PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 40& 



It is better to let the crop grow undisturbed, especially in its earlier 

 stage.;g^ 



But the borers are there and they cause a serious loss. As has been 

 pointed out already,^ out oi every four shoots only one is allowed 

 to come to the harvesting stage, the other three being killed principally 

 by the borers. Even when the plants are allowed to grow, in many 

 of them braiiching is brcught about by their injurious activities at the 

 expense of growth. I he ideal corditicn would be to allow the first 

 fchoots to grow. Mr. M. L, Kulkami in his paper read at the Science 

 Congress, 1918, and reprinted in Agricl. Jcunial of India (Special Sc. 

 Congress ^'o., 1918) en experiments in planting sugarcane setts, gives a 

 photograph of a very thick uniformly grown crop, raised from setts 

 with single eyebuds and planted with the bud upwards. The tillers 

 were not allowed to grow. At Pusa and probably in most places the 

 borers make such a crop impossible. On account of the borers and 

 other agents of damage the return from the outlay in the cultivation of 

 sugarcane, especially the thick varieties, is less than 50 per cent, of what 

 it ought to be. 



Damage to Rice by Borers. 



In the neighbourhood of Pusa various kinds of rice are grown accord- 

 ing to the nature of the lands. 



The earliest rice to be sown is locally known as Desaria which is grown 

 in deep chaws, i.e., lew marshy places which allow water to accumulate 

 to a depth of about 10 or 12 feet or more. The seeds are sown in seed- 

 beds about February and the seedhngs transplanted into the chaws 

 as soon as water begms to collect in them. The harvesting is done along 

 ■^ith winter paddy in Kovember-December. 



The second kind of lice may be broadly called Aus or, as locally 

 named, Bhadai. It includes various varieties, some being broadcasted 

 gnd others transplanted. lor the transplanted varieties the seed is 

 gQ-wn in seed-beds about March, the transplanting being done as early 

 gg possible in May or June. The broadcasted varieties are usually 

 sown about May- June and generally on slightly higher lands. The 

 harvesting is done about September. 



The third kind is Ama^i or winter paddy, which also includes broad- 

 casted and transplanted varieties and which is grown both in chaurs 

 with shallow water and in higher places. For the transplanted varieties 

 seeds are sown in seed-»beds about April-May and transplanted about 

 July. ^°^' ^^^ broadcasted varieties the seeds are sown about May- 

 June. About four-fifths or more of the rice-growing tracts in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Pusa grow Ainan paddy. 



