240 JOURNAL OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM [vol. i 



shu and as a planted tree is found as far north as Tokyo. It is a feature 

 of the courtyards of temples dedicated to Hachinian, God of War. Many 

 of these trees are of venerable age and of enormous size, in fact the Cam- 

 phor-tree excedes in bulk of trunk all other broad-leaf trees that grow in 

 Japan. On these planted trees burls develop on the trunk which with age 

 becomes very gnarled and quite different in appearance to that of trees 

 found in the forests. At the Hachiman shrine at Kamo in Satsuma prov- 

 ince, Kyushu, there is a Camphor-tree 100 ft. tall and 75 ft. in girth of 

 trunk at 5 ft. from the ground. It is claimed that this is the largest Cam- 

 phor-trcc in Japan. In the Shiroyama Park, Kagoshima, there are many 

 tall and liandsome specimens of this tree, but the finest I have seen are in 

 the grounds of Osuwa Temple in Nagasaki which are lofty and magnificent 

 trees with clean trunks and wide-spreading, rounded crowns. But in gen- 

 eral the Camphor-tree in Japan is more remarkable for the size of its bole 

 and spread of crown than for its height. On the Korean island of Quelpaert 

 the Camphor-tree Is indigenous but is rare and of no great size. In the 

 eastern provinces of China from Shanghai south to the Tonking border the 

 Camphor-tree grows wild and in some places is said to be conunon. In 

 Japan and in Quelpaert the Camphor-tree does not ascend more than 

 500 m, above sea-level and is associated with other evergreen trees chiefly 

 Fagaceae and Lauraceae. In China very little is known about its alti- 

 tudinal distril^ution except that in the central parts of the Yangtsze Valley 

 where it reaches its western limits it is more or less confined to river-level. 

 The trees planted as far north as Tokyo are often subjected in winter to a 

 few degrees of frost and to snowstorms which often brown the leaves but 

 the trees quickly recover. 



Small quantities of camphor are obtained in south Japan, in Fokien and 

 Kwangtung provinces of China but the real industry is confined to For- 

 mosa. Apparently the climatic conditions there are more favorable to tlie 

 secretion of the necessary hydro-carbons than elsewhere. It is a curious 

 fact that not every Camphor-tree yields camphor in appreciable (quantities, 

 neither is every part of the tree equally rich. Often it happens that in two 

 trees growing side by side one may be rich in camphor and the otlier almost 

 devoid of it. Sometimes it hai)pens that one side of the tree may be richer 

 than the other. Why these marked variations in quantity should be there 

 is no telling but the fact remains. Some day it may afford the plant hy- 

 bridist opportunity to breed a race of Camphor-trees all equally rich in 

 camphor. Chinese do most of the work of camphor distilling in the forests 

 of Formosa, and they are expert in telling by means of smell and taste 

 which trees are profitable to work and which are not. The bole of the tree 

 is usually richest and frequently the thick, buttress roots rank next. The 

 work of felling the tree is sometimes done in piecemeal fashion. The wood 

 is reduced to thin chips by means of an adze or gouge-chisel and is then 

 ready for camphor distillation. From the crude stills in the forest the cam- 

 phor and camplior oil is taken to the factory of the Monopoly Bureau in 

 Taihoku and refined. 



