of the grassed down plot, so that 

 a starvation effect was obtained. Observations are made 

 on experiments that have been conducted in the United 

 States, in which good results were obtained when apple trees 

 were grown in soils covered by a deep mulch. 



It is interesting to note, with reference to the experi- 

 ments that have been conducted at Woburn, by the Duke of 

 Bedford and S.U. Pickering, in the matter of the firm plant- 

 iuir of trees (Xintli Report of the Wot/urn Expert meiital 

 Fruit Farm,, 1908) have been confirmed by the results of 

 trials made in this direction at Pusa. It is stated that trees 

 planted firmly in well moistened earth show an immediate 

 development of the root system, followed by the growth of 

 new leaves and of new wood. 



