20 



already risen in January 1905 to $ 118 per picul, and towards the 

 end of the year to as much as $ 130 (in 1904 $ 70 to 80), jumped up 

 to $ 190 in the first three months of 1906. In spite of this, the 

 trade in camphor has steadily advanced, as is shown by the following 

 export statistics: — 



1902 264 cwts. £ 1460 



1903 1362 „ „ 8287 



1904 142 1 „ „ 10084 



1905 4482 „ „ 43039 



At the end of May 1906 the transactions already amounted to 

 5200 cwts., value jj^ 52000. 



One of the principal factors in the enormous increase in the price 

 of camphor is the celluloid industry, which has made considerable 

 progress during the last decade. In Japan, great interest is now also 

 taken in the celluloid manufacture, and the Board of the Camphor 

 Monopoly has already made contracts for deliveries with two Syndicates. 

 The one is British, with a capital of 5 million yen, and proposes 

 establishing its works either in Kobe or in Osaka; the Franco- Austrian 

 Syndicate intends putting down celluloid works at Misshima near 

 Shidyuoka. 



In a paragraph in a Hamburg newspaper it was said that within 

 a not very distant time the market would have to reckon with large 

 offers of American camphor, namely, with the product of the State 

 of Texas. It was stated that under the auspices of the Bureau for 

 Botanical Industry of the Board of Agriculture, large experiments in 

 the cultivation of camphor trees were in progress, which gave hopes of 

 apparently good results. It is said that the experimental farms in question 

 are situated in Wharton and Floresville, Tex., and the method followed 

 there, is to sow camphor seed in the manner of wheat or oats, and when 

 the shrubs had reached a height of about 3 ft. to cut them down with 

 a mowing machine to a height of about 1 foot from the ground. From 

 the portions cut off the camphor would then be extracted by means of a 

 distillation process. This operation could be repeated once a year for 

 several years, as new shoots soon sprout from the stumps. In this 

 manner a larger percentage and a better quality of camphor should 

 be obtained than in Japan or Formosa. At the present prices the 

 Texas camphor cultivation is said to yield a profit of about $ 450 

 per acre (!). This sensational report appeared to us sufficiently inter- 

 esting to make enquiries in authoritative quarters, and our New York 

 branch received from the Department of Agriculture the information 

 that the above statements do not agree with the facts. Some ex- 

 periments had no doubt been made last year, also in Texas, with the 



