Vol. X. No. 238 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



187 



ARTIFICIAL AND NATURAL CAMPHOR. 



The Journal d'A^/icaUurc Tropk-alc, i'or January 1010, 

 contains an article by V. Cayla, in which the position is con- 

 sidered regarding the likelihood of the entry of artificial 

 camphor into serious competition with natural camphor. 

 After giving evideceo from various authorities to the effect 

 that such competition is not likely to exist, it draws atten- 

 tion to one of the chief reasons for this, namely the high 

 price of turpentine, which is the raw material required for 

 the production of synthetic camphor. Although this price 

 Las recently become 60 per cent, less than that in 1907, even 

 under such favourable conditions, the artificial product has 

 not been able to be made profitably. Another factor has 

 also made itself felt: that is the lowering in the price of the 

 natural product. It was certain that this, which had reached 

 the level of -Is. ]0(/. per %. in March 1907, could not remain 

 as high for long. It was partly due to an attempt to make 

 a monopoly of the production, with the result that the manu- 

 facturers of celluloid, and other consumers of camphor, 

 renewed their efforts for the cheap production of synthetic 

 camphor. This led the .Japanese Monopoly (see Ar/rirul- 

 turtil Aden's, Vol. IX, p. 280) to lower its price, and it was 

 also caused to do this in order to get rid of the large 

 stocks on hand. 



There are other considerations besides those mentioned 

 that have helped to discourage the production of artificial 

 camphor. Among these is the fact that its quality is not as 

 good as that of natural camphor, so that it is usually quoted 

 at 1(1. to 21(1. per ft. below natural camphor, because it can 

 only bo used in a limited way for the production of articles 

 of inferior quality. On the other hand, there is evidence 

 that means have been found for purifying artificial camphor 

 from the free chlorine that it used to contain; though the 

 fact that this has to be done must increase the cost of 

 manufacture. 



Attention is drawn to the circumstance that those who 

 encourage artificial production draw a parallel between the 

 conditions that are likely to exist in the camphor industry 

 and those which have obtained in the indigo industry, whereby 

 the growers were forced to give up cultivation on account of 

 the appearance of the cheap manufactured article. It is 

 held that the circumstances are not parallel, on account of 

 the difference in the conditions of production: the Japane.se 

 possess special knowledge in regard to the distillation of 

 camphor, as well as information that is not generally avail- 

 able as to the cultivation, exploitation and refining of 

 the product. 



The only recent certain facts are that increased areas 

 are being planted, which are controlled by the Japanese, not 

 only with the true camphor plant but with Borneo camphor 

 (Dr//o/irdiiu(ips C'aitqthorii), and species of Blumea; that new 

 camphor forests have been discovered in the Japanese 

 archipelago; that Japan gained a complete victory in its 

 struggle against Chinese camphor; and finally, that the desire 

 on the part of the Government to continue to rule the 

 market is making it show a disposition to forbid the sale and 

 exportation of camphor seed. 



As the question is therefore only concerned with the 

 natural product, it becomes solely a matter for considering 

 how long the forests that are now being exploited in the 

 Japanese Empire will last, and when the young plants will 

 be ready for employment in production. If the old method 

 of cutting down the trees continues to be adopted, the 

 younger cultivation cannot be useful before a period of thirty 

 years has pas.sed; and the further question is suggested as to 

 whether the supply from the existing forests can continue 



for such a time. This leads to the consideration of work that 

 is being done, particularly by the English in several parts of 

 their Asiatic possessions, as well as in the West Indies, for 

 the purpose of discovering if camphor can be produced 

 remuneratively by the distillation of the leaves only. la 

 connexion with this, the article from which these 

 facts are being taken refers to investigations made at 

 Batu-Tiga, Selangor, to which attention has been called 

 already in the Agriadtural Neivf, Vol. IX, p. 233. 

 The experiments show that trees five years old, and prob- 

 ably those which are younger, yield leaves in regard to 

 which at least 1 per cent, of camphor, as well as a certain 

 quantity of oil, can be obtained from the fresh material. 

 Information is given, further, in the article in the Journal 

 d' Agriculture Tropirale, with respect to another experiment 

 which was undertaken by the same investigators, in order to 

 find the yield of camphor from the different parts of a whole 

 plant five years of age. The results were to show that the fol- 

 lowing percentages of camphor were obtainable: leaves 100, 

 twigs 0'22, large branches and wood 0-66, roots 1'20. It is 

 pointed out that these results show completely that, other 

 than the roots, which cannot be considered as being exploit- 

 able, the leaves have the chief interest in regard to the pro- 

 duction of camphor, and there is the further result of the work, 

 namely, that distillation is only required, for these, for three 

 hours. Attention is also drawn to Bamber's suggestion to 

 bruise the leaves and twigs thoroughly, before distillation. 

 Reference is made to similar experiments that have given 

 comparable results, in Jamaica and Antigua (see Aqrictdtural 

 Nrirs, Vol. VIII, p. 328); West Indian Bulletin, Vol. IX, 

 p. 275, and in Ceylon {Circulars and Agricultural Journal 

 of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Ceylon, I [1901], No. 4). 

 Experiments on a larger scale, conducted at Kuala Lampur, 

 in which a plantation of camphor trees about eighteen months 

 old and 5 feet in height was thinned in order to make room 

 for the remaining plants, gave 1,226 ft, of material for distilla- 

 tion per acre, which furnished 06 per cent, of camphor. 



In concluding, the article refers to the fact that all these 

 investigations show the po.ssibility of obtaining camphor from 

 the leaves, and suggests that in the future the circumstance 

 that such a long time must elapse, before camphor can be 

 obtained from trees that are cut down, will cause the 

 abandonment of this method for that in which the leaves 

 alone are employed. 



Ceara Rubber from Uganda.— In October 1910, 



a sample of Ceara rubber M'as forwarded from Uganda to the 

 Imperial Institute, in order that it may be analysed and 

 compared with a previous .sample. The report on the former 

 is contained in the Uganda Official Gazette for March 1.5, 

 1911, and shows that the sample consisted of sheet rubber, 

 prepared with water only, and weighing \h ft. The physical 

 properties of the rubber, which contained 86'1 per cent, of 

 caoutchouc when received, were satisfactory. The sample, 

 however, had not completely dried on its arrival, so that the 

 composition of the dry rubber showed a percentage of 89'3 of 

 caoutchouc; the percentages of resin, proteids and ash in this 

 dry rubber were, respectively, 5'9, 3'7 and I'l. The rubber 

 was valued at 4s. 3rf. to 4s. 6o?. per ft. in London, with tine 

 hard Para at .^s. id. per ft. It was much superior in com- 

 position to the previous sample which contained higher 

 proportions of resin, proteids and ash, and therefore a lower 

 percentage of caoutchouc. A useful result of the investiga- 

 tion is to show that the coagulation of the latex of Ceara by 

 means of water is a suitable method for adoption in Uganda. 



