— 23 — 



But as, according to the statements of the Minister of Finance the 

 trees would only be felled after fifty years, it must be assumed that 

 the leaves and branches would be utilised for the production of camphor. 

 The world's demand for camphor is given in this article as 

 8 million kin (= 10,6 million lbs.), of which 7O°/ are employed in the 

 celluloid manufacture, and 2 °/ go to the gun-cotton works; 15% 

 are used for disinfecting and deodorising purposes, and 13% for 

 medicinal preparations. The returns of the Japanese monopoly in 

 1906 are given as 1 174889 yen, against 731592 and 705395 yen 

 in the two preceding years x ). 



With regard to the extent of the camphor production in Formosa, 

 a report from the American consul J. H. Arnold 2 ) at Tam-sui in 

 Formosa, gives detailed information, from which we abstract the 

 following. 



The Japanese camphor office in Formosa has prohibited the felling 

 of camphor trees less than 50 years old. The number of trees of 

 that age is small, and falls short of the estimates made up to the 

 present, according to which the number of old trees would, at the 

 present rate of cutting, last for less than 50 years. Large numbers 

 of old trees are only found in the mountainous Eastern part of the 

 island, within the savage district, and a further difficulty is found (sup- 

 posing the savages were subdued) in the marshy soil of these mountain 

 chains, which would probably demand large sacrifices in time and 

 money for the making of roads for bringing the timber down. A 

 further obstacle is the unhealthy climate of some districts, by which, 

 for example in the district Daito, one third of the labour sent over 

 there was incapacitated. There are constant complaints about lack of 

 labourers, particularly of course in the vicinity of savage districts, where 

 the wages (40 cents per day) are twice as high as in the civilised 

 districts. The prospective yield for the current year is estimated by 

 the camphor office there at 5 million kin crude camphor, and about half 

 that quantity camphor oil ; it is hoped that this yield will also be reached 

 during the next few years, or may possibly even be increased somewhat. 

 It is said that Formosa now supplies about s / 4: of the world's require- 

 ments of camphor; the remaining fourth comes from Japan and China. 

 The Government bestows special care on the cultivation of seed and 

 the transplanting of trees, which it has carried out partly by its own 

 officials, and partly by agricultural societies or private individuals. Since 

 1900, 3 million young plants have been transplanted on behalf of the 

 camphor office. This year a further half million plants are to be 

 planted out, and this number it is hoped to increase to 3 / 4 million for 



x ) Chemist and Druggist 70 (1907), 815. 



2 ) Daily Consular and Trade Reports, No. 2899, 19 June 1907. 



