578 



The {Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



According to the same source, the exports of 

 camphor from Formosa in the year 1910 were as 

 follows : — 



lb. 



United States ... 2,942,800 

 Germany ... 1,808,000 



France 908,667 

 United Kingdom ... 542,400 

 India ... 249,333 



Japan ... 35,072 



Total ... 6,486,272 lb. (Value 

 £404,112.) 



It is further reported that last year the Japa- 

 nese camphor refiners had to pay 5 yen 80 sen( = 

 ll/10id,) per 100 kin (133 1b.) more for their 

 crude camphor than was paid by their compe- 

 titors in Europe and America, and that in con- 

 sequence they started an energetic movement 

 for the purpose of inducing their Government 

 to sell crude camphor within the Japanese 

 Empire at the same price as abroad. It was 

 pointed out that the cost-price of camphor 

 was of great importance in view of the fact 

 that the manufacture of celluloid has recently 

 been started in Japan, and that camphor is the 

 principal raw material for this manufacture. In 

 the meantime the Government of Formosa has 

 ordered the price of camphor for shipment to 

 Europe to be raised, as from April 1st, 1911, 

 from £5 5s. to £7 10s. per case, 



A chapter in the Yearbook of the U.S. Depart- 

 ment oj Agriculture, by S. C. Hood and B. H. 

 True, contains particulars of the present posi- 

 tion of camphor cultivation in the United 

 States, of which an American periodical pub- 

 lishes an extract, dealing principally with the 

 yields which have been obtained thus far and 

 with the prospects of tho future development of 

 the plantations. It is stated that an ex- 

 amination of 1,000 trees in the Statosof Flor- 

 ida, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, and Cali- 

 fornia revealed considerable variations in 

 the yield of camphor from leaves and from 

 branches. For instance, a few trees which had 

 grown up in the shade of other trees or of high 

 buildings only yielded 0'70 per cent, of crude 

 distillate, whereas other trees, which had 

 grown on poor soil and had received no care, 

 yielded up to 2'77 per cent, distillate. These 

 figures, however, represent the extremes on 

 either side ; as a general rule a yield of from 

 T75 to 2"25 per cent, may be expected, calcu- 

 lated on green material. The crude oil contains 

 from 75 to 80 per cent, pure camphor, which 

 thus equals an outputof from 1*35 to 1*50 per cent 

 calculated on green material. This yield may be 

 increased by trimming the trees, and especially 

 by growing them in hedges. To such an extent is 

 it possible to increase this yield, that the out- 

 put obtained up to the present from hedge rows 

 grown at distances of 15 feet (space between the 

 separate trees 6 feet, height of the trees 8 feet), 

 amounted for each of the two trimmings which 

 were made yearly to 8,000 lb. of green material 

 per acre, corresponding to a total yield of pure 

 camphor of from 175 to 200 lb. yearly. The 

 planting of camphor trees is specially recom- 

 mended on light, sandy soil, such as is found in 

 many parts of the Southern States, especially 



in Florida. At the same time it is desirable, id 

 view of the high cost of transport, to erect a 

 distillery, and if possible also a refinery, in im- 

 mediate vicinity to the plantation. In order to 

 keep such a plant going rationally a plantation 

 of at least 200 acres is required. The cost of 

 production calculated per pound is of course 

 less when operations are conducted on a large 

 scale, and it may be assumed that a plantation 

 of 500 acres would be sufficient to warrant the 

 production of camphor at the lowest possible 

 price. 



D. E. Hntchins, lately Coaservator of Forests, 

 communicates some interesting information on 

 the natural occurrence of camphor -trees in 

 German East Africa. According to this autho- 

 rity, the camphor-tree is abundant and shows 

 a good natural production in a forest situated 

 in the neighbourhood of Wilhelmstal and 

 leased by a Mr Wiese. At one place in the 

 West Usambara Mountains, for example, 

 Hutchins counted 26 seedlings of camphor 

 on 20 squareyards. Their appearance, he states, 

 was more vigorous than that of the suckers 

 which constitute 99 per cent of the reproduc- 

 tion in British East Africa, Unfortunately, 

 Hutchins omits to state whether the tree is 

 botanically allied to the true camphor-tree {Cin- 

 namomum (amphora). Hutchins regards it as 

 curious that neither the botanical staff at the 

 Imperial German Biological-Agricultural Insti- 

 tute at Amani nor the forest officials at Wilhem- 

 stal had recognised the tree. 



Synthetic Camphor. 



The Journal from which we take the above 

 particulars points out that, some years ago, 

 Hutchins, on behalf of the British Colonial 

 Office, investigated the potentialities of the 

 forests of Kenia, British East Africa, and on that 

 occasion reported on the occurrence there of 

 the " lbean camphor-tree"* but that nothing 

 appears to have been done since then to confirm 

 the camphor-bearing properties of that tree. 



As a result of the fail in price of natural 

 camphor which took place some time ago, the 

 manufacture of the synthetic article of course 

 received a heavy blow. An editorial article in a 

 French journal statesfthat a( French?) compauy 

 which controls several processes relating to the 

 manufacture of camphor has circularised its 

 shareholders to the effect that the cost of pro- 

 duction of syntheticcamphor must be kept as low 

 as possible, and that with the prices now ruling 

 for the raw material, turpentine oil, it is im- 

 possible to make the manufacture pay. The 

 company, however, was in possession of a new 

 process for the preparation of a cheap turpen- 

 tine oil, for the carrying-out of which it was 

 intended to float a subsidiary company. The 

 writer of the editorial comment asks how 

 it would be possible by such means to bring 

 about a considerable reduction in the cost-price 

 of synthetic camphor without causing first of 

 all a general reduction in the price of turpentine 

 oil as a result of the working of the new pro- 

 cess and he enquires whether, for this reason, 

 it would not be more remunerative to sell the 



* Comp. Report October 1907, 26. 



f Journ. d' Agriculture tropicale 11 (1911), 156 



