56 
Indian Forest Records. 
[VOL. 1 . 
5. Madras. 
The Conservator of Forests, Punjab, states that the insect is culti- 
vated in Rajputana, but he was unable to afford any details on the sub- 
ject. 
Lac cultivation would appear to be a paying business in parts of 
Hyderabad. The information collected upon 
3. Hyderabad. subject has been detailed when dealing 
with the district lands in Sind above (page 47). 
Lac is cultivated in the Ekowna Forests on the Kapurthalla Estate. 
4. United Provinces and The trees used are the Ficus religiosa, Rutea 
Oudh. frondosa, and the Schleichera trijuga. These 
trees are not allowed to be felled and the industry is fostered as much as 
possible. 
Lac is cultivated on the Jeypur Estate m the Vizagapatam District. 
It is cultivated chiefly in the northern part of 
the Omerkote Range and tana over an area of 
about 200 square miles, but chiefly in the north-east corner of the tana 
and range which occupy the north-west corner of the estate. Lac is also 
cultivated in the north-east corner of the Nourangapur Range and tana, 
all of which lie in the Government taluk of Nourangapur. 
The insect is reared exclusively on the Schleichera trijuga although 
it is foimd wild occasionally on Butea frondosa and other trees. It 
is cultivated chiefly on trees on waste lands near villages for the sake of 
convenience, the trees being spared for the purpose. Little or no lac 
is found in the reserves, which consist chiefly of sal trees. 
The collection is never done departmentally, but always by the ryots. 
Two attempts were made to cultivate lac departmentally, but without 
success. Formerly the ryots were charged a royalty of Rl per tree 
for the cultivation of lac ; a royalty of 12 annas per maund was also col- 
lected when the lac was exported, which was paid by the merchants. 
About R10,000 used to be realized as a tax on trees and royalty on lac 
exported some ten years ago. The tree-tax, however, was foimd to press 
hard on the ryots since it had to be paid yearly and before the lac was 
disposed of, and consequently the revenue fell to below R2,000. The 
tree-tax was abohshed and smuggling prevented, and the revenue has 
now risen to R4,000. The right to buy the lac was farmed out to the 
ryots, their interests being safeguarded by fixing for each year a maxi- 
mum rate per maund to be paid by the purchasers to the ryots. The 
ryots were informed that the tree-tax was abolished and have been en- 
couraged to extend the cultivation. A difficulty stiff exists, however, 
