274 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October i, 1884. 



THE PKIOE OF CAMPHOR. 

 The price of gum camphor has been steadily declining for 

 some time, but latterly the price has dropped quite rapidly, 

 and the causes leading thereto are interesting. The extreme 

 depression in the labor markets in Japan has for some time 

 been a source of anxiety to the government, and at length 

 gome of the restrictions laid on the camphor industry was 

 relaxed, so that some of the idle labor could be utilized in 

 the camphor forests and hereby relieve the suffering of the 

 people A large number of laborers have availed them- 

 selves of the opportunity thus afforded to gain a livelihood, 

 and as the wages paid are very small, the cost of producing 

 Oracle camphor has latterly been considerably reduced, 

 while the output has largely increased. The consequence 

 has beeu a steady and rapid decline in the price of the gum 

 until the present time when it is lower than ever before 

 known The lower price has created an increased demand, 

 though this is largely of a speculative character, as it is well 

 known the present policy of wholesale destruction of the 

 camphor trees cannot go on indefinitely aud a reaction must 

 sooner or later set in. For some time past the trees have 

 been felled without replanting, and in some sections nearly 

 all the trees have been cut, and the laborers have been com- 

 pelled to go farther into the interior to find trees of mature 

 growth This reckless destruction, although giving tem- 

 porary relief to the unemployed, will bring future want 

 The camphor tree is of a slow growth, it requiring several 

 hundred years for them to acquire full size. When the 

 reaction sets in, therefore, we may expect higher prices 

 than have prevailed prior to the adoption of the present 

 suicidal policy. The steadily downward course of the 

 market has made the busiuess of refining aud selling 

 camphor unprofitable for some time, as it takes several 

 months from the time of purchase before the refined can be 

 placed on the market here, and the drop between the time 

 of purchase and sale has for some time been sufficient to 

 wipe out the margin of profit, while latterly the market 

 has ruled so low that refiners have suffered losses. A re- 

 action however, must set in as the wholesale destruction 

 of the trees cannot goon indefinitely, and when the camphor 

 forests are decimated, the probabilities are that higher prices 

 will prevail than before the price fell, and wise operators 

 are taking advantage of the present situation.— Independent 



Journal, 



-«. 



TROPICAL ECONOMIC PLANTS. 



AVe are favoured by " E. B. C." with the following inter- 

 esting paper: — . 



A few rough notes of practical experience with economic 

 plants in Queensland may not be uninteresting to you. If 

 so I herewith place them at your disposal. Supposing we 

 make a start about sixteen months ago with cinchona 

 (Cinphona rohtsta Hybr.). It being then the head of sum- 

 mer, our first and second trials were almost a complete 

 failure owing to insufficient protection from the clear bright 

 atmosphere and high temperature; later on, however on 

 a third trial we succeeded to get a batch of fine healthy 

 strong plants which stood the test of winter well— sturdy, 

 hardy plants they were— and iu the early spring months 

 we had a week or two of fine calm warm weather, when, 

 with 'copious watering and forcing, we got them into rapid 

 growth, with great expectations of a grand success; but, 

 unfortunately, our not knowing the Queensland weather 

 and climate.' round shifted the wind to the south-east with 

 sharp, piercing, cold sleety showers, checking growth and 

 bringing stagnation and gangrene among our otherwise 

 healthy growing youug plants, whereby they damped and 

 died off by thousands. However, we got a few through. 

 Some of these we gave away to friends, others we planted 

 out iu the open. During summer they made but little 

 progress, but now since the wet season set in they have 

 exceeded our expectations, leaving not a doubt that cin- 

 chona bark cultivation will in the future become one of 

 Queensland's best industries to the planter and farmer, 

 especially on the eastern slopes of the coast ranges where 

 soil and climate are in many instances most suitable for 

 its cultivation. 



Divi Divi may also be included to become of good com- 

 mercial value yet to Queensland; they make a fine show 

 for success, are hardy and soon establish themselves, grow 

 luxuriantly in any position ; from seed there need not be 

 one failure ; the climate, soil, &c, suit them to perfection, 



and they make rapid growth, making handsome trees near 

 a house. 



