68 THE TROPICAL 
'enoe. The soil, preferably sandy and well drained, 
ehonld be irrigated unless there are abundant raius- 
Fifty inches of water during the warm growing season 
is desirable, and much more may well be used where 
the air is very dry. 
An abundance of plant-food, rich in nitrogen, is 
required for rapid grov^th, but the kind of fertilizer 
that can be most profitably applied will vary accor- 
ding to the character of the aoil in each locality. 
In the absence of definite information in this re- 
gard the kind of fertilizer producing most rapid 
growth of wood in the orange or in other fruit trees 
may be taken as an index. 
Propagation. 
Camphor tree s may be grown either from seed or 
from cuttings. They are usually grown from seed, 
as the trees fruit abundantly, and seedlings can be 
grown more easily than cuttings. The seeds are 
collected at maturity in October and November, and 
after drying are packed in sharp white sand or some 
similar material to keep them fresh until the time 
of planting in spring. About the last of March they 
are shown in drills in the seed bed. 
The soil of the seed bed should be a good sandy 
loam mixed with about one-third leaf mould. The 
seed bed should be kept moist, but not too wet, and 
should be shaded from the direct rays of the sun 
if the weather is warm. The best soil temperature 
for germinating camphor seeds is from 70° to 75° F. 
The temperature of the atmosphere may be ten de- 
grees higher. The seedlings will grow well at higher 
temperatures, but are likely to lack vigour and 
hardiness. 
The seedlings may be grown in pots, which will 
facilitate transplanting at any time, or they may be 
transplanted in nursery rows early in April when one 
year old. Plants two years old are generally regarded 
as best for final planting. At this age they vary 
from 20 to 40 inches in height. 
Planting and CuUivatio7i. 
In Japan, where the law requires that a new tree 
shall be set out for every one cut, they are not 
generally set in strait orchard rows, but cultivation 
there is performed almost exclusively by hand labour. 
There are no records showing results or regular 
orchard planting, hence the distances at which trees 
should be planted must be determined by the size 
and form of the trees and the methods of cultiva- 
tion and of procuring the gum. They may be set 
closely in rows about 10 feet apart, and alternate 
rows cut and reset every five years, thus producing 
bnah-like plants of ten years' growth. They may 
be planted in checks 10 feet square, and alternate 
trees cut every ten or twelve years, or they may be 
planted in larger checks, and all of the trees be 
cut at the age of fifteen or twenty years. 
There are not sufficient data obtainable upon which 
to base definite statements as to the best methods 
of planting, or the af;e at which the trees may be 
cut with greatest profit. A recent English consular 
report from Japan states that, "although hitherto 
the youngest wood from which camphor was extracted 
was about seventy to eighty years old, it is expected 
that under the present scientific management the 
trees will give equally good results after twenty-five 
or thirty years." Camphor of good quality has been 
produced in Florida from the leaves and twigs of 
trees less than twenty years old, 1 lb. of crude 
camphor being obtained from 77 lb. of leaves and 
twigs. 
The trees will endure severe pruning with little 
apparent injury. One-third of the leaves and young 
shoots may be removed at one time without mate- 
rially checking the growth of the tree. The largest 
proportion of camphor is contained in the older, larger 
roots ; the trunk, limbs, twigs, and leaves containing 
successively a decreasing proportion. When the cam- 
phor tree is killed nearly to the ground by frost it 
sends up vigorous shoots from the base. It may be 
expected to do tho same when cut, especially if cut 
l»te in the fall. Experiments ftre needed to deter 
AGRICULTURIST. [Jur.Y 2, 1900, 
mine whether this growth may be depended upon 
or whether it will be more protiiable to dig oi.t the 
larger roots and set ont new seedlings. 
lii^tilhtlion. 
In the native forests in Formosa, Fukieii, and 
Japan, camplior is distilled almost exclusively from 
the wood of the trunk-, roots, and larger branches. 
The work is performed by hand labour, and the 
methods employed seem rather crude. Different 
methods of distillation are employed in different 
districts, but thote in use in the jirovince of Tosa, 
in Japan, appear to bs the most ekilful. The cam- 
phor trees are felled, and the trunk, larger limbs, 
and sometimes the roots, are cut into chips by hand 
labour with a sharp concave adze. 
The fresh chips are placed in a wooden tub about 
40 inches high and 20 inches in diameter at the base, 
tapering toward the tcp like an old fashioned churn 
The perforated bottom of the tub fits tightly over 
an iron pan of water ou fururice of masonry. The 
tub has a tight-fitting cover, which may be removed 
to put in the chips. It is surrounded by a layer of 
earth about 6 inches thick to aid in retaining a 
uniform temperature. A bamboo tube extends from 
near the tcp of the tub into the condenser. This 
consists of two wooden tubs of different sizes, the 
larger oue right side up, kept about two-thirds full 
of water from ;\ continuous stream which runs out 
of a hole in one side. The smaller one is inverted 
with its edges below the water, furming an air-tight 
chamber. This air chamber is kept cool by the 
water falling on the top and running down over the 
sides. The upper part of the air chamber is some- 
times filled with clean rice straw, on which the 
camphor crystallizes, while the oil drips down and 
collects on the surface of the waier. In some cases 
the camphor and oil are allowed to collect together 
on the surface of the water and are afterward sepa- 
rated by filtration through rice straw or by pressure.' 
About 12 hours are required for dist'Uic'g a tub- 
ful by this method. Then the chips are removed 
and dried for upo in the furuace, and a new charge 
is put iu. At the same time the camphor and oil 
are removed from the condenser. By this method 
20 to 40 lb. of :hips are required for 1 lb. of crude 
camphor. 
The principles generally held to be essential in 
distilling camphor cf good quality are : — (1) The 
heat nmst be uniform and not too great, producing 
a steady supply of steam ; (2) the steam after liber- 
ating the camphor must not come in contact with 
metal, that is, the tub and condensing apparatui 
must be of wood. 
SKggested Improvements. 
Iilany improvements upon the methods described 
cxn doubtless be made, tending both to a reduction 
in cost and an increase in the proportion of crude 
material obtained. Instead of an adze wielded by 
hand labour .i iiiaobine similar to the "hog" used 
for grinding up wastf slabs in sawmills may be used 
to reduce camphor limbs to the requisite fineness 
for distillp..lion. Better distilling apparatus can prob- 
ably be devised. Thermometers may be introduced 
to determine the heat in the distilling tub, and the 
furnace may be so arranged as to permit better 
control and greater economy in fuel. Camphor and 
camphor-oil are both Klightly soluble in water, and 
the condensing chamber should be imp.'oved so as 
to recover the product that is being constantly carried 
off in the running stream which cools the chamber 
Outlooh for Fittiire MarJ.-et. 
The consumption of camphor in the United States, 
as measured by the importations, has been decreas- 
ing during the past ten years, while the price has 
been increasing. 
The Tariff Act, approved July 27. 1897, imposes a 
duty of G centd per pound on refined camphor, and 
leaves crude camphor on the frse list, as heretofore. 
There has been an increase in importations of 
refined camphor, due to improved methods of refin- 
