[495 ] 



insects being conveyed from tree to tree by birds and larger 

 insects, also by wind. It is most plentiful in those districts 

 which have moist climate and few hot winds. Thus Assam, 

 Burma, and the forest districts of the Central Provinces and 

 Nagpur, and also perhaps Mysore, are the chief sources of 

 its supply. The natural yield is augmented by people fasten- 

 ing pieces of mature lac, from which the insects are ready to 

 emerge, on fresh trees of suitable species. 



800. The arahar plant yields well and attains sufficient 



. 



size in u months for inoculation, but it requires to be resown 

 every 2 or 3 years. It does not stand drought well and any dam- 

 age to its roots by hoeing or otherwise, causes it to die. Some 

 of the ficuses grow fast from cuttings but are not very satis- 

 factory as lac producers. The Scliechra requires 7 or 8 years 

 at least before it becomes large enough to support insects, and 

 on the whole the grewias are the best. 



801. There are usually two crops of lac during the year 

 and sometimes three. The twigs are collected and scraped, 

 the lac broken up, passed through a sieve and washed in 

 many changes of water, until none of the red colouring 

 matter remains. It should then be a bright orange, and 

 almost completely soluble in alcohol. It may be exported 

 in this form, when it is called 'seed lac/ or it may be con- 

 verted into shell-lac by mixing it with a small quantity of 

 ordinary resin and melting it in cloth bags ; the molten lac 

 passing through the interstices of the cloth is spread out 

 in thin sheets on a semi-circular surface. 



802. The prices obtained for 'seed lac ' of good quality 

 are very nearly as high as those for good shell-lac, and 

 European traders are learning to prefer the former, as it is 

 absolutely free from resin adulteration and gives a harder 

 lacquer for the Birmingham brass workers. 



803. An 80 acre plantation of Grewias planted 12 ft. 

 apart, or 302 per acre, would have -24,160 trees. Each tree 

 would yield about 4 Ibs. of clean seed-lacs, or from the whole 



