210 



THE CAMPHOR INDUSTRY. 



An Address Before the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Farmers' 

 Institute of Flawaii l)v Leopold G. Blackman, 



So many new agricultural enterprises have been advocated of 

 late, as offering alluring prospects to the Hawaiian cultivator, 

 that one is son:ewhat reluctant in suggesting another. Still it 

 appears expedient that this Territory should exert every means 

 to develop to the full the productive capacity of its available land, 

 and in view of the very great diversity of condition offered by our 

 various soils and altitudes, this can only be accomplished by hav- 

 ing recourse to many different agricultural enterprises If, how- 

 ever, after a consideration of the merits of the camphor tree, it 

 be not decided to include its cultivation among those agricultural 

 undertakings already established here, the preparation of this 

 paper will not have been altogether useless, for it will assist Ha- 

 waiian planter to weigh the merits of a new industry wdiich is 

 now attracting considerable attention among tropical growers of 

 other countries. 



SOURCE OF SUPPLY. 



The production of camphor ]s at present almost exclusively 

 confined to Formosa. The camphor forests of this large island, 

 when first visited by Europeans, were very extensive and reached 

 well into the plains. Improvident harvesting, however, gradually 

 reduced them, although fifty years ago they still covered the lower 

 ranges of the mountains now occupied' by tea and other gardens. 

 At that time the demand for camphor was comparatively limited, 

 and the price in consequence was much lower than has prevailed 

 of late years. The work of destruction of camphor trees, how- 

 ever, continued steadily, and the denudation of the forests, coupled 

 with an incessant warfare between the Chinese, who controlled 

 the trade, and the inhabitants of Formosa, disorganized the pro- 

 duction and rendered the procuring of camphor more and more 

 difficult. These unsettled conditions exercised a direct influence 

 on the price of the commodity, w^hich has perhaps fluctuated as 

 greatly as that of any other agricultural product, with a general 

 tendency always to advance. Since the occupation of Formosa by 

 Japan, a fe\y years ago, the latter country has controlled the pro- 

 duction and export of camphor, and has established a government 

 monopoly in this industry, which it jealously guards. The chief 

 result to the consumer of this restriction in trade has been an ad- 

 vance in the price of camphor of about fifty per cent. Another 

 effect which has been brought about, has been the steady decline 

 of the refining of camphor in Europe and the United States, in 

 which countries many refineries of crude camphor have abandoned 

 business, and the process may now be said to have passed into 

 the control of the Japanese. 



