Part I. ] 
Stebbing : Note on the Lac Insect. 
49 
as babul, namely, 7 to 15 seers. It is only in the Sekhat forest, a tract 
about 20 miles north of Hyderabad, that lac is seen on tamarisk.^'' 
Mr. Ryan then continues : — 
Injuries to lac. — “ Fortunately, there are no insects in Sind which 
attack and destroy the lac, as in other parts of India ; the only injury 
to which it is exposed being chmatic.” 
" If the rainfall is above the average, as in 1894 {viz., 10-26 inches in 
Hyderabad), and if floods in the Indus at the same time are very heavy, 
the excessive moisture in the soil and atmosphere brought about by these 
conditions affect the crop somewhat injuriously. A moderately moist 
season seems the most favourable for the propagation of the insect. But 
conditions are so very unsettled, owing to the vagaries of the river 
caused by the present embankment system, that no seasons scarcely are 
now alike. A contractor, who makes a large profit in one year and who 
pays Government a better price for the next season’s crop in expectation 
of another good crop, probably loses a large quantity of his preceding pro. 
fits by a failure of the subsequent crop.” 
Will lac cultivation 'pay ? — “ This is not a difficult question to answer, 
for knowing the area actually covered by lac and having the value real- 
ized from the farm annually, it becomes a simple arithmetical calcula- 
tion. The area under lac in the forests of the Hyderabad Division is 
estimated at 2,000 acres, and the value realized in 1895-1896 is R7,560j 
which gives a net return of R3-12-0 per acre, or more than timber and 
firewood or cultivation. 
“ It would be advisable under the circumstances to cifitivate lac, and 
to set apart a certain area in each forest for maintaining an annual sup- 
ply, and when it is found that the firewood and timber demand can be 
fairly met, the area under lac might further be augmented. 
“ In the Jerruck Division the lac-bearing area has been excluded from 
the working-plan, and the same arrangement might be adopted for 
Hyderabad as well as forests in the Thar and Parkar District. It is a 
mistake to suppose that the depredations of the insect in Sind damage 
the tree on which it subsists to any appreciable extent. This would be 
the case probably in regions where the rainfall was moderate and where 
forest growth owed its existence to rain ; all or a very great deal of the 
life blood, i.e., sap^ would soon be extracted by the multitude of insects 
on the branches in such localities, and in time the tree would possibly 
succumb. In Sind, however, there is so much moisture in the subsoil, 
in the riverain reserves especially, that the babul, in spite of the tax which 
74 Ri & A< p 
