( 5 ) 



collecting lac and propagating it and collecting other minor forest produce for the Govern- 

 ment lessees. The crude lac obtained and much of the other produce is exported, principally 

 to Bombay via Jubbulpore. 



22. Agriculture is supplemented by other minor industries carried out on a small scale, 

 which are of interest from a forest point of view, such as lime-burning, katha manufacture and 

 iron-smelting. 



23. Lime-burning is carried out principally in the neighbourhood of Damoh, where the 

 kankar beds underlying the black cotton soil have been worked for lime for many years. The 

 kankar is burnt in primitive circular kilns of about 10 12 feet diameter and 7 feet deep, dug 

 in the ground and lined with clods, the kiln being surrounded by a protecting wall of clods 

 about 2 feet high. Altogether about 600 cubic feet of kankar is put into one kiln, which is 

 burnt in a period varying from 15 days to one month, producing 360 maunds of lime and 

 requiring about 300 mauiids of fuel, green wood being preferred for the purpose. 



24. Katha manufacturers (Khairwas) belong to the poorest classes of inhabitants and 

 are Gonds by race. Many of these people belong to the district, but in the north they 

 principally come from the adjoining native States. These small communities of khair- 

 was make temporary huts for themselves and settle either in or in the immediate vicinity of 

 the forest where there is a sufficient supply of khair trees available suitable for their purpose. 

 Here they remain for the working season of five to six months in the cold and hot weather. 

 From an experiment made, it has been calculated that on an average a khair tree of from 9 to 

 18 inches girth and 10 feet in length yields about 2 chhataks of katha and that one man can 

 manufacture 10 seers in a month. 



25. Iron-smelting is at present only carried out on a very small scale by a few lohars 

 in outlying villages in the north of the district adjoining native territory. 



CHAPTER II. COMPOSITION AND CONDITION OF THE FORESTS. 

 ARTICLE 1. Distribution and Area. 



26. The following statement, which is illustrated by the accompanying trace on the 

 scale of 1 inch = 2 miles, gives by classes the names and acreages of the various blocks and 

 their distribution among the several ranges and sub-ranges. The signification of the classes 

 is explained in paras. 28 and 29 below : 



