— 29 — 



this camphor in solution, the total yield of camphor may be taken at 

 about l°/o. 



Branches of the thickness of an arm and thin twigs, no matter how 

 small they are cut up, only yield from 0,06 to 0,l°/o, even the young 

 shoots without the leaves do not produce over 0,22 °/o, from which it may 

 be concluded that the bulk of the camphor is contained in the leaves; 

 that is to say where young camphor-trees, such as those at Amani, are 

 concerned, for it is well-known that all parts of old camphor trees con- 

 tain considerable proportions of camphor. Other authors, who have report- 

 ed on experiments made in Florida, Ceylon, the Malay States, and Cali- 

 fornia, have obtained almost very nearly the same results. Giglioli also, 

 in his book "La canfora italiana" x ), reports on investigations of which the 

 results agree with those obtained by Lommel. But what makes Lommel's 

 experiments particularly valuable is the exactness of the details given by him, 

 and especially the fact that he was working with material, quantities, and 

 a plant which closely correspond to those which would be used in actual 

 farming operations, whereas Kelway Bamber 2 ), Campbell and Eaton 3 ), and 

 Giglioli only experimented on a small scale. 



Lommel is as yet unable to express an opinion with regard to the 

 prospects of the Amani camphor plantations, because the following three 

 important questions still remain to be solved: — 



1. How to reduce to a minimum the cost of collecting the leaves 

 and the cost of distillation? 



2. How to lay down the most rational plantations and distilling plant? 



3. What will be the cost of carriage from the plantation to the still? 

 Not until these three points have been settled will it be possible to 



decide whether camphor cultivation in German East Africa is sufficiently 

 remunerative to compete successfully with the expanding industry of syn- 

 thetic camphor. 



In connection with the foregoing we may mention that we have this 

 year again examined a sample of the Amani camphor oil 4 ) which has been 

 referred to above. At 15° the oil had a sp. gr. of 0,9203, a rotation (in 

 a 100 mm. tube) of + 39° 42', and a refractive index (at 20°) of 1,47753. 

 The oil gave at first a clear solution with 85°/o alcohol, but after the 

 addition of 1,5 vol. the solution turned turbid. In 90°/o alcohol the solu- 

 tion was clear at first, but opalesced on dilution. When cooled to a low 

 temperature large quantities of camphor crystallised out. 



The first attempts to produce camphor upon a large scale in our East- 

 African Colonies has therefore given thoroughly satisfactory results, on 

 which the Agricultural Institute at Amani deserves to be congratulated. 



a ) Report October 1906, 19; November 1908, 35. 



2 ) Comp. Report April 1906, 11. 



3 ) Comp. Report April 1910, 27. 



4 ) Comp. Report October 1906, 20. 



