508 MINOR PRODUCTS OF CEYLON 



are fit for clipping, the shoots being cut with a knife or hedgeshears. 

 The clippings on distillation usually give a yield of 1 % to 1'50^ of 

 pure camphor, in addition to about 30 per cent, of camphor oil. 

 The bushes may be clipped three or four times a year. MR. W. NOCK 

 estimated that an average of 14 Ib. of clippings a year may be 

 obtained from each tree at Hakgala Gardens, which should give at 

 least 170 Ib. of camphor per acre. In Formosa the annual yield is 

 estimated at 120 Ib. per acre; while in the United States a yield of 

 200 Ib. is said to be ordinarily obtained. BAMBER estimated 170 

 to 200 Ib. to be about the average yield in Ceylon, being obtained 

 from 20,000 Ib. of fresh loppings, in 3 to 4 clippings a year. Fair 

 average camphor commanded 20 per cwt. in 1907; to-day (1913) 

 it fetches only about 7 to 8 per cwt. Left to itself, the tree 

 grows to a height of 9 to 12 feet in five years, attaining in time 

 a height of at least 30 to 40 feet. It is best propagated from seed, 

 which take about 3 months to germinate, and have often a low 

 percentage of germination; if sown quite fresh, how r ever, about 

 2,000 plants may be obtained from a pound of good seed. The 

 tree may also be raised by root-cuttings, but branch-cuttings are 

 difficult to strike root. Seedling plants should be large enough in 

 8 months for planting out. 



Distillation. The camphor is obtained by steam distillation 

 of the clippings, wood, or roots, and the process is briefly described 

 thus: 



The vapour is condensed in a box, divided into compartments and placed 

 upside down, in water in a larger, shallower box. The sides of the inverted 

 box extend above the bottom, and water is constantly allowed to run on to this 

 box, keeping it cool and renewing the layer of water in the larger, shallower 

 box which acts as a seal. A third box is inverted over the first, and is made 

 in a similar way to condense any vapour that may escape; in both cases holes 

 are made in opposite corners of the partitions in the boxes in order to cause 

 the vapours to travel by a circuitous route. The crude camphor and oil are 

 skimmed from the surface of the water or scraped from the sides of the 

 condenser; separation of the two products is effected as far as possible by 

 pressure. 



Synthetic Camphor. A compound prepared from oil of 

 turpentine, the introduction of which has probably contributed to 

 the considerable drop in the price of natural camphor within 

 recent years, viz., from 20 to about 7 per cwt., as already 

 referred to. 



Borneo or Sumatra Camphor (Dryobalanops aromatica. Dip- 

 terocarpeae). A large tree, yielding a variety of camphor, or a 

 camphor-like resin, which is obtained from the trunk and forms an 



