32 
Indian Forest Records. 
[ VoL. 1. 
Melironi and Maraura. No lac is collected from the protected or unclassed 
forests. The trees in the order esteemed for the purpose are Zizyphus 
xylopyra, Acacia Catechu, Butea frondosa, Zizyphus jujuba, and Ficus 
infectoria. 
The Divisional Officer of the Bundelkhand Di\'ision forwarded the 
following note on the subject of propagation and cultivation of the lac : — 
“ The collection is done by the local inhabitants, an aboriginal 
tribe known as Sahirujas, who dispose of the lac to the lac cultivator 
who pays the Government royalty ; the area in which lac is collected 
is put up to auction. The collectors cultivate the lac by removing 
insect-bearing twigs about a foot long and tying them on to other young 
trees in the forests ; the trees selected for the purpose are those growing 
on dry, rocky soil with preferably no grass under them ; the vicinity of 
streams is considered undesirable as the insects are said to be injuriously 
affected by damp and frost ; forest fires are said to reduce very con- 
siderably the yield of lac on an area. 
“ About three-fomths of the lac collected contains the insects in it, 
the remaining one-fourth consisting of lac collected after the insects 
have swarmed out. The lac collected after the insects have swarmed 
out is much lighter in weight than that collected before ; but the quality 
of the former is said to be the better. The occurrence of rain tends to 
improve the outturn of lac if the insects are in it ; but considerably reduces 
the yield if they have swarmed out. There are two crops of lac in the 
year, namely, the spring crop (April-May) and the autumn one (October- 
November) ; the autunm crop is the better of the two. The cultivation 
of lac is on the decline as more remunerative labour is easily procurable 
in the form of cultivation of crops, cutting of wood and bamboos, etc. 
The amount of stick-lac collected in this Division is said by the con- 
tractor to be about 25 maunds ; it sells in the Saugor market for R40 per 
maund of 50 seers. The value of lac in Government royalty obtained is 
R250 per year.” 
A very considerable amount of lac cultivation is undertaken in the 
reserved forests of the Southern Circle. The 
5, Central Provinces. , • • • , ,• , i 
foilowmg IS an mterestmg note by the Conser- 
vator on the subject : — 
“ I should mention in the first place that there are no protected or 
unclassed forests, and consequently that all the figures quoted refer to 
reserved forests only. 
