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are under consideration for forestry,
plantations, horticulture, veterinary and
quarantine. The Bills and projects will
become law after they have been approved
by the Council of Ministers and ratified
in both Houses of Parliament.
The Department of Plant Preservation:
The Department of Plant Preservation
took a number of important steps to
protect crops against various insects
which cause considerable damage. Scores
of combat squads were sent to various
provinces to observe the symptoms of
plant diseases and collect the insects for
laboratory experiments. These insects
were preserved in the growing collection
of the Department, which means, of
course, that most research can now be
done on the spot.
The Department carried out a number
of experiments on local and Indian
strains of sugarcane and discovered that
the Indian variety had been more resistant
to cold and yielded double that of the
local sugarcane. The Ministry has now
imported a certain amount of Indian
sugarcane and distributed it among some
farmers in Nangarhar Province. Results
have been very encouraging according to
laboratory of the Sugar Refinery in
Jalalabad.
The combat squads of the Department
sprayed apple orchards in Karizmir
against a certain disease caused by an
insect. This greatly improved the condi-
tion of the crop. The vineyards in
Kohdaman were sprayed against disease
and 71,744 vine trees were protected. In
Maimana 1,400 kilos of insecticide were
used to make the wheat grain immune to
a disease which causes shrinkage.
The laboratory of the Department of
Plant Preservation carried out a number
of experiments on rice and maize seeds
which were sent by the International
Organisation for Cereal Seeds and experi-
ments on various bacteria were carried
out in order to develop methods of
protection against them. The Department
also arranged a course given by an
F.A.O. expert on ways and means of
diagnosing plant disease for the staff of
various laboratories.
Of the 142 strains of wheat sent to the
Ministry by the F.A.O. a few yielded
satisfactory results. These were reculti-
vated for the purpose of distribution
among enterprising farmers. These
strains have proved more resistant to
diseases and more adaptable to local
environment.
The Department of Production:
The Department of Agriculture Produc-
tion is running and supervising a number
of experimental farms to introduce better
strains of plant and new methods of
farming and horticulture. At Aliabad
farm, thousands of fruit seedlings were
planted during the fourth year of the
Plan and those which had been planted
already were grafted and pruned. The
area of these farms was extended by 53
acres and the additional land was used
for nurseries. At Guzerga experimental
farm the area was extended by four acres
and hundreds of fruit and decorative
plants were grafted and pruned according
to modern methods. At Chamean Hozori
where the Independence Celebrations are
held in August various flowers and fruit
seedlings were put by the roadsides and
in beds. At Gulbagh old poplar trees
were replaced by various fruit seedlings
and mulberry seedlings were planted over
three acres for grafting purposes. In
Bagh Bland more foreign strains were
experimented with, and the total number
of plants, including fruit and decorative
bushes ran into 15,613, and 30,000 vine
seedlings were planted for grafting pur-
poses. Graft segments from 18 varieties
of apricot and cherry trees were imported
from North America for 160 seedlings and
when these bear fruit the seeds will be
sown again. The result of grafting these
varieties with local trees has been remark-
able as they are very resistant to cold and
drought. Likewise, decorative seedlings
were imported from India for experiments
in Nangarhar and eight strains of sugar-
27
Roughly two thirds of characters agree with a modern printed edition of the same text. Much of the disagreement is editorial, not misreading. Treat the transcription as a finding aid and read the page image before quoting. How this was measured.