June, 1912.] 



535 



Scientific Agriculture. 



It will be noticed that yield of grain 

 for only a part of the plots is given. 

 This is because, at the time of going to 

 press, threshing has not been completed 

 and the yield for the other plots is, 

 therefore, not yet available. 



A word of explanation with regard to 

 the manuring of the check plots in this 

 series of demonstrations is necessary. 

 These check plots were not ones that re- 

 ceived no manure whatever but ones 

 which received cattle manure at the 

 rate of 8 to 12 cart-loads per acre. So 

 the results of the application of green 

 manure are even greater than are in- 

 dicated by the figures. The fact must 

 be emphasized that it is only in very 

 rare cases that a landholder or raiyat 

 has or is able to obtain sufficient 

 cattle manure to manure all his paddy 

 land in any one year and it is, in tact, a 

 usual custom to apply the cattle manure 

 to one-third or one-half the area to be 

 planted in paddy and then the following 

 year or years to manure that part which 

 was not manured the year before. In 

 this way, the land receives an appli- 

 cation of manure once every two or 

 three years. Thus we see that, even if 

 the green manure produced no greater 

 effect than the cattle manure, still its 

 use would be of great value for, by 

 means of it, agriculturists are enabled 

 to manure all their land every year and 

 thus can keep it at a high state of fertil- 

 ity. Probably the best plan would be 

 to apply the cattle manure at the rate 

 of about fifteen cart-loads per acre to as 

 much land as can be treated with the 

 stock available and to sow a green 

 manure crop on the remaining paddy 

 land. In order to preserve a green crop 

 from the depredation of wild beasts, 

 which are, of course, more numerous in 

 the western part of the State, it is neces- 

 sary to put a fence around it and the 

 plan suggested above would reduce the 

 cost of fencing in any one year to the 

 lowest amount possible. The cost of 

 fencing has been variously estimated at 

 from Rs. 3 to Rs. 5 per acre. The latter 

 figure is certainly too high and it must 



also be remembered that when once 

 fencing materials have been gathered 

 they can be kept and used year after 

 year. Even with the cost of fencing at 

 Rs. 5 per acre I feel certain that the 

 growing of a green manure crop would 

 pay. It is possible, however, that it 

 would pay better in those parts where 

 danger of damage by wild beasts is great, 

 to sow an inedible leguminous weed like 

 Ci otolaria striata even though it does 

 not add as much nitrogen to the soil. 

 Tests to settle this point will be carried 

 out during the coming season. 



The results of this demonstration work 

 must be considered as very satisfactory, 

 both as regards green manuring and 

 single seedling transplantation. The re- 

 sults from the remaining plots in villages 

 near Chikmagalur, where the harvest 

 has not yet been completed, promise to 

 be equally satisfactory. This extremely 

 important work will be continued and 

 extended just as rapidly as the staff 

 available for the proposes will admit 

 and efforts are being made to enlist the 

 co-operation of Agricultural Associations 

 and individual landholders to as great 

 an extent as possible. 



A still more striking example of the 

 beneficial effects of green manure for 

 paddy is given by some results just 

 obtained on the Farm. In the case of 

 two very uniform plots on which paddy 

 is being grown in rotation with sugar 

 cane, one plot was sown with cow pea 

 as a green manure while the other was 

 left unmauured. The green cuttings of 

 cow pea amounted to 10,900 lbs. per acre 

 and the resulting yield of paddy was 

 at the rate of 2,830 lbs. of grain per acre. 

 On the unmanured plot, the yield paddy 

 was only 1,320 lbs. of grain per acre, so in 

 this case the sowing and ploughing in 

 of a green manure crop has more than 

 doubled the yield of paddy. In this case, 

 of course, only one crop of paddy was 

 taken from the land in a year, so that 

 the green manure crop had a very much 

 better opportunity to grow than was 

 the case with the experiments mention- 

 ed in the body of this bulletin. 



