JO**f>i* t * +*r U /TtfQrg 
1 N 
I/, f 
INTRODUCTION. 
The lac industry has passed through many developments and 
has experienced many turns of fortune. From ancient days lac-dye 
was held in high esteem for its bright red colour, and the name still 
lingers as Crimson “ lake.’’ Two generations ago, however, it began 
to yield place to vegetable and chemical substitutes and, within the 
space of a few years, the trade had dwindled to nothing. In 1868-9 
the exports from India were valued at nearly eight lakhs of rupees; 
ten years later, they had diminished by one-half in volume and their 
value stood at only two lakhs. Luckily the value once attached to the 
dye passed with interest to its resinous by-product lac, which has been 
in demand since early days for varnishes and polishes, and during the 
current century for other purposes also, such as gramophone records 
and the manufacture of electrical apparatus. In 1888-9, when exports 
of the dye had practically ceased, the exports of shellac, which 
is lac manufactured in flake or “ shell ” form, were valued at nearly 
thirty-two lakhs of rupees. Ten years later the value of the trade 
had risen to over seventy lakhs, and ten years later again, in 1908-9, 
a total of nearly two and a half crores was reached. 
The history of the trade is not, however, one of steady progress, 
for it has always been liable to serious fluctuations of price. The 
reasons will be given later in some detail. For the present, it will 
suffice to remark that the lac industry is very widespread in India, 
which is practically the only source of supply ; that cultivation is 
everywhere in the hands of village labourers, of little education and 
scanty means, who neglect the crop when prices are low and 
are too often tempted, when prices rise, to strip their trees of 
the brood-lac on which subsequent production depends ; and that, as 
a result of these and other factors, while foreign markets can be quick¬ 
ly glutted, they are nervous of a shortage at their only base of sup¬ 
plies ; and prices oscillate violently in consequence. It is moreover an 
interesting feature of the trade that the London and Calcutta prices 
follow closely, in inverse, any important variations in the quantities 
stored in London warehouses; for such variations afford a safe index 
to the strength or weakness of the demand. 
631117 
