J. F. DASTUR 139 
Plot Nos.1and5. As the Vermicularia disease is very common on varieties 
of chillies grown locally, seeds from Bombay and Peshawar, where this disease has 
not as yet been reported from, were tried in order to see if plants raised from 
them were disease resistant. Unfortunately these varieties did not do well 
here ; the growth of the plants was stunted and the yield of fruits negligible ; 
the Bombay variety suffered badly from leaf-curl as well. 
Plot No.2. In fields med by a row of trees those plants that grow within 
the shadow-limits of those trees have been found to be healthy, while those 
planted outside the shadow-limit get badly attacked by die-back. Small 
wayside chilli plots surrounded by huts or by big trees have been observed to be 
free from the disease when other plots a httle further away but in the open 
become infected. 
The reason why plants growing under shade remain healthy while those in 
the open are affected is, that moisture plays a very important factor in the 
development and spread of the disease. In October and November night 
dews and ground fogs are heavy and the plants consequently become dripping 
wet inthe night and remain so for some time after sunrise ; this high humidity 
is favourable for the spread of the disease. But under shade there is very little 
mist or dew-fall, and consequently here the atmosphere is comparatively dry, 
dry enough to check the spread of the disease. 
Inoculation experiments under laboratory conditions have shown that a 
oreat deal of moisture is required for the imoculations to succeed and for the 
infection to spread further. If a successfully inoculated plant or fruit is 
removed to dry surroundings the infection does not progress. Thus laboratory 
study has confirmed field observations. 
As a result of these observations another line of control suggested itself. 
It seemed probable that if chilhes were grown as a mixed crop with maize or 
some such other economic crop, which grows rapidly and gives a good shade, 
the chili crop would perhaps remain healthy or would be very little affected. 
For this reason the local varieties of chillies were grown mixed with maize. 
Drills of maize were laid down after every three rows of chilhes. Maize was 
sown in drills in the end of July when the chilli seeds were sown im seed beds. 
The selection of maize as a mixed crop was unfortunate ; it flowered and 
cobbed in September and in the beginning of October it began to turn brown ; 
again in the first week of this month it was blown over in the high winds and 
damaged the chilli plants. It was consequently uprooted two or three weeks 
later. 
The chilli plants were rather smaller in size, flowered later and gave 
comparatively smaller yield of fruits than those of the control plots. They 
