846 Improvement of Indian Wheats for Export, [jan., 



During the progress of their investigations, Mr. and Mrs. 

 Howard made an important discovery in connection with the 

 cultivation of wheat in India that may lead to results of the 

 greatest economic importance. After harvesting his crops 

 in March, the Indian cultivator leaves the stubble untouched 

 during the hot dry months of April and May, when the soil 

 becomes so hard that it is hardly practicable to break it up 

 with the native wooden plough. It is not till July, when the 

 rainy season ordinarily begins, that the cultivator starts to 

 prepare the land for the sowing of wheat in October. It has 

 been found at Pusa that if the stubble be broken up imme- 

 diately after harvest, and cultivated during the dry months, 

 there is a great accession of fertility. By this means it has 

 been found possible to grow crops of 40 bushels per acre 

 without manure, while the cultivators alongside, pursuing 

 their usual methods, were unable to get more than 15 bushels. 

 It appears that we have here a confirmation of the work 

 recently done at Rothamsted by Messrs. Russell and 

 Hutchinson on the increased fertility that follows partial 

 sterilisation of the soil. Between April and June the. tem- 

 perature of the air in Western Bengal often rises above 

 ioo° F., and at the same time the heating effect of the sun 

 on the soil is so great that its temperature goes much beyond 

 that figure. The continual stirring of the soil and its 

 exposure to these high temperatures, therefore, may well give 

 results comparable with sterilisation, and thus produce an 

 increase of fertility similar to that observed by the workers 

 at Rothamsted after sterilisation by artificial means. 



The Pusa workers still have problems to face : rust is often 

 the cause of serious loss in India, but it is hoped that by 

 pursuing the methods by which Yellow Rust has been con- 

 quered at Cambridge, a wheat w T ill be obtained immune to 

 the disease ; by similar methods it may be possible to improve 

 the standing power of the straw, a quality in which the new 

 wheats are capable of improvement. 



The valuable results that have followed the application of 

 scientific methods to agricultural problems in India encourage 

 the hope that the establishment of Research Institutes with 

 the aid of the Development Grants will lead to equally 

 valuable work being done in this country. 



