April, 1912.] 



313 



Edible Products. 



dome, which at 90° 0. (194° F.) were carried 

 back into the water by the condensed 

 steam. At 100° C. (boiling point) the 

 steam and camphor vapour was passing 

 rapidly into the glass condenser, while 

 the leaves were covered with oily drops 

 of camphor. Distillation at 100° C. was 

 continued for two hours, when 7'93 pints 

 of water, containing camphor oil, had 

 collected in the condenser. This was 

 then passed through a wet paper filter 

 to separate the camphor and oil from 

 the water, l'lO per cent, camphor and 

 oil being obtained. 



As a rule the camphor is almost entire- 

 ly distilled once during three hours, and 

 a strong smell of camphor is given off as 

 soon as distillation commences. 



Camphor when first distilled appears 

 to be practically free from oili but actu- 

 ally oil continues to sink to the bottom 

 of the mass of crystals for some months 

 unless it has been expressed by centri- 

 fugal force. 



The Japanese camphor is imported 

 into Europe in tubs covered with mat- 



ting, each placed within a second tub 

 secured on the outside by hoops of 

 twisted cane. No metal lining is used, 

 and the camphor has therefore some of 

 its superfluous moisture absorbed by the 

 wood. 



In Ceylon the cost of pruning, distill- 

 ing, and putting the camphor on the 

 market does not exceed £3 per acre. 



Camphor oil is largely used in the 

 manufacture of soaps, and no doubt 

 Natal could use large quantities of it at 

 good prices. 



The camphor retailed at the shops is 

 often to a great extent mixed with other 

 cheaper ingredients such as paraffin wax, 

 and cannot always be taken as a guide 

 to the nature of pure camphor. 



The industry is one that is well worth 

 trying in the warm and moister regions 

 of the Union, and might become a valu- 

 able asset to the country 



Camphor trees, as is well known, make 

 a very useful timber, largely used in the 

 Far East for all sorts of purposes. 



EDIBLE PRODUCTS. 



PADDY CULTIVATION IN CEYLON 

 DURING THE XIXTH CENTURY. 



By E. Elliott. 



(Continued from page SI.) 



Chapter VIII. 

 The Advent of Abolition. 

 1 will now proceed to record the circum- 

 stances which led to the abolition of 

 the " grain tax," the term by this time 

 generally used to indicate the Govern- 

 ment share of the paddy grown in the 

 island. 



Sir Arthur Gordon, like his two pre- 

 decessors in the Governorship, arrived 

 with a predisposition to amend, if not 

 abolish, what, he had believed, was a 

 tax on the food of the people, but a 

 short experience led him to acquiesce in 

 the opinion of his predecessor and that 

 almost universally held in the Colony, 

 4Q 



that abolition was not called for, and 

 that such a step would adversely affect 

 a liberal policy in regard to irrigation, to 

 which he rightly attached such import- 

 ance. However, this Governor, who had 

 through his official career been an ardent 

 protector of native rights, had his sym- 

 pathies aroused by the exaggerated re- 

 presentations as to the results of the 

 action taken to remove the arrears under 

 the voluntary commutation in Uva 

 and Walapane some five years pre- 

 viously (1882-3) under Mr. Dickson's regime 

 as Government Agent of the Central 

 Province.* These misrepresentations 

 were adequately exposed by Mr. Moir, 

 who had succeeded to the Agency of the 

 Central Province, and was directed to 

 enquire ; but the irrepressible Mr- Wall, 



* Mr. Dickson left Ceylon in May, 1866, on 

 appointment as Colonial Secretary of the 

 Straits Settlements, 



