58 



NATURE 



[March io, 192 i 



Legislatures of each State in the Union, and to each 

 member of the Association." 



•'Whereas the clean culture of roadsides and the 

 drainage of marshes in the United States is imperil- 

 ling the existence of the wild life of our country not 

 now included in special preserves ; and whereas the 

 preservation of this wild life not in preserves is felt 

 to be of great national importance, not only to 

 students and lovers of Nature, but to human welfare 

 in general, therefore 



"Be it resolved, by the council of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science that it 

 appreciates the importance of preserving this wild 

 life not in preserves, and that it lends its moral sup- 

 port to the effort to combine all interested organisa- 

 tions in a co-operative investigations and conservation 

 programme for the preservation of our unprotected 

 wild life." 



"Whereas, in recognition of the unique character 

 and value of our national parks and monuments to 

 present and future generations, twenty-four succes- 



sive Congresses have wisely resisted attempts to com- 

 mercialise them and have preserved them inviolate for 

 nearly half a century; and whereas certain private 

 interests are now seeking to secure special privileges 

 in these areas, which if granted will seriously inter- 

 fere with their true purpose and undoubtedly result 

 in the entire commercialisation of these unique 

 national museums, 



" Therefore he it resolved that the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science requests 

 members of Congress, first, to amend the Water 

 Power Act so that it shall not apply to national parks 

 and monuments, and that their full control be re- 

 stored to Congress ; and, secondly, to reject all present 

 and future measures which propose to surrender any 

 part of these national parks and monuments to private 

 control or to divert them in any way from their 

 original and exclusive purpose, the preservation for 

 all future generations of unique representations of 

 natural conditions such as exist in no other part of 

 the world." 



Indian Agriculture. 



AGRICULTURE in India is of special importance 

 in that it is the chief industry of that great 

 country, in comparison with which all others are rela- 

 tively unimportant. Of its two chief aspects crop 

 production is more to the front than animal hus- 

 bandry; and, now that the world-shortage of food is 

 so acute, more and more attention is being directed 

 to the improvement of the crops in both quality and 

 quantity. The present position of affairs is concisely 

 summed up by Mr. A. Howard (Journ. Roy. Soc. 

 Arts, vol. Ixviii., July, 1920). 



India is essentially a land of small cultivators, 

 intensely conservative, usually poor, and unable to 

 afford to take risks in the adoption of new methods. 

 Progress is consequently very slow, and is chiefly 

 being made by the improvement of varieties and by 

 gradual changes in methods of cultivation. Since 

 1905 better varieties of wheat, rice, jute, tobacco, and 

 cotton have been introduced, adding in many cases 

 nearly iZ. per acre to the profits of the cultivators. 

 Little attention was formerly paid to the seed sown, 

 and the resulting product was very mixed and lacked 

 uniformity. By gradual selection of the better types 

 from the original mixtures and by organisation of the 

 seed distribution the value of the crops has gradually 

 been much increased. Though high yield is of the 

 greatest importance, many of the best yielding varie- 

 ties are slow in maturing, rendering them unsafe to 

 use on account of the short growing season. The 

 best results are obtained with adaptable varieties, 

 which do well over a wide range of conditions, 

 and combine fair yield and quality with rapid 

 growth and early maturity. The distribution of the 

 improved seed supply presented many difficulties, but 

 these have been overcome by enlisting the help of 

 every kind of local agency and systematically replac- 

 ing the old mixed varieties in village after village. 



Crop yield in India is often depressed by the 

 deficiency in soil aeration brought about by injudicious 

 irrigation by flooding. When the land is constantly 

 flooded it becomes temporarily waterlogged, and the 

 oxygen content is so much lowered that plants cannot 

 grow satisfactorily. Experiments indicate that a less 

 number of floodings would give better results. Tests 

 made at Colmbatore (R. C. Wood and K. R. Acharya, 

 "Year Book," Madras Agricultural Department, 1919) 

 show that in many cases a more economical and 

 beneficial use of the available water can be made by 

 means of a system of furrow irrigation, though flood- 

 NO. 2680, VOL. 107] 



ing is apparently more necessary for such crops as 

 wheat, which need heavier watering. In this con- 

 nection adequate drainage is of great importance, as 

 during the rains surface-waterlogging is very common, 

 resulting not only in deficient aeration, but also 

 in a lowering of the fertility of the soil by denitrifica- 

 tion. A month's waterlogging may reduce the yield 

 of wheat by as much as sixteen bushels to the acre. 

 Surface drainage by means of trenches about 2 ft. 

 deep has proved effective, and the water so collected 

 may be utilised by running it on to low-lying rice- 

 fields. With improved drainage it is possible to grow 

 the more deeply rooted crops which fail owing to the 

 rotting of their roots when water is held up in the 

 soil. 



The temperature of the soil is another factor bear- 

 ing a close relation to the crop. If the soil is too 

 warm at the usual time for sowing wheat the seed- 

 lings do not thrive, and are liable to attack by white 

 ants ; the damage has been proved to be due to the 

 partial destruction of the root-system of the seedlings 

 by the high soil temperature. Suggested remedies 

 are the postponement of sowing for a week and the 

 opening of furrows to cool the soil by evaporation. 



The advances outlined above are now being followed 

 up by the gradual introduction of modern methods 

 of manuring, and experiments with artificial fer- 

 tilisers suggest possibilities for the future. W. A. 

 Davis (Indigo Publication No. 6, Pusa) has obtained 

 remarkable results by the use of superphosphate on 

 cereal crops, emphasising the fact that if the soil is 

 poor in organic matter this deficiency must be made 

 good before the superphosphate can act efficiently. 

 Green manuring with sannai (Crotalaria juncea) often 

 meets this difficulty satisfactorily. Similar increases 

 have been obtained with indigo crops, and the response 

 to manurial treatment is considered to make the future 

 position of natural indigo very hopeful, the one 

 essential being that cheap supplies of phosphatic 

 manures shall be available to planters in the near 

 future. 



In Mysore the millet " ragi " (Eleusine coracana) is 

 of pre-eminent importance, as it covers one-third of 

 the total cultivated area, and is the staple food of 

 four-fifths of the people. L. C. Coleman (Dept. 

 Agric. Mysore, Bull. 11) sets forth the results of much 

 experimental work on the improvement of this crop 

 as regards methods of cultivation, manuring, and seed 

 selection, together with much useful information with 



