Abstract

The work of improvement of any particular crop consists of four distinct stages, (1) cultural improvement, i.e. better cultivation of the land,. better manuring, use of proper seed rate; etc., (2) growing of particular varieties most suitable to the locality, (3) improvement in such varieties by isolation of superior strains, and (4) producing better varieties by hybridization. The first two lines of work are being tackled by the depart- ment for over two decades now and the results are quite familiar to you all. Lines 3 and 4 are definitely more the work of a Crop Botanist and work on these for this province was commenced just 16 years ago. This station is the outcome of the Crop Botanist's work and has been in existence for the last nine years. While some of you here would realise that something has been done by this section of the department to benefit this district, I am sure there are others who feel that more has not been done. That the public is impatient and expects results more rapidly is a healthy sign. As one however who has had a very intimate knowledge of crop improvement work in some of the most advanced agricultural countries of Europe, I do not at all feel diffident of the results achieved so far. It must be mentioned, at the same time, that most of the improvements in these European countries were being done in the earlier years by enterprising farmers themselves. Every other farmer there was a Sabapathi Mudaliar of Bellary, and a Raghunatha Rao of Tanjore. In Sweden, there is a private association which is running a Plant Breeding Institute quite as big as the Agricultural College at Coimbatore, with a set of highly paid technical staff all of whom have earned world wide reputation by their scientific achieve- ments.

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