Part I. ] 
Stebbing : Note on the Lac. Insect. 
51 
seems to be occasionally practised and is quite easy to do on the Zizy- 
phus. There appeared, he says, to be a great dread amongst the people 
lest the spread of the insect should injuriously affect the tree — a fear 
which is probably quite without foundation. He also notes the fact 
that many disputes occurred in the civil courts between landlords and 
occupancy- tenants as to the rights of the latter to take the lac from trees 
growing on the estates.” 
On the subject of road-side trees he wrote ; “ The crop of lac on 
road-side trees is sometimes sold by Government to a contractor who 
is allowed to cut off twigs and branches of a certain thickness. 
“Of lac in the Gurdaspur Division there is abundance. It appears 
chiefly on the Albizzia Lebbek (sirus) and Zizyphus jujuba trees, the 
insect in the course of time ruining the tree. A great deal of lac is collect- 
ed during the months of January and February in the Barion Bagh near 
Dinanagar, and as much as R 450 to R 500 a year is obtained for it. 
The trees are lopped and the branches, after the leaves have been beaten 
off for fodder are collected and the lac scraped off. ’ ’ 
The lac industry in these pro^inces is worked by Manihars who take 
4 . United Provinces and ^^o crops a year from Butea frondosa, Ficus 
religiosa, Albizzia Lebbek, Schleichera trijuga^ 
and Acacia Catechu. Land-owners who possess such trees are careful 
not to allow them to be felled, and foster the industry as much as pos- 
sible. 
Lac is collected in small quantities near Rurki and Pathri where there 
are numerous Butea frondosa trees scattered about the cultivated lands. 
The lac is cultivated to a certain extent by the villagers, bxit is not culti- 
vated systematically on a large scale. The trees are lopped twice a year 
in July and October, sufficient brood-lac being left for the purpose of 
keeping up a sustained 3 deld. The produce is taken to Saharanpur, 
Rurki, Jawalapur, and Deoband, and sold to workers there in various 
industries. 
Lac is grown in most of the districts of the Central Provinces on trees 
, ^ . in villages and in the waste lands and Zemind- 
5 . Central Provinces. • r ° mi 
an forests. The method of procedure is not 
usually as scientific as that now carried out in the areas managed by the 
Forest Department, but a very large sum of money is derived from the 
cultivation of lac in the district areas. It will be unnecessary to recapi- 
tulate here what has already been written about lac cultivation in these 
provinces. 
F 2 
