8i4 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTtJEIST, [June 1, 190l. 
ment reserving the right of buying all camphor 
distilled in the island at a fixed price. This arrange- 
ment lasted until the opening of the treaty ports, 
when European traders refused to recognise tiie 
monopoly ai'd began to trade directly with the native 
diatihers. This procedure was resented by the 
Mandnrius, aud much trouble ensued between the 
Chineae and lha Europeans. Finally the Monopoly 
was complotoly withdrawn in 1S63. 
Since ihat time the industry has flourished, and 
has gradually extinguished camphor production on 
the Utiinese mainUi.nd and in Japan. 
As a natural result of this unrestricted trade, 
the forests have been worked in such an improvident 
fashion that they would have been exhausted in a 
few more years. The restrictions on ths output 
which have so far been the most remarkable feature 
of tha Japanese administration are, therefore, to a 
certain extent justified by the condition of the forests. 
The island has now been divided up into six camphor 
diatricts, each being controlled from a cbuUmI office, 
which issues licences, and fixes the price iU which 
the Administrator will buy camphor in that district. 
The number of stills licensed has been redu-od to 
1,4(J0, while formerly 4,000 were said to be continuously 
employed. The crude camphor bought by the 
Government is now sent to a central factory at 
Taipeh, where it is pressed free from oil, compressd 
into cakes and prepared for export- This preliminary 
refining ensures ihe camphor being put on the 
market in a better condition than formerly. It is 
not intended at present to make any change in the 
native method (f distillation, although this admits 
of great improvement, as will be seen from the 
following biioit description. A rough oven of loam, 
clay aijO btouts is first built to a height of about 
four feel, fi-'oin the ground ; in this is placed a 
quantity of wood, and on the latter a large iron 
kettle, 10 which wf.ter is continuously supplied from 
a second vessel provided with a tap. The kettle is 
surmounted by a cylindrical barrel packed full of 
small pieces of camphor wood. From the the top 
of the barrel a bamboo tube leads to an air-tight 
box used as a receiver. The whole apparatus is 
careiuily luted with clay, and when ready the wood 
is liguted, and, as a result, steam from the kettle 
passes up through the camphor wood carrying with 
it the voiaule oil, which condenses in ihe long 
bamboo tuoe ana ruDS into tue receiver. Here the 
oil separates into a solid part, which is camphor 
and liquid poi tion, wbicb constitutes crude camphor, 
Oii. Tho iai-ter material still contains from 20 to 
80 per cent, of camphor; formerly it was expoited 
to Europe in this state, but now it is sent to Japan, 
where the valuable camphor is extracted, and the 
resiuual oil only sent to Europe. It should be 
noted, therefore, that the camphor oil now found 
in commerce is a much less valuable product than 
formerly. The distillation is chiefly carried on in 
the interior of the island, and is always liable to 
interruption from the semi-civilized natives, who also 
pluuaer the caravans on their way to the coast, 
the frequency of such depredations during last year 
accounting largely to the high price of the sub- 
Btance, which is at present just 100 per cent, greater 
than before the establishment of the new regime 
(dchummtls Report, October, 1900). In addition to 
restricting the production, the Japanese Government 
alec for a tim.e prohibited the export of camphor, 
in the hope ot forcing up the price with the 
cbiect of obtaining a certain fixed revenue from the 
island. It is very doubtful whether this policy will 
faucceed, since already celluloid, the manufacture of 
which foimerly required a great deal of camphor, is 
now being made with naphthalene as a subuiitute. 
Camphor-oil also, which is chiefly used for perfuming 
common hoasLhold suaps, will no doubt be replaced 
by other iaeiponsive oils, if the price increases 
^"itlif'of interest to note in oonnection with the 
riae in the P"ce of camphor, that Messrs. achummel 
and Co. have suggested India and Ceylon as suitable 
countries for cultivating the camphor tree (Berichte 
Von Sdiummel, April, 1896), and they point out that 
Mr. D. Hooper's investigations show that camphor 
may be successfully produced in India. Thi^ author 
found that the leaves of a camphor tree grown in 
the ludian Government plantation at Ootacamund 
yielded, on distillation in a current of steam, an oil 
contaiaing 10 to 15 per cent, of camphor, while a 
second specimen of leaves collected at Nadnvatam, 
on the slopes of the Nilgiris, gave a richer oil, 
containing about 75 per cent, of camphor. This 
possibility has also been favourably regarded by Dr. 
Watt (Die*. Econ. Prod. India, page 89). That the 
establishment of plantations of camphor trees would 
be very profiable is clearly shown by the following 
stati8ti<-s, which are those upon which the selling 
price in Formosa has been fixed by the Japanese 
Government. 
The "^orld's requirement of camphor is estimated 
at 10,400 000 lb. per annum; of this, under the new 
administration, about 5,200,000 lb. will be suppiipd 
by Formoiia, while about one-third of the whole 
will be exported from Japan, leaving a diminution 
on the export compared with 1898 of about 
3,640,000 lb. 
According to articles in the Taiwain Kichi Nichi 
Shimpo, published in Formosa, the actual cost of 
the production of camphor is 26 67 yen per picul 
(about £2. 14s. od. for 133 lb.), the expenses of 
administration amount to about 28 yen per picul, 
and the selling price in Hong Kong is 70 yen per 
picul. The profit accruing to the Government is 
therefore about 30 shillings per picul at present, bnt 
it is bopecl to increase the price so that on the 
toC'tl production of the island a profit of £135,000 
will be made ^et f^nnam.— Imperial Institute Journal . 
/> 
PLANTING NOTES. 
How TO Get a Good Milkee.— If you want a good 
milker, make her, and bec;in to make her the day she 
is weaned. If you want to keep a good milking machine 
in good order 'vhen you have made it, take aa much 
care of it, and look at it as often as you do at your 
watch, and keep it even more regularly wound up. 
You must keep time with your milch cow if you want 
her to keep time with yon. Supply her with properly- 
balanced rations, if you want a good ration of really 
valuable milk. Dispense with any cow that does not 
prove a good milker after her third calf, but remember, 
the fiiult is usually altogether the owner's, not the 
cow. — Journal of the Department of Agriculture. 
Savin* Swfet Potatoes foe Seed. — Mr. E. J. 
Lance, of Goly ton, via Mount Druitt, writes :— 
"Knowing the difficulty of getting sweet pota- 
toes for seed, last March I got some from a 
greengrocer in Newtown, which were grown in the 
Gosford district. After picking out the soundest and 
best, I got some sand, dried it in the oven, and 
sifted it so as to have no gravel to injure the 
tubers. Then I got a box about 4 inches deep, and 
put a layer of sand and then a layer of sweet potatoes, 
then another layer of sand and a layer of potatoes till 
the box was full, the last layer being of sand. I kept 
the box in the house on a chair till September 
following, whan they were all as sound as when put 
into the sp^nd. On planting they all came up, and 
grew splendidly. I planted ihem in a warm position, 
close to the surface, and gave them plenty of water. 
I had frequently grown sweet potatoes on a small 
scale before, and my method is not to cut the shoots 
CO grow, but to la.yer them when long enough, covering 
various joints here and there. I can always get a 
bigger crop of sweet potatoes in this way, o£E a 
given piece of ground than common potatoes. I 
might add that the seed-tubers had not sprouted 
when I put them into the ground, in September. The 
shoots did not show up until nearly a month later." 
—Agricultural Gazette of N.- S. Wales, 
