146 
Indian Forest Records. 
[Voi,. VIII 
Without exaggeration there must be millions of Palas trees 
scattered over the two southern tahsils, and it is unquestionable that 
the production of lac might be increased almost indefinitely if sufficient 
staff and labour could be provided. Labour is none too plentiful 
but with such labour as is available the annual outturn in a good 
year might be raised to 100,000 maunds if control were efficient. 
Effective control must include the prevention of smuggling across the 
boundary, for lac theft is rife in this part of India and probably causes 
a very heavy annual loss to the State. It is difficult to suggest a 
remedy, but the State is no doubt making every possible effort to 
prevent illicit removals. 
The system employed by the Forest Department is direct depart¬ 
mental cultivation. The ultimate unit is a lakhera (lac plot) in charge 
of a lactora (lac cultivator). Theoretically the system of cultivation 
adopted is scientific, but owing to a shortage of trained staff the 
practical result is the survival of primitive methods. The lactora is 
responsible for the propagation, protection and collection of lac within 
his area and receives as his pay 2 annas per seer of lac produced. 
The State has a very well built and equipped shellac factory at 
Umaria, capable of dealing with all the lac produced within its jurisdic¬ 
tion. The methods employed are similar to those in Mirzapur and 
Balarampur. The quality of shellac produced approximates to TN 
standard. The manufactured article is disposed of in Calcutta. 
United Provinces. 
The United Provinces are comparatively unimportant as lac 
growing areas. It seems likely that in early days the province pro¬ 
duced much larger quantities than at present, but field cultivation has 
become so intense that little culturable land remains uncleared and the 
demand for fuel has become so great that what little waste land there 
is has been more or less cleared of trees. The possiblities of the 
extension of lac cultivation are therefore not great, and what cultiva¬ 
tion exists is so scattered that there is little hope of development 
except in the south of Mirzapur district, which is dealt with separately. 
Apart from Mirzapur the more important areas are Bahraich, Gonda, 
Kheri, Shahjahanpur, Lucknow, Cawnpore, Saharanpur, Aligarh, 
Bareilly, Meerut and Moradabad. 
The principal trees in the U. P. on which lac grows are Palas, 
Pipal, Banyan and Ber. A small quantity is said to be grown on the 
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