PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD El^TOilOLOGICAL MEETING 409 



It is better to let the crop grow undisturbed, especially in its earlier 

 stage. 



But the borers are there and they cause a serious loss. As has been 

 pointed out already, out of every four shoots only one is allowed 

 to come to the harvesting stage, the other three being killed principally 

 by the borers. Even when the plants are allowed to grow, in many 

 of them biaiKhing is brought about by their injurious activities at the 

 expense of growth. The ideal condition would be to allow the first 

 shoots to grow. Mr. M. L. Kulkaini in his paper read at the Science 

 Congress, 1918, and reprinted in Agricl. Journal of India (Special Sc. 

 Congress Ko., 1818) on- experiments in planting sugarcane setts, gives a 

 photograph of a very thick uniformly grown crop, raised from setts 

 with single eyebuds and planted with the bud upwards. The tillers 

 were not allowed to grow. At Pusa and probably in most places the 

 borers make such a crop impossible. On account of the borers and 

 other agents of damage the return from the outlay in the cultivation of 

 sugarcane, especially the thick varieties, is less than 50 per cent, of what 

 it ought to be. 



Damage to Eice by Borers. 



In the neighbourhood of Pusa various kinds of rice are grown accord- 

 ing to the nature of the lands. 



The earliest rice to be sown is locally known as Desaria which is grown 

 in deep chavrs, i.e., lew maithy places which allow water to accumulate 

 to a depth of about 10 or 12 feet or more. The seeds are sown in seed- 

 beds Ebout February and the seedlings transplanted into the chaws 

 as soon as water begins to collect in them. The harvesting is done along 

 ■^yith winter paddy in November-December. 



The second kind of rice may be broadly called Aus or, as locally 

 named, Bhadai. It includes various varieties, some being broadcasted 

 and others transplanted. For the transplanted varieties the seed is 

 £0^n in seed-beds about March, the transplanting being done as early 

 ag possible in May or June. The broadcasted varieties are usually 

 sown about May-June and generally on slightly higher lands. The 

 harvesting is done about September. 



The third kind is Aman or winter paddy, which also includes broad- 

 casted and transplanted varieties and which is grown both in chaurs 

 with shallow water and in higher places. For the transplanted varieties 

 seeds are sown in seed-beds about April-May and transplanted about 

 July. F^-"^ *^® broadcasted varieties the seeds are sown about May- 

 June. About four-fifths or more of the rice-growing tracts in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Pusa grow Aman paddy. 



