52 
Indian Forest Records. 
jToL. T. 
Lac has hitherto received but little attention in the Berar districts, 
6 Berar although there appear to be facihties for ex- 
tending the cidtivation of this valuable pro- 
duct, and it has been estimated that the sales of lac, if the question were 
taken up, would rise to many thousand rupees per annum in a compara- 
tively short period. 
Practically all the lac grown in Bengal is cultivated or obtained from 
Chota Nagpur and the Santhal Parganas, the 
* chief supplies coming from the latter district 
and the Chota Nagpur districts of Lohardagga, Birbhum, Singbhum, 
Manbhum, Hazaribagh, and Palamau. The lac business may be said 
to be one of the chief industries of these districts. 
The insect is cultivated in all the sub-divisions of the Santhal Par- 
ganas, but perhaps most extensively in the Dumka Sub-Division. 
Haripur, the market town of the taluk Kesri, was the birth-place of the 
trade which attained dimensions quite unknown in other parts of India. 
Throughout the district, with the exception of Pakour, lac has hitherto 
been only cultivated on the Butea frondosa. In the latter place the 
cultivation is principally carried on on the Zizyphus jujuba. 
In the neighbouring district of Birbhum the insect is chiefly cultivated 
on the Ficus rehgiosa, but the lac is of inferior quality to that obtained 
from the Butea.*^: The crops are gathered from the middle of March to 
May and middle of August to October, the crops being called Jeyth and 
Kartick, respectively. The March to May crop yields the best and most 
abundant lac. The seed-lac is removed from the branches when the in- 
sects have swarmed from it and is called Phunki. Phunki is considered 
to make better shellac than that picked before the larvae have swarmed. 
It is said that all castes have now taken to lac cultivation. In Lohar- 
dagga almost every ryot owns or hires a few Schleichera trijuga or Butea 
frondosa trees on which he breeds the lac insect. Stick-lac is also gather- 
ed from the forest-clad parganas to the south, west, and south-west of the 
sub-division. In Palamau and Hazaribagh lac cultivation is carried on 
over about 1,000 square miles in the protected forests which are imder 
the management of the civil authorities. Butea frondosa trees are common 
in every village and are specially kept by the inhabitants for growth of 
lac. The Divisional Forest Officer, Palamau, writes : — “ There are two 
kinds of Kosomi and Porasi, grown respectively on Schleichera tri- 
juga and Butea frondosa. The Kosmo seed-lac is attached to the'trees 
in July or August and becomes ready in the following November when 
