THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
CAMPHOR. 
The mountains iu the interior of Formosa, especially in 
the Northern part of the island, are still covered with 
camphor trees, but these are ruthlessly destroyed as the 
Chinese invasion progresses, and their place is taken by 
other cultures, such as tea and indigo, which yield a 
much quicker return. The total extinction of the 
camphor-laurels in Formosa is therefore, to all appear- 
ances, a question of, perhaps, not more than twelve 
or fifteen years, at the end of which period the 
Chinese camphor of our markets may have become a 
thing of the past. 
Statistical information concerning the exportation of 
camphor from Formosa is published occasionally, but 
the figures given in different reports seldom agree. 
The average yearly shipments from the island may, 
however, be set down at about 11,300 piculs. In 1882 
and 1883 the exports fell to one-half of the usual 
quantity, and in 1884 and 1885, partly on account of 
the political differences between France and China, 
and partly because of the increased robtlessness of the 
aborigines, they ceased almost entirely. Last year the 
shipments again assumed normal proportions. 
The probable future of the camphor industry in 
Japan is to some extent a matter of conjecture, as 
it is difficult to obtain entirely reliable data ; hut a 
careful comparison of the information vouchsafed by 
the most trustworthy sources favours the assumption 
that iu this country also the destruction of camphor 
laurels has, for some time at least, been proceeding at 
a much faster pace than the raising of new trees. 
Japanese camphor, the variety most esteemed of 
those known to European commerce, has a peculiar 
sassafras odour, is larger grained and of a paler or 
more pinkish tint than Formosa camphor, and it 
now occupies the leading position on our markets. 
It arrives here in woodon tubs weighing about 1 cwt., 
and is principally imported via Hiogo, smaller quant- 
ities reaching us via Osaka, Yokohama, and Nagasaki. 
The same discrepancy in the export figures occurs 
in the different Japanese statistics as is the case 
with Formosa. 
The following figures (expressing number of piculs) 
are derived from a source generally considered reli- 
able, but we are incliued to believe that in some 
cases the Hiogo exports alone are made to do duty 
for those from all the Japanese ports together : — 
•1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 
25,041 18,861 23,714 33,994 33,241 30,365 21,199 36,632 
It will thus be seen that Japan now yields about 
three or four times as much camphor as Formosa. 
The Japanese provinces of Tosa and Satsuma are the 
centres of the camphor industry. The product dis- 
tilled there is taken to the capital of Tosa and shipped 
to Osaka, where it passes into the hands of European 
dealers, who export it uia Hiogo. Large quantities 
are also obtained in Kin Sin, the southernmost 
island of Japan, and brought into commerce partly 
Via Nagasaki, the only port on that island, and 
partly via Shanghai and Hong Kong, to which ports 
the camphor is conveyed by native craft. 
The process of distilling camphor as carried on in 
Japan is of an extremely simple character. The 
collectors choose the oldest trees, which are generally 
the richest, and having cut one down, proceed to 
lop off the branches. The whole is then cut into 
Bhipa and put iu a wooden tub with a false bottom, 
placed over an iron pan filled with water and heated 
by means of a stove. The vapour of the boiling 
Water passes through the tub, currying with it the 
Camphor from the chips through a bamboo tube to 
the cooling apparatus, where, upon being passed in 
" zig-zag direction through vertical layers of rice 
straw, it com!, uses, aloug with its by-produot, the cam- 
phor oil. This oil is generally put through a further 
process of distillation, whereby more camphor is 
obtained and exported to Europe, but large quant- 
ities of it are also consumed in the country, principally 
In the preparation of varnishes. 
In Japan the camphor trees are mostly owned by 
Hi U.'V.iiinicnt, who, employ the wood iu .shipbuild- 
ing. Former]; there were also extensive plantations 
iu the hands of private owner*, but at present 
these plantations are almost extinct. It is said that 
at one time the Japanese law required a new camphor 
tree to be planted wherever an old one was destroyed, 
but that this practice has now become obsolete. Re- 
ports have obtained currenoy lately that large tracts 
of trees owned by the Japanese Government bad been 
cut down, and perhaps the anxiety to strengthen 
the maritime resources of the country may account 
for the largely increased production of camphor during 
the last five or six years. Speculative movements 
apart, there is, perhaps, no reason to expect any 
important advance in the price of camphor for some 
years to come ; iu fact, it seems quite within the 
range of possibility that the over-production of the 
crude product at present existing, is destined to 
assume still larger proportions in the Dear future; 
but it is not unreasonable to suppose that this 
period of abundant supply will be followed by one 
of extreme and continued scarcity, unless steps are 
taken to propagate the camphor trees on an extensive 
scale in countries other than those which now supply 
our requirements. 
The camphor laurel thrives best in certain tropical 
and semi-tropical districts, possessing a dry soil and 
a moist atmosphere, such as is found on many 
mountain-slopes. In Japan the tree is able to bear 
the hardest winters, during which occassionally as 
many as eighty or ninety frost-nights occur, the temper- 
ature sometime? falling to 90° Cent, below zero. The 
propagation of the tree is very easy. The seeds can 
be planted in garden soil after the manner of peas, 
and by next season will have attained a height of 
about 2 feet. They may tho be permanently trans- 
planted with the care required by evergreen trees. 
In California and the Southern States of America 
camphor trees flourish very well, but they have not 
hitherto been cultivated there for commercial pur- 
poses. In Europe the tree flourishes in certain parts 
of Italy. 
The position of camphor at the present moment 
may be summed up as follows: — A comparatively 
favourable statist : eal position, coupled with an absence 
of demand on the part of the refiners, who appear 
well supplied. A firm tone rules for the refined pro- 
duct, which is comparatively cheap, but there is less 
demand on the part of consumers that might have 
been expected at the present time of the year. There 
are prospects of considerable shipments from the 
producing countries for some time to come, but of a 
dearth iu the exports at no very distant date. 
There seems very little chance that the consump- 
tion of camphor, either for medicinal purposes or as 
a preservative of clothes, will at all diminish, no 
efficient subst tutes for the drug having hitherto been 
discovered. N iprhalin has indeed been named, as a 
probable competitor of camphor in some depart- 
ments, but it does not seem lik«lv ever to become a 
dangerous rival. — Chemist and Druggist. 
Preserving Wood. — A very simple method of 
preserving wood effectively ia as follows, which is 
applied in Norway to telegraphic poles: — After the 
poles are set in place a man goes from one to an- 
other with an auger, with which he bores, a hole 111 
each post, beginning at a point about two feet above 
the ground and boring obliquely dowuward at an 
small an angle aa possible with the axis of the post, 
until the point of the auger roaches the centre of 
the stick. The auger hole should be an inch in 
diameter, and in telegraph poles of the ordinary 
size will hold easily four or fivo ounces of sulphate 
of copper, which is put into it in the form of coarsely 
powdered ' crystals, and the opening then stopped 
with aplug. the end of which is left projecting au 
a handle, so that it can be pulled out and replaced. 
Just what action goes on iu the interior of the stick 
no one pretends to say, but it is found that the 
crystals of copper sulphate disappear slowly, so that 
every three or four months the charge mnst be re- 
newed, while tho wood both above and below the 
auger hole, even to the very top of tho pole, gradu- 
ally aabUiues the greenish tuit due to tho presence 
of copper iu tho pores. — American Cultivitar. 
