94 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



"LOW PRICED CAMPHOR"' 



Is the heading of an article in the New York Oil 

 Pain tand Drue/ Reporter, May 25th which tells us 

 (inter alia) : — The expression " how low are the 

 mighty fallen " may be well applied at the pre- 

 sentmomenttothevalueof Camphor. Not sovery 

 long ago the refined gum sold in this country 

 at $1.24 per pound ; today the same goods are 

 freely offered at 52 cent3. Such a sweeping dis- 

 parity seem well nigh incomprehensible. It 

 certainly appears extraordinary that a staple 

 article of commerce like camphor could fluctuate 

 between such extreme high and low figures. 

 Camphor at one dollar and twenty-four cents 

 per pound, wholesale, is changed from a house- 

 hold necessity to a luxury which few people 

 of moderate means can afford, and its at one 

 time almost universal use as an insecticide was 

 discontinued except in rare instances, and so 

 substitutes have come to find a place so 

 well established that it will take considerable 

 effort and very low-priced camphor to replace. 

 As a result of the Russo-Japanese war and 

 from other causes, the natural position of the 

 gum became exceptionally strong. Then through 

 a series of circumstances the distribution of 

 campher in this country became vested in a 

 few hands, competition was stifled and prices, 

 which were also favoured by natural conditions, 

 soared to the unprecedented level quoted in 

 the spring of last year. But it is always 

 dangerous to the permanent good of an industry 

 to force the value of its product to phenomenal 

 limits ; it attracts too much attention, and 

 unless the monopoly is absolute and complete, 

 which is seldom (if ever) the case, competition 

 in some form or other is bound to creep in, 

 and — when it does — it generally comes to stay. 

 Chinese camphor received an extraordinary 

 impetus from the high prices of Japan anel 

 the synthetic product got quite a boom. 

 Nothing so stimulates invention as the force 

 of necessity, and so the chemists were en- 

 couraged to work on the production of artificial 

 camphor to an extent which alarmed the Mono- 

 poly Bureau of Japan. But after all a comparison 

 with the high and low figures of previous years 

 does not tend to make the present price of 

 52 cents per bulk camphor appear so remaikablo. 

 In 1898, or ten years ago, camphor sold as lc>w 

 as 33 cents and did not exceed 37J cents during 

 the entire year. In 1899 it gradually rose to 

 51 cents and during the following two years 

 fluctuated between this figure and 60A cents. 

 It fell again in 1902 to 57 cents, and continued 

 close to this price throughout the following 

 twelve months. From 1904 to 1907 camphor rose 

 gradually but surely, with few set-backs until 

 the highly level mark of $ 1.24 was reached during 

 the early part of last year. It should be 

 worthy of notice that the growth of the Chinese 

 camphor industry has had much to do in the 

 lowering of values. At one time, not very long 

 ago, receipts from this source were both light 

 in quantity and poor in quality, but of late 

 there has been a decided change in both 

 opposite directions and in view of the greater 

 price inducements offered, it holds at the 

 moment a decided advantage. 



" RRSTRSH MALAYA AS A FIELD FOR 

 INVESTMENT" 



Is the heading of a paper in' " Chambers's 

 Journal 1 '' for June, by Sir I\'ank A. Swettenham. 

 There is nothing very new to our readers and 

 there is perhaps too little made of certain draw- 

 backs and difficulties attendant on fresh in- 

 vestments at the present time of day. The 

 cultivation of rubber, Sir Frank mentions, was 

 not seriously taken in hand till eight years 

 ago when Liberian rubber failed. The rush 

 in Ceylon came a little later and yet strange 

 to say three if not four editions of our 

 " Rubber Planters' Manual'' were taken off 

 by Ceylon and Malayan and Java planters 

 between 1887 and 1903 and before Mr. 

 Herbert Wright turned his attention to the 

 subject! We read how Penang and Province 

 Wellesley have long had staple industries in 

 rice and coconuts, as well as sugar. Malacca 

 has rice, coconuts and tapioca with rubber of 

 recent years. Tin-mining was the great industry 

 in the Malay States, until first coffee and then 

 rubber planters came on the scene. Sir Frank 

 actually recommends " sugar " as a catch crop 

 for large estates of coconuts or rubber ! He 

 goes into full detail as to the rubber "boom'' 

 and recent if not present depression. Sir 

 Frank has no faith in " synthetic " rubber 

 proving a practical success, and he has high 

 chemical authority on his side, as we showed 

 in 1900 when Mr. Tilden (Professor of Chemistry, 

 Royal College of Science, London, f.k.s., and a 

 very high authority on his subject) at the British 

 Association meeting at York, told us that if he 

 were a young man in Ceylon he would plant all 

 the rubber he could withoul the slightest fear of 

 competition from "synthetic rubber." As a speci- 

 men of Sir Frank Swettenham's wiiting and 

 argument, we give the conclusion of his paper 

 — a paper that is sure to be read very widely 

 all over English-speaking countries : — 



The planters of Ceylon have earned a well- 

 deserved reputation for courage, persistence, 

 and resource in adverse circumstances. There 

 are many of them in Malaya; and they and there 

 colleagues, who have only local experience, must 

 recognise the conditions, which fortunately are 

 far from adverse, but still need firm and intelli- 

 gent treatment and the undivided .attention of 

 each manager to his own charge. The fact that 

 a considerable proportion of the 1907 produce 

 can only realise a reduced price must affect 

 future dividends, but thoughtful shareholders 

 will remember that these and previous dividends 

 have been earned on the produce of a fraction of 

 the planted area of their property, and even 

 thetappable trees are all still young and have not 

 yet reached anything like the limit of their 

 yielding capacity. There is no doubt that even 

 with rubber at two shillings and sixpence per 

 pound the cultivation of Para will pay well ; for 

 it can be put on the market at one shilling and 

 sixpence per pound, and it is questionable 

 whether the forest rubber of South America 

 can be brought to market at that price. With 

 proper economy, good management, and no un- 

 foreseen calamity, thoughtful planters believe 

 that it may be possible to reduce the cost of 



