and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Societi/.—Sep., 1910. 



•2S7 



THE JAPAN CAMPHOR INDUSTRY. 



The Osaka, Mainichi states that the total pro- 

 duction of camphor this year is estimated by 

 the Monopoly Bureau at 7,000,000 kin, of which 

 6,100,000 kin will be produced in Formosa, and 

 900,000 kin in Shikoku and Kyushu. Of this 

 quantity 4,000,000 kin is to be shipped to Europe 

 and 2,500,000 kin to America, the remainder 

 being kept for the home market. The total de- 

 mand for camphor in Europe and America is 

 given as between 7,000,000, or 8,000,000 kin. No 

 definite figures have yet been ascertained, but 

 the actual demand is certainly not less than 

 7,500,000. This being so, there is expected to 

 be a deficit of some 1,000,000 kin in the supply 

 shipped from Japan this year, and naturally the 

 deficit may send up the price, while an impulse 

 may also be given to the revival of the South 

 China camphor industry and the manufacture 

 of artificial camphor. The price of the camphor 

 sold in Europe and America by the Monopoly 

 Bureau is 105s per 100 lb, about one-half the 

 rate when the market reached the highest point. 

 For this reason the revenue from the Camphor 

 Monopoly has been seriously affected, and the 

 Government is trying to injrease the price to a 

 certain degree. The net profit of the Camphor 

 Monopoly in Formosa last year was 2,800,000 

 yen, while that in Japan proper did not exceed 

 200,000 yen. The Osaka journal adds that the 

 world's supply of camphor is almost entirely 

 monopolised by Japan, and yet the revenue 

 therefrom cannot be made an important item 

 of the revenue of the Treasury. This shows 

 some lack of ability on the part of the Mono- 

 poly Bureau, and the authorities are reported 

 to be much concerned as to the best means of 

 bringing about an improvement in the method 

 of sale. It is difficult to understand how the 

 figures given as "profit" in the case of For- 

 mosan camphor are arrived at. The total ex- 

 port of camphor from Formosa in 1909 was 

 valued at 4,377,816 yen, but the expenses of 

 the Monopoly Office, including tobacco, salt, 

 opium and camphor amounted to as much as 

 7,565,223 yen. The Japan Chronicle remarks 

 that as the chief expenditure of the Monopoly 

 Office is, we believe, in the production of cam- 

 phor, the figures given as " profit" seem doubt- 

 ful. — British and Colonial Druggist, Aug. 26. 



TAPSOCA AT SEDENAK RUBBER 

 ESTATES. 



On Sunday morning last, a small party of 

 Singapore people visited the Sedenak Rubber 

 Estate!;, which are traversed by the Johoro 

 State Railway and which have the great advan- 

 tage of having a station at their very door. The 

 occasion of the visit was the starting of the 

 tapioca machinery. The Chinese contractors 

 made a feast day of it, and amidst the burning 

 of joss papers— the uproar of crackers and the 

 popping of champagne bottles steam was turned 

 on, and the powerful engines commenced work 

 ing— to the great satisfaction and interest of all 

 those who were present. Mr Tan Chay Yan 

 christened the engine "Gunong Pullai." 



The factory is a vory largo and substantial 

 one. The machinery was obtained from 

 Messrs. Riley Hargreaves, Limited. The 

 power i3 derived from a 12 h. p. Ruston 

 Proctor & Co.'s double cylinder portable steam 

 engine. The chief features of the machine con- 

 sists of an " ubi cleaner," which discharges the 

 decorticated roots through a shute into a clean- 

 sing tank, from which the roots are collected in 

 baskets, and thrown into the large opening of 

 the Rasper or Disintegrator, in which the roots 

 are reduced into pulp. This latter is ejected 

 into an octagonal drum which is covered with a 

 special kind of cloth. A perforated water pipe 

 runs through the drum, and throws off a con- 

 stant shower of water upon the pulp, as the 

 drum revolves, turning the mass of pulp over 

 and over again. The water percolating through 

 the cloth is white like milk as it contains the 

 starch from the pulp. It flows away and is col- 

 lected in settling tanks — from which the meal 

 is collected and washed daily for five days in 

 huge tubs. The most important element in the 

 manufacture of tapioca is a plentiful supply of 

 pure water. It is quite clear that this factory 

 will prove a great success. The soil of Sedenak 

 being excellent, the roots are large and heavy. 

 There is every prospect of a very good harvest 

 and a splendid output of most excellenttapioca. 



Mr Hawtrey and his staff of the Sedenak 

 Rubber Company were present with the guests 

 throughout the day. The guests thoroughly 

 enjoyed the entertainment provided and the 

 lavish hospitality of the hosts — Messrs Seet 

 Keng Seek, Tan Cheng Tee and Tan Chay Yan 

 — made one forget one was in the jungle. After 

 a walk to see the rubber trees— which are grow- 

 ing very well indeed — the party left by the 5 

 train, after having spent a most pleasant and in- 

 structive day's outing.— Straits Times, Sept. 7. 



A NEW KIND O F ARTI FICIAL COTTON 



Invented in Japan. 



The Chuo is authority for introducing Mr. 

 Akinobu Takahashi of Terajima-mura, Katsu- 

 shika-gori, Tokyo-fu, as the inventor of a new 

 method of producing artificial cotton from 

 vegetable fibres. He has discovered a certain 

 chemical which he uses in boiling the fibres. 

 After five hours' boiling, it is said, the starchy 

 portion of the vegetable material is all dissolved, 

 and only the fibres remain. He has also invented 

 a machine for washing and cleaning the fibres, 

 and another for bleaching. The fibres after 

 having passed through this machine are then 

 put into another machine, also his own invention, 

 for softening and turning the fibre* into cotton- 

 like threads. Then again this arti6cial cotton 

 is placed in another machine for adding to it 

 a fatty substance. After that the cotton is 

 placed back in the cotton-making machine and 

 turned out as elastic as natural cotton. 



Mr. Takahashi is said to have started on this 

 series of inventions by finding a bamboo spatula 

 turned into a tin ead-like condition after leaving 

 it overnight in a certain mixture which he was 

 experimenting upon at the time. The proper 

 mixture for fibre-producing purpose was ob- 

 tainod only after a thousand trials. He then 

 went into the work of inventing the necessary 

 machines, for which he has now applied for 

 patents. — Japan Times, Aug, C. 



