Gums, Resins, 



320 



[October, 1908. 



quantities are used in the manufacture 

 of smokeless powder, and that the Japan- 

 ese have the monopoly of the produc- 

 tion in Formosa." According to the 

 Chemist and Druggist, only about 2 per 

 cent, goes in gun-cotton, and no mention 

 being made of smokeless powder, it is 

 either included in this 2 per cent, or is 

 too small a quantity to be placed separ- 

 ately. As to the price, that is bound 

 to come down, and the sooner the better ; 

 but at present it shows no chance of 

 dropping below a profit unworthy of 

 being earned by a European. The Tro- 

 pical Agriculturist does state in the 

 July issue, already referred to, that the 

 demand would be almost entirely met if 

 Ceylon were to plant 25,000 acres with 

 this product. This does not seem a very 

 large area, but we cannot say off-hand 

 what the annual production per acre is 

 supposed to be. The same journal, in 

 February, stated that the principal diffi- 

 culty in Ceylon was lack of experience 

 in the distillation. As with the sugar 

 output in India, this may perhaps 

 reduce the output by half. 



Dr. Ridley, in the Straits Agricultural 

 Bulletin for June, reports that in Cali- 

 fornia (U. S. A.) the tree seems to do 

 well, and experimental returns show 

 that the camphor produced is purer than 

 the Japanese. In Tonkin it justifies the 

 most sanguine expectations, and the 

 Journal d? Agriculture Tropicale for 

 November gives full details of the 

 camphor experiments in Tonkin. Even 

 in England the tree flourishes. "The 

 finest tree I have ever seen," continues 

 Mr. Ridley, " was one in Cornwall, near 

 Fowey. One would, therefore, hardly 

 expect that the tree would thrive in the 

 Tropics so near the Equator. However, 

 several planters in the Peninsula are 

 trying it. Mr. Larken notes that in 

 Johore the seeds took a morth to come 

 up, but all are starting." In the Straits 

 Botanic Gardens, camphor plants have 

 been growing for many years, but have 

 made very little growth, and still re- 

 main bushes of no great size, which have 

 never flowered or fruited. They have 

 all been planted in stiff clay ; perhaps in 

 the hill regions, where the soil is lighter 

 and more friable, they would do 

 better. 



We have already mentioned an 

 attempt made in the Federated Malay 

 States to propagate camphor. The 

 American Bureau of Plant Industry 

 speaks well, not only of the camphor 

 trees in Michigan and Florida, but also of 

 the quality of the 30 lb. of camphor 

 obtained. Mr. Hutchins, in his report 

 on the Kenia forests in British East 

 Africa, calls attention to the "Ibean 

 camphor tree," many specimen s of which 

 are of enormous size, 120 to 130 ft. high. 

 Mr. Hutchins does not say, however, 

 that camphor has actually been isolated 

 from this tree, and detected. 



Experimental plantings have been 

 carried on in Hawaii, and, according to 

 the Journal d! Agriculture Tropicale, the 

 tree has been acclimatised in Algiers for 

 a long time. Here the C. cainphora is 

 grafted on the poorer yielding Camphora 

 inuncta, in order to increase the returns, 

 which from the single species was con- 

 sidered a poor one, only "65 per cent, 

 against 1"12 to P140 percent, from the 

 grafted tree. 



Meanwhile, it must be remembered that 

 the Japanese are not idle. Whilst Dr. 

 Willis, in Ceylon, talks of 25,000 acres, 

 Schimmel reports that the Japanese 

 Government are making serious efforts 

 to improve the cultivation both in Japan 

 and Formosa, aud that a large sum 

 granted by the Japanese Parliament for 

 forestry purposes will be used exclu- 

 sively for camphor plantations. Accord- 

 ing to the Chemist and Druggist, there 

 are in Japan over 400,000 acres of land in 

 private hands, on which it is hoped to 

 plant 361,470,000 trees, while they talk of 

 planting 1,170,810,000 trees on some 

 1,300,000 acres of Government land. 

 These 1,500,000,000 trees, it is reckoned, 

 will yield 10,844,000 kin* of camphor, and 

 4,337, 640 kin of camphor oil. In 1904-5, 

 8,750,000 trees were planted, so the above 

 stupendous cultivation would take some 

 time. Whilst it would yield 10,000,000 

 kin of camphor, the present world's 

 consumption is returned as being 

 8,000,000 kin. Lower prices and increased 

 population can, of course, increase the 

 demand to any point. — Tropical Life, 

 Vol. IV., No. 2, February, 1908. 



* lKin = 10-6 lb. 4,000,000 = 2,400 tons. 



