Commercial and scientific notes on essential oils. 17 



Cinnamomum Camphora is cultivated all over Queensland, where another new 

 species occurs, Cinnamomum Oliveri, which is said also to contain camphor. 



In New South Wales, the fresh leaves of a tree, 15 years old, yielded 1.02 per cent, 

 of camphor. 



A remarkable camphor-tree is found on an island in the Lago Maggiore. When 

 eight years old, its trunk was 1 foot in diameter and had the extraordinary height of 

 90 feet. Camphor-trees also grow in Buenos Aires, the Canaries and Madagascar. 

 On the latter island the wood of trees over 50 years old is used as building material. 



The first camphor-tree plantation in Satsuma, Florida, put 10000 lbs. of camphor 

 on the market since the beginning of this year. The product is stated to be equal in 

 every respect to the Japanese refined camphor. Two companies are said to have 

 2500 acres each under cultivation. A third company has been granted permission to 

 start a large plantation in Texas 1 ). 



According to the Revue agricole de VAfrique du Nord 2 ) several hectares in the 

 Doumia Woods (Algeria) have been planted with camphor-trees in 1919. The success 

 obtained there, as well as in the districts of Algiers, Blida, Boudjia, El Miliah and 

 El Hanser, are supposed to induce the Government to substitute more and more the 

 camphor tree to the cork-oak in the coastal regions of Algeria, especially in the moist 

 East, where the cork of the oaks is always damp and therefore of no value. According 

 to Trabut it would be possible to obtain from a camphor-tree plantation, when 25 years 

 old, 300 kilos each of camphor and camphor oil per hectare 3 ). 



According to S. T. Dunn 4 ), it is stated that the direct cause of the presence in 

 the camphor-tree of essential oil of varying constitution and quantity is to be found 

 probably in the formation within the plant of terpentinol (Ci Hi 6 ) 5 ), which is gradually 

 changed by the activity of the living cells into camphor (Ci Hi 6 O). As this oxidation 

 progresses, different compounds appear, and it is by their admixture in the products 

 of distillation that all the different oils and finally camphor itself is formed. "If this 

 theory is x accepted", Mr. Dunn observes, "it is not surprising to find that the yield of 

 camphor varies from month to month." Cases are cited to prove that in certain countries, 

 notably Japan and Formosa, much more camphor is obtained from camphor-wood cut 

 in the cool season than from that cut in the summer. Any other circumstance affecting 

 the healthiness and cell activity of Cinnamomum Camphora will, it is pointed out, on 

 the above theory, also affect the yield of camphor. It is suggested, for example, that 

 fungal disease of the wood may have a deterent effect on the production of camphor, 

 and it is also noticed, in this connection, that the climatic conditions of North Formosa 

 seem to favour a plentiful production of solid camphor, whereas in the South, many 

 trees yield little solid camphor, but large quantities of Sho oil and Yu-yu oil, the trees 

 being known to the Japanese as Sho-gyu and Yu-yu, respectively 6 ). In the climate of 

 Florida the same species produces solid camphor mixed with an oil differing from the 

 Japanese oils in its low percentage of safrole. Remarkable variations of camphor content 

 in the leaves of trees growing under different conditions of shade and soil have also 

 been recorded 7 ). Experiments in Kew have shown that, apart from two slight colour 



*) Journ. Soc. Chem. Ind. 40 (1921), R. 388. — 2 ) Parfum. moderne 14 (1921), 212. — *) Comp. Report 

 April 1908, 23; Bericht (German ed.) 1920, 13. — 4 ) Bull, of Miscellaneous Information no. 4, 1921. As per 

 Perfum. Record 12 (1921), 323. — 6 ) The designation of "terpentinol" for hydrocarbons C 10 H 16 is, of course, 

 absolutely incorrect. — e ) According to K. Nagai, the Sho-Gyu and the Yu-Ju trees, the botanical origin of 

 which is still unknown, are not identical with Cinnamomum Camphora. The Yu-Ju oil has a great resemblance 

 with camphor oil. Comp. Gildemeister and Hoffmann, The Volatile Oils, 2 nd edition, vol. Ill, page 672. — 

 ') Comp. also Report 1918, 15. 



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