Part I] Lindsay and Harlow : Lac and Shellac 145 
Districts of Minor Importance in the Central Provinces. 
Nagpur, Wardha , Seoni , Chhindwara , Hoshangabad , Nimar , 
Betul and the Berar Districts. 
Lac grows sporadically in most of these districts. Either ignor¬ 
ance or adverse climatic conditions or a combination of both are 
probably responsible for the fact that more is net grown. Spasmodic 
attempts have been made by the Forest Department to extend culti¬ 
vation, but all have failed. A determined effort was made in central 
and western Hoshangabad in 1910-13 by an officer well acquainted 
with the cultivation of lac, but he met with little success. Of the 
Berar districts only the Melghat Forest Division in the Amraoti 
district produces much lac, and here there is most likelihood of 
extension by departmental cultivation. Attempts will probably 
again be made by the Forest Department when more staff is available, 
but at present their efforts should be concentrated in districts which 
offer more hope of success. 
Rewah State. 
Lac is found over the whole of the southern half of this State 
but about 80 per cent, of the outturn is from the two tahsils which 
lie along the Bengal-Nagpur branch railway from Katni to Bilaspur, 
the Chandia and Sohapur Tahsils. The yield has varied during past 
years from 53,000 maunds in 1913-14 to 12,000 maunds in 1917-18. 
Of this yield an average of 5 to 6 per cent, is grown on the Kusum 
tree, the balance being almost entirely Palas ; and the Baisakhi crop 
is somewhat larger than the Katki. 
The centre of the industry is at Umaria Railway station on the 
Bengal-Nagpur branch line, which passes through the middle of this 
lac area. The industry is thus very well placed in regard to rail 
transport, and in fact all conditions in the State are favourable to its 
propagation. The climate is suitable and the Palas and the Kusum 
are both royal trees ; which means that, wherever they stand, those 
trees are the property of the State. As a corollary, all lac is the 
property of the State and control should, therefore, be very easy. The 
lac industry is in charge of the State Forest Department and the 
principal difficulties the Durbar has to contend with are the provision 
of art efficient and trained staff and the prevention of theft. 
[145] 
