Miscellaneous. 



364 



[April 1908. 



quantities in many soils. The questions 

 to be solved are by no means simple. 

 The conditions of each definite tract 

 must be considered in order to deter- 

 mine—firstly, the most favourable source 

 of the nitrogen required ; e.g., whether 

 farmyard manure, fish, oilcakes, or per- 

 haps, importations of nitrate of soda or 

 sulphate of ammonia ; secondly, what is 

 the most profitable amount of nitrogen 

 to apply ; and finally, what crops will 

 repay the use of the fertiliser; there 

 will be no doubt about intensive garden 

 cultivation, sugar-cane, or irrigated 

 crops of high value, but with dry crops, 

 such as cotton and millet, much caution 

 will be needed, or the crop may actually 

 be injured in the event of drought. 



Botany. 



In botany the first essential is the 

 identification and classification of the 

 plants under enquiry, for great confu- 

 sion han resulted in the past from the 

 want of an uniform nomenclature. The 

 magnitude of this task may be guaged 

 from the fact that at Poona, where it 

 was initiated, in a single season over 

 1,100 varieties of plants from all parts of 

 the Indian continent were grown and 

 tabulated with minute care. To the 

 botanist is assigned not only the deter- 

 mination of varieties suitable to dif- 

 ferent localities, but also the develop- 

 ment of plant-breeding. 



America has taken the lead in preach- 

 ing and practising the gospel cf hybridi- 

 sation, and if its theories are not accept- 

 able to the older school of botanists in this 

 country its practical benefits are undeni- 

 able. In India useful work has already 

 been done in crossing varieties of wheat 

 and of cotton, and improvements of 

 stocks are confidently expected by the 

 expert staff of each province. 



Entomology. 



In entomology and mycology progress 

 cannot be equally rapid. It has been 

 decided that no scientific officers are at 

 present to be attached to the provincial 

 departments ; and the duty of observing 

 the insect pests and fungoid diseases ot 

 the whole continent rests on the should- 

 ers of two entomologists and one myco- 

 logist at Pusa. It is contended that the 

 economic value of mycological studies 

 has not yet been established in the eyes 

 of Western scientists, but I am not 

 aware whether a sceptical attitude is 

 also adopted in regard to entomology. 

 There is in fact no branch oi agricultural 

 work which affords greater promise 

 of valuable results than entomology. 

 The scientific study of insect life is a now 

 idea to the Eastern mind ; even the most 



skilful cultivators are profoundly ignor- 

 ant of the life history and habits ot 

 insects. Thus they mistake beneficial 

 for injurious insects and destroy their 

 best friends ; when the sorghum suffers 

 from attacks of the aphis, and the lady- 

 bird comes to eat ' the aphis, the ryots 

 destroy not the aphis but the ladybird. 



When the locust and the grasshopper 

 lay eggs in myriads in their fields, they 

 refuse to believe in the existence of the 

 eggs and make no attempt to plough or 

 dig them up ; and when the pest deve- 

 lopes, they regard it as the visitation of 

 some incensed deity. 



In Western India, which is periodically 

 afflicted by the depredations of locusts, 

 entomological enquiry recently saved 

 the Government from heavy expenditure 

 on impracticable measures, and placed 

 their administrative policy for the first 

 time on the sure basis of knowledge. 



In regard to the action of certain 

 insects, opinion is as yet divided ; take 

 for instance the termite, commonly 

 known as the white ant. Some people 

 maintain that it never attacks healthy 

 living tissue, and is the cultivator's 

 friend in turning up the soil, and im- 

 proving its texture ; others support the 

 native view that it prohibits the culti- 

 vation of such crops as sugar-cane in 

 certain districts, and can only be kept 

 in check by profuse irrigation. 



I have * already referred to the nu- 

 merous pests of cotton, to the attacks 

 of which so many exotic experiments 

 have succumbled. Last year, a cam- 

 paign was conducted against the J boll- 

 worm, which had devastated the'indi- 

 genous cotton of the Punjab ; it was 

 believed that a parasite, the natural 

 enemy of the boll worm, had been killed 

 off by abnormal frosts, and measures 

 were taken to re-introduce this parasite. 

 It is reported that these measures were 

 remarkably successful, and the con- 

 clusion may fairly be drawn that not 

 only for the introduction of imported 

 varieties, but also for the preservation of 

 indigenous stocks, the aid of entomlogy 

 is indispensable. 



Irrigation. 



I hope that these notes may suffice to 

 convince the unprejudiced critic of the 

 potentialities of advantage to the people 

 of India contained in the new agricul- 

 tural policy ; but I am aware that strong- 

 minded friends of mine refuse to be led 

 astray by the dreams of enthusiastic 

 fancy and stand firm in the ancient 

 tradition that the interference of Govern- 

 ment in agriculture is, has been, and 

 must always be, pernicious. 



