TACHARDIA 



THE LAC INSECT 



Burma. 



Exports to 

 Calcutta. 



Manufac- 

 ture. 



Factories. 



Lac 



quantity being retained for local use. During the five years ending 1900-1 

 Exports. the exports fluctuated very greatly ; in 1899-1900 they came to 99,961 



maunds, valued at Rs. 11,96,394 the highest return in point of quantity 

 and in 1898-9, 39,713 maunds, valued at Rs. 5,42,391, the lowest record 

 for the period mentioned. These exports, moreover, were almost entirely 

 from Jabbalpur and Chhattisgarh, and were consigned to the United 

 Provinces almost entirely, thus feeding the Mirzapore factories. 



Burma. The large forests of Burma are said to be capable of producing 

 an almost unlimited quantity of lac. The chief sources of commercial 

 Burmese lac are the Shan States and Upper Burma, stick-lac from these 

 places being imported into Calcutta, where it is manufactured into shell- 

 lac for export. For some years the supplies received by the Calcutta 

 factories from Burma have begun to be appreciated as important. 

 According to Sir J. G. Scott (Gaz. Upper Burma and Shan States, 1900, 

 ii., pt. 1, 393), though lac is found all over these States, it seems to be 

 only in Karen-ni that its production is stimulated artificially. " Elsewhere 

 if a tree happens to be attacked, or settled on by the insect, the deposit 

 is collected when it is found." 



MANUFACTURE OF LAC. 



Lac Factories. In the Imperial Gazetteer (1905, iii., 173-4) it is 

 stated that though steam power has been successfully applied to the 

 industry, the hand-labour factories still hold their own and for some grades 

 produce qualities hardly, if at all, attainable by machinery. Lac factories 

 are almost confined to Bengal and the United Provinces. In 1904, accord- 

 ing to the Financial and Commercial Statistics, there were 128 lac factories 

 giving employment to 7,831 persons. Of these 92 were in Bengal and 

 employed 4,116 persons ; 36 in the United Provinces, employing 3,715 

 persons. The number in Bengal is said to be not fully recorded. 

 With the exception of the factory at Cossipore they are, however, in 

 most cases small. Those in the United Provinces are all situated at 

 Mirzapore. The value of the manufactures turned out has been stated 

 at about two-thirds the total foreign exports, while the very large Indian 

 consumption has to be met, and thus mainly by small factories possibly 

 not included in the above returns. 



Stick-lac. Stick-lac. Stick-lac is the name given to the twigs encrusted with lac 



seasons. that are collected from the trees in May to June and the second crop, 



October to November. These are dried in the shade, by which the wood 

 shrinks, thus often leaving the lac as hollow tubes, but much of the wood 

 still adheres. It is packed in sacks and conveyed to the marts, and sold 

 through various brokers or middlemen to the manufacturers. There is 



Method of Sales, a quaint practice usually followed in most sales of lac. The buyers and 

 sellers join hands and sit facing each other, a cloth being thrown over the 

 hands. The buyer presses certain fingers of the seller's hand, thus making 

 an offer. This is usually rejected by a motion of the head, and further 

 finger-pressing ensues. Finally the bargain is struck without a word having 

 been uttered. 



Seed-lac. Seed-lac is stick-lac crushed and reduced to roundish pieces that more 



or less correspond to the female cells. The dust produced, when sifting 



Washing. the seed-lac, is known as khud. The pure seed-lac is then washed in large 



stone troughs and left covered over with water for 24 hours. The wood 

 floats to the top and is removed, dried, and used as fuel. A man or woman 



1060 