Indiarubbers — Hevea, Ceara, and the Landolphias — are 

 also pretty sure to become a source of certain profit and 

 value to the planters. Ceara plants grown from seed sown 

 four and five months ago are now 4 ft. and 5 ft. high, 

 with a stem 5 in. and (i in. in circumference a foot from 

 the ground ; indeed, they could not have done better. 

 They have an unusually hardy strength of stem, and, from 

 a light cut, sap of good consistency flowed freely. Surely 

 these are in the future to be of great commercial value 

 to the colony; their growth is superior to anything of this 

 kind I have ever seen in India. 



Coffee, of course, is an established fact iu Queensland ; 

 it only requires proper cultivation and cheap labour to 

 make it pay handsomely. The Liberian variety will be the best 

 for the more northern part of the colony where the plough 

 can Vie worked — i.e., sandy-loamyflats — intersectedwith cacao. 



Timber trees also are worthy of planting. Teak and 

 mahogany grow rapidly — we have some growing at the 

 rate of 1 ft. per month. We have also a very fine shade 

 tree. " Inggah-saniy,"* which would be invaluable for 

 shade to cattle ; it grows freely, and attains a great height, 

 with fine spreading branches. Its leaves droop iu a similar 

 manner to those of the sensitive plant during rain ; other- 

 wise, in sunshine, they give a fine open shade, and the 

 tree is worthy of attention to squatters aud farmers, for 

 its fruit is a bean which cattle are very fond of and 

 fatten well on it. — Queenslandtr. 



GRUNDRISS DER PHARMACOGKNOSIE. 



VON F. A. FLTJECKJGER. t 



The object of this little work appears to be to meet 

 the need of medical and pharmaceutical students for such 

 an elementary book on materia medica and pharmacognosy 

 as shall contain all the useful information which it is 

 imperative for them to know and remember, but shall 

 exclude such matter as is only valuable for reference. It 

 is of course intended for those to whom the German 

 Pharmacopoeia is the standard text-book, and consequently a 

 number of drugs not commonly met with in English 

 pharmacies are described ill its pages. Besides those 

 occurring in the German but not in the British Pharma- 

 copoeia, a number of drugs which are of recent introduc- 

 tion, such as cola nuts, coca, curare, gelsemium, que- 

 bracho, etc., receive a full share of attention. The classific- 

 ation adopted in the ' Grundi iss ' differs from that of the 

 larger work by the same author, ' Pharmakognosie der 

 Pflanzenreiches,' in the drugs being arranged not according 

 to their nature, but according to the natural orders to 

 which they respectively belong. The awkwardness of find- 

 ing the root of aconite, for instance, in one part of the 

 same volume and the leaf in another part is thus avoided. 

 In the present volume the cryptogams are placed first, 

 then follow the phanerogams, and lastly the products 

 derived from the animal kingdom. The classification of 

 the phanerogams is not that followed in Great Britain, 

 the dicotyledons being divided into Ckoripetala, including 

 all which art' either without petals or have them distinct, 

 and tSi/nijietalt?, comprising all which, in this country, are 

 comprised under CorollijlOTa, Thus Myristicacea and Laur- 

 acctr come near Magnoliacea, and Eupliorhiacea is placed 

 between KHamnacea and UMtllifera, an arrangement which 

 would prove somewhat puzzling to many English readers, 

 but which nevertheless presents some advantages from the 

 point of view of materia medica, as well as from a botan- 

 ical standpoint. The natural system is not. however, carried 

 out with regard to the animal products; these being 

 few in muniber are arranged alphabetically. 



As an introduction to more extensive treatises on materia 

 medica, this little volume will doubtless be most welcome 

 to students and will serve to give a good foundation in 

 the subject. If the author has devoted space to the history 

 of the drugs which would perhaps have been better devoted 

 to adding matter of more practical use in everyday life, 

 it must be remembered that, the German tendency to 

 prolixity being taken into consideration, the book is a 



* This is the Malabar name for the tree. I shall get 

 the botanical name, aud let you know by-and-by. — E. B. 0. 



t Berlin : R. Gaertner. 1884. Crown Svo. Pp. i.-xxiv. 

 1-260. 



