Tt often happens that in spite of the regular treatment given to the 

 plants they of ten produce flowers at odd times Trees are often met with 

 in a plantation where fruits are noticed in all the stages from flower to 

 alrao4 n ripe fruit. , Again, from several causes a bahar may be altogether 

 missed, even though the trees have received regular treatment An abnor- 

 mally heavy crop in one year is often followed by poor crop or no crrp r\nd 

 this is accounted for by the exhaustion of the trees. The only pos?iUe 

 remedy against this trouble is to give a liberal doso of manure especially 

 potash and phosphatic manures when a heavy crop appears on the tree. 

 This helps the trees to recoup its material for the nest year while it is still 

 developing its fruits. Another cause of the failure ff a crop is that the 

 resting operation is not commenced at the right lime or it is sometimes 

 unusually prolonged and this is particularly the case wi h the ambe-bahar, 

 which is often missed. The resting period is sometimes cut short by 

 unusual rains when the tree suddenly starts all-round vegetative growth 

 before the buds have sufficiently matured. When the trees fail to produce a 

 crop of flowers, say, of the ambe-bahar, it is necessary to treat them for the next 

 mrig-bahar. With proper treatment, trees do flower at the time of the suc- 

 ceeding bjhar and thus the bearing season is postponed for six: months. 

 Some cultivators, however, prefer for various reasons to take a bahar at a 

 particular season and are prepared to forego almost a full y ar's crop 



Now which of the two bahars is the best to take is decided by certain 

 factors, the most important of which are water, insect pests and market. 

 We have seen above that the frnits of the ambe-bahar develop during the 

 months of February to November and when once the fruit is set on the 

 tree xegular irrigation throughout the dry season is essential. In the 

 months of April and May the water level in the wells goes very low ; to 

 irrigate the gardens from such wells is a very expensive business. Now if 

 the mrig-bahrir is taken the crop develops from the months of July to March 

 of which the first three months are of the rainy season. When the water 

 level goes low (April and May) the trees need no water; it is natural there- 

 fore that in regions where water supply is scanty the mrig-bahar is the 

 favourite with the cultivator and where it is abundant, for instance, in the 

 Poona District the ambe-bahar should be preferred. In Khandesh people 

 always go in for the mri'j-bahar and in Poona the gardens are generally 

 treated for the ambe-bahar. At Wawoshi in the Kolaba District the well in 

 the orange garden has practically no water in the months of April and May. 

 It is therefore natnral that the grower should take nothing but the mrig- 

 bahar. From the last picking of the fruit he waits till the advent of the 

 rains. His trees flower when rain is pouring in heavy showers and the 

 fruit sets all right. The ambe-bahar in this case is an impossibility. 



Near Poona the cultivator has to take into consideration the fact that 

 in Khandesh and the Central Provinces orange trees are more prolific than 

 those of Poona. He therefore so times his operations that his crop can be 

 placed on the market when hft competitors have less fruit to offer. 



The second factor is the presence of insect pests, such as the moth 

 Ophideres. These moths are very bad during the rainy season, Jnly, August 

 and September; they puncture well developed fruits at night time and 

 thus cause a considerable loss of frnits of the ambe-bahar. Fruits of the 

 mrig-bahar are just developing during this period and the moths do little 

 harm to them. Thus the orange grower who places his crop on the market 

 in March practically suffers no loss from the troublesome moths, 



