314 



[April, 1909. 



good as they could possibly be— if the 

 nature of the varieties arid the way 

 they were originally planted are taken 

 into consideration. It may safely be 

 asserted that this first large experiment 

 has turned out an unqualified success, 

 and that the instruction afforded by it 

 has not been without value to the cacao 

 industry of Ceylon. 



We may next allude to the important 

 series of experiments relating; to the 

 manuring of old cacao, and representing 

 the first thorough investigation of the 

 effect of the repeated application of 

 various fertilisers to a permanent crop 

 in the tropics. It is too early, as yet, 

 to dogmatize upon the lesult of these 

 experiments, but from their very nature 

 it is impossible that they should ulti- 

 mately fail to yield information of 

 first-rate value. The celebrated experi- 

 ments at Rolhamsted have now been 

 in existence for over sixty years, and 

 although they deal with the manuring of 

 an annual crop, some of the original 

 trials are still being continued. There 

 is, no doubt, that such experiments 

 must be continued over a considerable 

 series of years before the conclusions 

 drawn from them can be regarded 

 as beyond the reach of criticism. 

 It is therefore useless to be impatient of 

 results, and worse than useless to jump 

 to hasty conclusions from the result of 

 a few years' work; but it is anticipated 

 that in another five years or so we shall 

 begin to know something about the 

 manuring of old cacao. Meanwhile, a 

 long series of minor experiments have 

 been carried out, and thes6 alone would 

 be sufficient amply to justify the exis- 

 tence of the Experiment Station during 

 the first few years of its being. Experi- 

 ments have been made, or are being made, 

 upon the following products among 

 others — attended in every case with 

 information of value to those interested 

 in them— Cacao, Tea, Rubber (including 

 Hevea, Castilloa, Puntumia, Ceara and 

 the new varieties of Manicjobar), Coco- 

 nuts, Paddy, Arecanuts, Citronella and 

 Lemon grasses, Tobacco, Maize and 

 various leguminous plants, as well as a 

 number of others of lesser interest. 



Criticisms have reached us at various 

 times because some of our experiments 

 have turned out to be failures. To criti- 

 cise an experiment and say it ought 

 never to have been attempted because it 

 has not turned out a success, shows not 

 only a want of appreciation of the essen- 

 tial nature of an experiment, but also 

 a misapprehension of the chief aim 

 and object of an Experiment Station. 

 We conceive it to be one of the chief 

 functions of those responsible for the 

 working of such a station to make 



mistakes in order that others may avoid 

 them. It is their business to try forms 

 of cultivation so speculative that people 

 of moderate capital are not justified in 

 attempting them for themselves. Such 

 forms of cultivation will often turn out 

 to be impracticable, but even if one out 

 of many proves to be a success, the infor- 

 mation gained will make up for many 

 failures by its value to the community 

 at large. An allied, but more serious, 

 mistake into which visitors have some- 

 times fallen is to suppose that because 

 some particular crop is being tried upon 

 the Experiment Station, it is thereby 

 guaranteed as a paying form of culti- 

 vation, A reference to our preceding 

 remarks will show the reason why this is 

 not by any means the case. Reports on 

 all such crops are published in due 

 course, and it is by these that we expect 

 the public to be guided. On the other 

 hand, visitors who have eyes to see, and 

 who are able to refrain from jumping to 

 conclusions upon a cursory examination 

 of incomplete experiments, will find a 

 great deal to interest them on the 

 Experiment Station— whatever their own 

 particular line of agriculture may be — 

 and all such visitors are very welcome. 



R. H. L. 



ESSENTIAL OILS. 



Semi-annual Report of Schimmel & Co. (Fritzsehe 

 Brothers), November, 1908. 



Camphor Oil. 



Camphor Oil and Camphor: Schimmel' s 

 semi-annual report, November, 1908, 

 shows that owing to the weak market 

 stocks have largely increased in Japan 

 and prices are likely to go still lower. 



The price of refined camphor has drop- 

 ped in Japan to Is. 5|d. per lb., with 

 the alleged object of killing the com- 

 petition of synthetic camphor which has 

 partially svicceeded, as it is said that the 

 principal makers in Germany have for 

 the present ceased manufacturing. If 

 true there is no reason for a further 

 decline in the price cf camphor. 



The chief countries using camphor are 

 British India and the Straits Settle- 

 ments, where the consumption is chiefly 

 due to the use of camphor in the manu- 

 facture of fumigating candles for ritual- 

 istic purposes and of medicinal prepar- 

 ations ; Europe and America, where it 

 is mainly employed in the manufacture 

 of celluloid. 



The Japanese Government intends 

 monopolising the trade in camphor seed 

 and may stop exportation of seed al- 



