*20 Indian Forest Records. [Vol. Vffi 
There are twelve factories at Imamganj (including Raniganj) 
and one each at Sherghati and Mathurapur. The largest manufac¬ 
turers are:— 
Janki Lai Seth. 
Ganga Ram Jai Narayan. 
Bishan Sahu Baldeo Ram. 
Ajediya Sahu (Sherghati). 
Bishan Sahu Sri Ram. 
Bhagwan Das. 
Pragsau Govind Lai. 
Behari Sahu, son of Deoram. 
Ishardass, son of Ramnarain. 
The total number of stoves is in the neighbourhood of 150, so 
that the annual possible outturn is about 30,000 maunds of shellac. 
The manufactured shellac is carted by road to Gaya and thence railed 
to Calcutta. 
Imamganj is chiefly notorious for the poor quality of the shellac 
manufactured. In fact “ Imamganj ” is tending to become in Calcutta 
a definite name for a grade of shellac below TN. There is no reason 
at all for this, other than carelessness on the part of the manufacturers 
and the crudity of their methods. It is hoped that the revision of 
the Calcutta buying contract and the penalties imposed on adultera¬ 
tion will go a long way to rectify this state of affairs. 
Hazaribagh. 
Almost all the lac produced in this district comes from the area 
lying south-west of the Grand Chord Railway Line ; and lac can be 
grown over most of this area, although at present the majority 
comes from the northern and western portions of the Chatra sub¬ 
division. Cultivation can be extended almost indefinitely, particular¬ 
ly in the neighbourhood of Ramgarh. The greater part of the lac 
is grown on the Palas tree, with Ber a bad second and Kusum a 
worse third. Kusum is quite a common tree and used to be more 
extensively infected than it is now. The cause is said to be the 
almost complete failure of the Kusum crop some years ago, and the 
consequent impossibility of obtaining Kusum brood. The local 
authorities are alive to this emergency and proposals are being 
framed to meet it. 
[120] 
