‘WAR DIARY. ARMY HEADQUARTERS, INDIA. […] I.E.F. “D”. Volume 52. PART I. (From 1st to 15th November 1918.)’ [‎99r] (206/558)

, . A , s 1 !! 1 b ® seea fr 0 ® gemination tests the seed left something to be
desired. Weevil was the chief enemy. The MuzafEarnagar variety was dL nct v
had and the Smd only moderate. With the other two" no great Tault can be
the-e^ ti^ated^wilh'^^ acres Were * a ^ en ar| d four of
! ™ a f fh r - Stab 6 lltte ‘‘ as manure. Seed was at the rate of 90 lbs. per
n^imet.er U of 1 t e be 5 /n aCreS J ere *f refullj S0Wrl with different varieties inside the
perimeter of the town and another .?6*5 acres outside.
Sowing was done broadcast after ploughing and then covered by a light
w 00d T 0f the ex P er 'mental plots the four untreated with
man^ e weie sown on January llth, the remainder on January 14th.
-From January 7th to 27th no rain fell. The land needed
water and a fall of ¥ on the 28th relieved anxiety. On January 29th these
experimental pints were showing a few blades. On February 5th there was a
slight fall and on the 8th a further 60 cents per acre.
i" v- r< u m •^ e ^ ru ^ I, y 23rd there was f" rain and on March 14th another
2 ju Wa i S nee(led * A further li" were measured on March 16th.
,, e ^ter end of March the plots were in a promising condition and
there was a distinct “ wave ” over them.
The state of the plots showed* —
Good strong growth though
somewhat thin.
Good strong growth and
even.
Very thin, double seed rate
not exceeded.
It continued to rain intermittently throughout April. The experimental
plots were watered by a pump three times.
3. Harvest .—Harvesting was started on May llth with small areas and
the main cutting on May 25th. The table in the appendix gives the final yields
obtained. J
The Sind seed produced two varieties, one bearded, and the other beardless.
Ihe Muzaffarnagar and the Itohtak sown at 2 maunds per acre did not appear
too thick, though the Hohtak sown at 10(100)? lbs. per acre gave equally
satisfactory results.
1 . Lyallpur (Germination
2 . Rohtak ( )}
3. Sind ( „
' cent.)
„ ))
80 per cent.)
94
81 „ )
4. Muzaffarnagar (Germination 66
)
AO Iesu ( s fl ' om tbe foar P Iots ma y considered as perfectly trustworthy
as giving a relative value of the four wheats. On the larger crops a return of 5
‘ thaVwbb bn Ila '^’ the results from the smatler experimental crops show
that, with more efficient irrigation, the ratio approaches 20 to 1. 1
, . |" b ® ^ r0 F J ® w -61 ' 6 heulthy with the exception of slight traces of rust
w ich appeared on tne Sind wheat hut this was not serious.
t l C . a V}f n Captain G. Sherrard, formerly
ffiXVrf^ g o 10Ul l n 6 * I ' ,dia = made an etK l au -y into the crops grown
m the Mus iiyib, Baghdad and B iqubah districts. Captain Sherrard pointed out
that two pomts confused the issue as to the suitability of Indian wheat for
(1) Owing to the very late arrival of the seed it was impossible to check ■
e grain given out and bags of food wheat were mixed with the
seed, together with parcels of oats, dal, etc.
(2) The Arab had sown his best land with his own seed before the Indian
seed only arrived. Indian seed, therefore, had not a fair chance.
, q, .® r 1 m ! 3 natl ? n was J ound to be fr om fair to good on the Baghdad farm and
at Stiaikh Sa ad. At Nuqtah sowing was late and, what was still more pre
judicial to growth, irrigation was started too late.
District.-—-I ja the Musaiyib district the facts that came to light are
ex aerne y m oiming as sowing the difficulty of obtaining reliable information,
or evidence of the origin of the crops.
n *? ere b jP^ a ™ Sherrard was shown all the poor crops as being Indian and
ail the good ones as being ’Iraq. This was not so T both good and bad were
sown with Iraq seed and only a small proportion of Indian seed had been
issued. 8ome of the seed issued had undoubtedly been eaten. It was a famine
yeai and the cultivator had to keep himself and his beasts alive fill harvest.
ne temptation to sell must have been overwhelming and the temptation to lie
vnen examined as to the cultivation, no less compelling.
At Abu Gharaib he found that the Canal crops were very bad. The best
^TV u° r arjd °^ iers ^ a( ? failecl entirely. Sowing had taken place in January
an e ruary and no iirigation had been applied until six weeks after sowin 0 ’.
At Baghdad also a similar state of things existed, no water having been
put on the land until a whole*month had elapsed after sowing.
The following are Captain Sherrard’s conclusions :—
3 . The suggestion that Indian seed as seed, was inferior, will not account for
the failure of the crops. This is due to its inability to germinate on rainfall
when sowing is late.
2. There is no evidence that Indian wheat seed is inferior to ’Iraq when
the former is properly handled. ^
99