188 STUDIES IN INPTAN FIBRE PLANTS. 



it quickly reaches the lower soil moisture. By tlie end of the first 

 week in July tlie crop can be ploughed in, and before the end of 

 September it will have disappeared entirely. July 15th is the 

 very latest safe date for ploughing in at Piisa, and it is preferable 

 not to delay the ploughing in beyond July 7th. The effect of a suc- 

 cessful green manuring is extraordinary. The texture and colour 

 of the soil are altered, heavy lands become easily workable and 

 readily yield a good tilth. The effect on the next few crops is 

 wonderful both in luxuriance and also in rapidity of growth. On 

 tobacco, the land for which is left fallow in the monsoon, the effect 

 is greater than that of a heavy dressing of farm yard manure. In 

 plate III are shown two plots, the left green manured with Sann, 

 the right with old tobacco leaves and stems. The photograph 

 was taken on November 10th, and both plots were transplanted 

 on September 20th. The increased growth of the Sann plot is extra- 

 ordinary, and there seems no reason why this cheap manure should 

 not be much more extensively employed in tobacco-growing in 

 Bihar. 



Besides the advantage in rapid growth the Sann plots of tobacco 

 at Piisa in 1909 gave a much greater yield per acre than the plots 

 manured with cattle dung, rape cake or old tobacco stems. 

 Further, the green manure plots ripened off earliest of all, and 

 the texture and colour of the cured product were not unfavour- 

 ably affected by the manurial treatment. Grown after Sann it is 

 possible to raise in Bihar large crops of tobacco which ripen off 

 evenly in the second half of December. This admits of the curing 

 being carried out in January before the hot dry west winds set in. 



With regard to the relative value of both varieties for fibre 

 in Bihar, it is too early to venture a final opinion. The tall straight 

 unbranched habit of the Jubbulpore hemp is, however, an obvious 

 advantage for fibre purposes over the local variety. A sample of 

 the Jubbulpore plant was submitted to Mr. R. S. Finlow, the Fibre 

 Expert to Eastern Bengal and Assam, who has also examined single 

 plants of both varieties. His report is given below : — 



"A comparative examination of Jubbulpore hemp, grown 

 in the Botanical area at Piisa, and ordinary Sann-hemp, 



