k 
js widely scattered over India. The principal districts of production 
alone, where cultivation is concentrated, cover a greater total area 
than that of the British Isles. The propagation and collection of lac 
are still primitive and uneconomic, manufacture is careless, adulter¬ 
ation rife. Prices fluctuate seriously from season to season ; and, in 
the absence of authoritative reports on crop conditions, speculation 
flourishes. A wider knowledge of scientific methods and a closer 
organisation are necessary to stabilise the trade. 
These are the circumstances in which the present enquiry was 
ordered by Government. Fortunately, as the defects are generally 
primitive, so are the remedies in most cases simple; and the real object 
in view, namely to stimulate production on economic lines, is one 
which must appeal to all interested parties whether cultivators or 
manufacturers, dealers, brokers or merchants. 
i 
