August, 1912.] 



147 



to Rs. 4 per cartload, five or six of which 

 go to the acre. The leaves of the follow- 

 ing trees are employed:— Thespesia popul- 

 nea (Sin. Suriya), Calatropis gigantea 

 (Sin. Wara), Cassia fistula(Sin. Ehela), C. 

 Auriculata (Sin. Ranawara), and Tephro" 

 sia purpurea (Sin. Pila). 



The growth of these trees and shrubs 

 is encouraged on all available waste 

 land. 



The following v peculiar practice is in 

 vogue in S. Travancore. When the 

 seedlings are about 6 inches high water 

 is let into the field, and the seedlings are 

 lifted with soil (by means of the hand 

 hoe) and placed upon a layer of green 

 leaves spread over the ground. It is 

 found that by tnis the seedlings are in- 

 duced to develop fresh roots within a 

 month and to grow luxuriantly. 



Thrashing is done (1) by taking the 

 sheaves one by one and striking them on 

 the ground, so separating out about 95 % 

 of the grain. The balance is got out by 

 treading of cattle or beating with long 

 sticks. (2), the second method is treading 

 by men who hold on to air beams 

 and rub the ears between their feet. 

 Though laborious, the process is said to 

 be efficient. 



SEED PRODUCTION. 



Improvement and Maintenance of 

 Pure Seed. 



One of the questionsfthat came up before 

 the meeting of the Board of Agriculture 

 held at Pusa last November was the 

 improvement and maintenance of pure 

 seed of improved varieties of crops 

 and the best organisation for effecting it. 

 The report of the Committee, of which 

 the Imperial Economic Botanist (Mr. 

 A, Howard) was Chairman, was accepted 

 by the Board and is expected to form the 

 basis of future work as given below : — 



The Committee consider that the 

 general aim to be kept in view in the 

 improvement of crops in India is the 

 replacement) wherever possible) of the 



existing mixtures by pure types charac- 

 terized by increased yield and by im- 

 proved quality. 



1. METHODS OP OBTAINING IMPROVED 

 VARIETIES. 



The Committee strongly emphasise the 

 necessity of all work in this direction 

 being based on a study of the methods 

 of pollination of the various crops 

 investigated. It is especially neces- 

 sary in the case of plants which cross- 

 fertilize that this preliminary work be 

 undertaken, otherwise much time and 

 energy may be wasted in selection ex- 

 periments and in variety trials which 

 cannot possibly yield any useful result. 

 It is desirable further that this initial 

 work be conducted in the tract con- 

 cerned, as several cases have recently 

 occurred in which climate has consider- 

 ably modified the usual pollination 

 mechanism. For example, wheats cross 

 to a far greater extent in the irrigated 

 tracts of the Punjab than in the damper 

 regions of India. 



Selection. — In the case of self-fertilized 

 crops the comparison of the progeny of 

 single selected plants may easily result 

 in the production of the desired improve- 

 ment. In this case all that is necessary 

 is to multiply bhe type and begin the 

 work of seed distribution. In the case 

 of plants which cross-fertilize, the pro- 

 cedure is not so simple, and special mea- 

 sures are necessary to avoid the conse- 

 quences of vicinism. 



Introductions.— In introducing varie- 

 ties of crops from other tracts or coun- 

 tries it is necessary in the first place to 

 study the constitution of the crop and 

 to apply when necessary methods of 

 selection. The immediate distribution 

 of imported seed is undesirable owing 

 to the possible prevalence of inferior 

 types. Neglect of these precautions in 

 the past probably accounts for the want 

 of results in introducing exotic cottons 

 into India. 



Hybridization.— If the desired improve- 

 ment cannot be obtained by selection, it 

 may be necessary to cross suitable types 

 and to evolve a new form combining; 

 the special characters desired, 



