1917.] The Fourth Indian Science Congress. civ 



• 



Quetta. The water now wasted by the zamindars on every 200 acres 

 of irrigated wheat is sufficient to produce grain and straw worth a lakh 

 of rupees. Demonstration work on cultivators' fields has been even more 

 successful than the results obtained at the Experiment Station, and this 

 vear the wheat area grown with one irrigation is considerable. 



IV. Summary. 



The object of this paper is to draw attention to the problems under- 

 lying the development of agriculture in North- West India. It is suggest- 

 ed that the question must be regarded simultaneously from two points of 

 view— the enrichment of the soil by the extended growth of nitrogen col- 

 lecting leguminous plants and the saving of irrigation water. 



No great extension of the leguminous fodder crops of this tract is 

 possible unless they can be dried and baled and unless the product can 

 be sold to advantage. To introduce this fodder to the notice of all con- 

 cerned there must be a steady demand and for this purpose the Army is 

 the most obvious purchaser. On this account the trials of baled shaftal 

 by the Quetta garrison were initiated and developed. The tests already 

 made show that by the use of such fodders the weight of forage taken by 

 an Army on active service can be reduced by 25 to 30 per cent, an obvious 

 military advantage. The extended growth of these fodders will enrich the 

 land and will increase the production of crops like wheat. A great op- 

 portunity for developing the North- West now presents itself in which the 

 Army authorities and the Government can work together to the mutual 

 advantage, of both. In such a matter, the Army will not function as a 

 mere spending Department but as a powerful agent of development m 

 that region of India in which it is mainly concentrated. 



Once the Army comes into the market for these dried fodders, their 

 extended use is certain. Anyone who has seen the poor feeding of 

 the thousands of cattle engaged in moving produce over the mam trunk 

 roads in the North-West, will at once realize how much these fodders 

 would improve the efficiency and reduce the numbers necessary for the 

 work In urban areas, both cattle and horses are underfed and over- 

 worked. The numerous dairies springing up in the large towns are pro- 

 ducing milk inferior both in quantity and quality to that which would be 

 possible if the albuminoid ratio of the fodder could be improved. *or 

 famine reserves, these baled fodders would be of the greatest use. Such 

 produce is easily stored for long periods, is readily transported a nd the 

 quantity is easily checked by merely counting the bales. It is Jiighly 

 nutritious and therefore would be a useful remforcement to^mrtaraJ. 

 as bhusa and dried grass whose function would be the dilution of the legu- 



min Theater necessary for the extended growth of leguminous fodder 

 crops can be found by the adopting of water-saving methods, such as de- 

 scribed in the bulletins of the Fruit Experiment Station at Quet £ In 

 Baluchistan, the water wasted every year on every 200 acres o ? legated 



wheat would grow grain and *« worth a ^ .^ Those 



methods can be applied to the Punjab, oina ana ^ volnm* 



of the United Provinces. Their adoption would re .lease a large volume 

 of irrigation water which is not only wasted but which is doing a great 

 amount of harm to the country. Mnrth-Wftst Ind'a 



Once these *^«£g£ £&&£££* t£"S*52S 

 wiu P be 0d bet C ;:? f e P dTd Sa^l* be opened tor. - e ^e = cult^ 

 tien ef the land and for t^^^ ^ S^TSth^ 



country will, at the samet.me 5 ^f°^eX oithe people will rapid* 

 increased production of the sod the P«*Pe.' J 01 P V • { circh . 



nnprove. Indian agriculture » J-PJ^X the work-cattle being 

 The land does not produce enough to aamic 01 * e » 



properly fed. Without more eA« « r £ j^il l — 

 simplest cultural improvements. Only UM mu mce ui 



