156 
Indian Forest Records. 
[Vol. VIII 
The winter and summer crops are known locally as Katwan and 
Jethwi, from the months in which the crops are generally collected. 
Jethwi is used principally as a brood crop and the amount which 
reaches the market is small (about 5,000 maunds on an average) 
compared with Katwan (about 30,000 maunds). An insignificant 
quantity of the lac is imported into Assam from Bhutan, 
Most of the Assam lac is cultivated by aboriginal tribes on the 
hills by shifting cultivation, locally known as “jhuming.” Jungle is 
cut down and burnt, and Arhar Dal is sown in the burnt soil. The 
plants are allowed to attain one year’s growth and are then infected. 
After the collection of the lac, the plant sprouts again and a second 
lac crop can be reaped a year later. As the host only persists for a 
few years, regular infection is obligatory, and hence more thorough 
than in India. The practice of infecting by small quantities of brood- 
lac, which are left for a season or two to reproduce naturally and thus 
fully infect the host, is not possible. After the death of the host, 
“ jhuming” is carried onto a fresh area, where cultivation is repeated ; 
and the result tends to the destruction of the forest. 
The cultivators take their lac in small quantities to the small 
bazaars at the foot of the hill and dispose of it to Garo and other 
traders, generally in exchange for opium and salt, cloth and (more 
rarely) cash. Opium is the commonest. Naturally the cultivator 
gets very much the worst of the bargain, and only when prices are 
very low does he get anything like his proper share of the proceeds. 
He is generally indebted to the trader who is thus able to pay his 
own price for the lac. 
The traders send their lac to the big export markets, principally 
Barapani (Nowgong) and Palasbari (Kamrup) whence it is despatch¬ 
ed by train or steamer to Calcutta. The principal subsidiary markets 
are—in the Nowgong area : Kalanga, Lopani, Meragar, Katri, Jogi j 
Nilihat, Nekra ; in Sibsagar area : Golahat, Dimapur, Bartalawa, 
Birkarkhat ; in the Garo Hills : Tura, Dubri, Damra ; in the Kamrup 
area: Bokhu, Singra, Goalpara, Jaintiapur. 
The largest dealers are :— 
Joynarain Goadhan Agarwala, 94, Lower Chitpore Rd., 
Calcutta, whose local office is Joynarain Sonairam of 
Gauhati 
Nandram Bhairondan of Barapani, Nowgong 
[ 156 ] 
