CAJANUS 



INDICUS 



Arhar 



THE PIGEON-PEA 



Yield. 



Wilt Disease. 



account of the plant, for example, will be found in The Agricultural Gazette 

 of New South Wales (1892, iii., 6). In India it is most frequently grown as 



Mixed crop. a mixed crop, especially var. bicolor, and more particularly as a rotation 

 crop for cereals. The sowings are ordinarily in drills or lines that divide 

 the field and often are so arranged as to protect the intervening crop from 

 climatic inclemencies. A common system is every fourth row to be tur. 

 The yield cannot, therefore, be stated without information as to the 

 extent to which this crop occupies the soil. So again it frequently 

 remains on the ground for a much longer period than its associated crop 

 or crops. If grown alone on good soil the yield may be 2,000 Ib. per 

 acre, but as a mixed crop it averages about 500 to 700 Ib. or even much 

 less ; some of the test experiments in the Central Provinces, for example, 

 show a yield of only 400 Ib. It is a hardy plant and thrives in seasons of 

 drought when other crops fail. It is one of the best leguminous restorative 

 plants known to the Indian agriculturist. [Cf. Agri. Ledg., 1894, No. 7, 198.] 

 Diseases and Pests. E. J. Butler (Agri. Journ. 2nd., i., pt. i., 

 25-30) has rendered admirable service by his investigations into The Wilt 

 Disease of the Pigeon Pea and Pepper. " The former plant," he says, 

 " has been found to suffer habitually from a condition like that of flax 

 (linseed) which is known as " flax sickness " in Europe and America, and 

 which has thrown great difficulties in the way of successful flax cultivation 

 in several countries. The flax disease is due to a parasitic fungus de- 

 veloped in the soil, and an allied fungus is responsible for arhar sickness 

 in India." In consequence consecutive cultivation of flax or pigeon- 

 pea on the same soil is followed by disastrous increase of the disease. At 



Distribution. present it is " found over an immense extent of country ; Bombay, the 

 Central Provinces, the United Provinces and Bihar being the areas most 

 affected." It has been reported from the Panjab ; in fact, " with the 

 exception of Madras," where Butler says he has " neither seen nor heard 

 of it," one may assume that wherever the crop is extensively grown, the 

 disease is to be found. The reader desirous of full particulars should con- 

 sult Butler's paper. It will there be found that the fungus in question is 

 described to penetrate the tissue of the plant and to accumulate within 

 the vessels that carry the food supplies, thereby causing the pigeon-pea 

 to turn black and decay gradually until it is completely wilted. "It is 

 thus clear that no direct treatment can be successful against a disease of 

 this type. The parasite early enters the internal tissues of the plant, and 

 is then out of reach of any curative application." Our author conse- 



Treatment. quently explains that there remain but two possible methods of diminishing 

 the ravages of this disease. The first is the introduction of longer systems 

 of rotation than are usually followed with arhar cultivation, so as to 

 give time for the soil to be freed from infection. The second, the dis- 

 covery or production of wilt resistent forms of the pla-nt. In 1894, while 

 touring through the Central Provinces and Berar, I discovered a disease 

 very prevalent on the tur, and ascertained that it was caused by a parasitic 

 fungus on the roots (Agri. Ledg., 1895, No. 20, 322) ; and very likely, 

 therefore, it was the disease here dealt with. 



Turning now to the pests, it may be observed that a caterpillar, ille, 

 often destroys the first crop of pods ; but frost is by far the most serious 

 danger. On usar (reh) soils it will not thrive. [Cf. Agri. Ledg., 1897, No. 

 13, 231 ; 1901, No. 13, 424 ; Maxwell-Lefroy, Mem. Dept. Agri. Ind., 1907, 

 i., 142, 149, etc.] 



198 



