346 



nalis or Laurus Camphora, is an evergreen tree belonging 

 to the Natural Order Laitrinece. It is found along the 

 Eastern Coast of Asia from Cochin China to Shanghai, in 

 the island of Hainan and in the Japanese Islands Kinshu 

 and Shikoku, largely abounding in Formosa the head 

 quarters of the industry. The products, chiefly camphor 

 and camphor oil, are obtained by distillation, details of 

 which are given below. 



Cultivation in Malaya. 



The following notes on the cultivation of the plant in 

 the Government Experimental Plantation, in Selangor, the 

 preparation of the crude and purified camphor and camphor 

 oil are intended only as a preliminary note, as it is hoped to 

 prepare an article on the subject when the investigation is 

 more complete. 



The first experiments in camphor by the F. M. S. Agri- 

 cultural Department were initiated in Batu Tiga 5 years 

 ago by Mr. Stanley Arden. 



The seeds of the Batu Tiga trees were obtained from 

 the Yokohama Nursery Company and sown in May 1904. 



They were planted out in their permanent quarters 

 10' x 10' in December of the same year. The growth as a 

 whole is very good, while the growth in some cases is ex- 

 ceptional. The average height of the trees is now about 

 18 feet, the tallest tree being over 26 feet. 



A further supply of seeds and young plants was 

 received from Japan in May 1907 and planted out in the 

 Experiment Plantation, Kuala Lumpur, in September of 

 the same year. 



The growth of the plants in this case has also been good, 

 the trees averaging in one plot 5 ft. 6 inches in height and 

 4 feet 6 inches in breadth ; this plot was cut over, bringing 

 all the trees to one even height of five feet and leaving the 

 sides untouched and yielded a crop of clippings averaging 

 1226 lbs. per acre ; the actual yield of camphor from which 

 amounted to 0.6 per cent. 



Preparation of Camphor. 

 Method of distillation : — 



The first experiments were made on a very small scale 

 in a small copper still of 7 litres ( = 12*3 pints) capacity and 

 capable of holding only about 1\ lbs. of leaves or about 4 

 lbs. of twigs, using an ordinary glass Liebig condenser to 

 condense the camphor and oil. 



