— 25 — 



lowness of the wages in Italy and the age of the Italian camphor 

 trees. Cayla is of the same opinion as Beille and Lemaire 1 ), and 

 also Giglioli, that the camphor production of the future will be 

 established on the basis of making use of the leaves, a process which 

 is already being applied in Formosa and Ceylon. Cayla also calls 

 special attention to the impossibility of synthetic camphor becoming 

 a serious competitor, in view of the present state of the prices; but 

 in regard to this aspect of the matter he thinks that a change might 

 be brought about if coniferous trees yielding turpentine or a similar 

 oil were cultivated in suitable countries, especially in India and in 

 Tonquin. 



Cayla 2 ), in his review of Giglioli's book La canfora italiana (to 

 which work reference has also been made in our Report 3 )), points out, 

 in opposition to Riviere 4 ), that according to the experience of Giglioli 

 it is not necessary to remove the newly- grown leaves from the tree, 

 thereby checking its growth. According to Giglioli, a satisfactory yield 

 of camphor may be obtained from the leaves which have been shed 

 by the tree and have been dried naturally by exposure to the 

 atmosphere, the loss caused by the drying process not being consi- 

 derable. Artificial desiccation, on the other hand, may cause a loss 

 of camphor - content up to 50 °/ . The suitability of dry leaves for 

 distilling purposes is of interest, because this fact would appear to 

 make it possible to press the leaves for transport to distilleries situated 

 in suitable localities. 



Watts and Tempany 5 ) have prepared essential oil from the wood, 

 leaves, and twigs of camphor trees grown in the botanical gardens in 

 Dominica, with the following results: — 



1. 90 lbs. wood yielded 7,1 fl. oz. of oil; d^oO,90i2, «d — 13,1°. 



2. 33 lbs. leaves and twigs yielded 2,75 fl. oz. of oil; d~^ 0,9024, 

 «d — 1 8,4°. 



3. 29 lbs. leaves and twigs yielded 6,2 fl. oz. of. oil; d^o 0,8987, 



«d — I9°- 



The low yield of oil in the second experiment is attributed by 

 Watts and Tempany to the insufficiency of the condensing apparatus, 

 which caused the loss of a considerable proportion of the oil. All 

 the distillates were clear and colourless, and even during the cooling 



*) Report April 1908, 21; November 1908, 35. 

 *) Journ. d' Agriculture tropicale 9 (1909), 60. 

 s ) Report November 1908, 28. 



4 ) Report November 1908, 36. 



5 ) West Indian Bulletin 9 (1908), 275. From a copy kindly sent to us. 



