— 25 — 



Professor Lugeon, the Director of the Geological Museum at 

 Lausanne, where a portion of the fossils is kept, has replied to an 

 enquiry from M. Demieville, that it is impossible to decide from 

 the specimen whether it is actually the trunk of a camphor tree, but 

 that such a view is certainly supported by the presence in large 

 numbers of fossil camphor tree leaves. 



Borneo camphor. The question of the presence of camphor 

 or borneol in the Borneo camphor trees {Dryobalanops aromalica Gaertn.) 

 cultivated in the Botanical Gardens of Buitenzorg, has frequently been 

 discussed there. 1 ) 



A separation of camphor or borneol could not be detected in the 

 wood of felled trees, but when a hole was bored in a living tree, a white 

 substance separated off in the holes which consisted chiefly of borneol. 



By distillation with steam there were obtained, both from the 

 leaves and from the trunk oils which, according to their behaviour 

 on boiling (150 to 210 and 215 to 280 respectively), did not appear 

 to contain borneol. But in both cases only a few cc. of oil were 

 available, so that in our opinion a decidedly more favourable result 

 may possibly be obtained if larger quantities are worked up. The 

 constants given here are only those of the oil from the leaves: 

 d 26 ° 0,8585; [«]d26° + 2 29'. 



Caraway Oil. The tone of the Dutch caraway market is 

 described as very quiet, and it is said that very few transactions 

 have lately taken place. The young caraway cultivations had developed 

 favourably by the autumn, in so far as the Northern caraway districts 

 are concerned, and in Groningen, Friesland and North Holland their 

 appearance could be characterised as "good". The fields in South 

 Holland and Zeeland appeared "fairly good", but in North Brabant 

 only "middling"; in the last-named province some areas cultivated had 

 to be ploughed up again. In North Brabant and Zeeland the winter, 

 which this time was very severe, has done great damage, so much so 

 , that in many cases half the fields must be turned over again and 

 sown with rape seed. From North Holland, Groningen and Friesland 

 no reports have been received as to how the cultivation has come 

 through the winter, but it may be assumed that there also the con- 

 sequences of the severe winter will be more or less visible. 



Although at first the area cultivated with caraway was at least as 

 large as in 1905/6, a not unimportant falling- off will have to be taken 

 into account for the coming harvest, which may probably soon find 

 expression in higher prices. 



1 ) Verslag omtrent de te Buitenzorg gevestigde technische Afdeelingen van 

 het Departement van Landbouw 1905. Batavia, 1906, pp. 46 and 63. 



