April, 1912.] 



311 



Drugs and Medicinal Plants. 



distributed in this way last year, while 

 this year twice that quantity will be 

 dealt with. 



We believe that a great and per- 

 manent improvement of cotton can be 

 effected by working thus from within. 

 The trial of exotic varieties will be 

 continued, but here the difficulties in the 

 way of attaining success are greater 

 owing to the soil and climatic conditions 

 being unsuitable for long season cottons. 

 The rainfall of the cotton tract ranges 

 from 30" to 45" annually— nearly all of 

 which is obtained during the first three 

 months of the growing season, i,e., from 

 the end of June till the end of Septem- 



ber. After this the dry weather sets in 

 and exotic cottons suffer from " red-leaf 

 blight." Sometimes, too, they are still 

 further damaged by frost in December 

 or January. Requiring as they do a 

 longer growing season, they are subject 

 to forms of damage which our indigen- 

 ous varieties, being earlier and hardier, 

 escape. Of the exotic varieties tried up 

 to date, buri is by far the most promis- 

 ing. It is comparatively early. It is, 

 moreover, immune to wilt diesase, and 

 therefore meets a distinct want in this 

 part of India, where, owing to continuous 

 cropping with cotton, this disease is in 

 places becoming serious. 



DRUGS AND MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



SOME FACTS ABOUT CAMPHOR. 

 By Ambrose Warnek. 



(Prom the Agricultural Journal of the 



Union of South Africa, Vol. III., 

 No. 1, January, 1912.) 



Camphor is used principally in the 

 manufacture of celluloid. The world's 

 consumption is about 11,000,000 lb. an- 

 nually, of which 70 per cent, is used 

 by celluloid factories, 2 per cent, in gun- 

 cotton works, 15 per cent, for disinfect- 

 ing and deodorizing purposes, and 13 

 per cent, for medical preparations. 



Japan, Formosa, and China are prac- 

 tically the only countries of export, 

 and the Japanese Government supplies 

 about 70 per cent, of the world's output. 

 Germany and the United States are the 

 largest importeis. 



The price of camphor, wholesale on 

 the London market has varied over the 

 last ten years from Is. 4|d. to 3s. 6d. 

 per lb., but the lowest market price 

 was only touched when several factories 

 commenced making synthetical camphor 

 which, however, proved not only too 

 expensive a process, but the camphor 

 made had not the requisite properties, 

 and it was also very highly inflammable, 

 which resulced in several of the works 

 being burnt down, and consequent! y 



all of them are now closed ; there is, 

 therefore, no competition with what is 

 almost a Ja panese Government monopoly. 



The price in London to-day is about 

 Is. 6d. per lb. 



Camphor is distilled from all parts 

 of the camphor tree {Cinnamomum 

 camphora), which is one of the most 

 beautiful trees in the world, attaining 

 a height of about 100 feet. Its home 

 is in the Far East, but the trees have 

 grown well in Ceylon, Malay Straits, 

 Algiers, Florida, East Africa, and South 

 Africa. A Government report from 

 German East Africa states that from 

 plants grown there, only two years old, 

 the camphor oil only differed from the 

 Japanese oil in containing a remarkably 

 large amount of camphor much higher 

 than the Japanese oil. 



In Ceylon the trees thrive at all ele- 

 vations from sea level to the highest 

 mountains, and like a well-drained deep 

 sandy loam containing &ood quantities 

 of lime and potash. 



The process of distillation is a very 

 simple one, requiring no great amount 

 of capital, and in the Far East it is 

 done by the very lowest class of abori- 

 gines. In Japan the producers are by 

 law bound to sell their output to the 

 Government at a fixed price, which is 

 a remunerative one. 



