556 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Feb. 1, 1904. 
1 should be obliged also if you could let me know 
what sort) of soil Camphor prefers, and anyUiiug 
else about it. Thinking you in anticipalion, — 
Yours fail hfally, WM. dENDRY. 
[vVe miicli rei^ret the delay whtuli has ocurred 
Iq replying to the above. Pia-its sliDuid easily 
stand the j:juaiey from her's to Tufcicorin, 
Hakgala Gardens, Nuwara Eiiya, have only a 
few plants available just now, aad the price is 
25 eta each. The only source of seeds 
known of at Peradeniya (hardens here is — the 
Yokohama Nursery & Go,, Ltd., 21 — 35 Nakanuira, 
Yokohama, Japan. As our correspondent remarks, 
the seeds supplied are often either boiled, or too 
old to germinate. But there is usually a chance of 
some ol them germinating. Tiie suppliers should 
first be written to and asked what time of year 
the seed is in season, which would leave less 
excuse for failures, as the seed does not soon lose 
vitalitj'. It should be packed in damp saw dust or 
similar light uiatorial, instead of being sent dry 
as is usually done. Probably the Peradeniya 
circular (copy of which we send «ur correspondent) 
gives most, of the other information desired. 
But the Kew Bulletin of May and June 1899 
gives other iritorm:ttiou — not so easily available — 
which should be of value, as follows: — 
" CONDITIONS OF SUCCESSFaL CULTIVATION. 
" For most of the secoudary purposes, the camphor 
tre'i may well ba caltivated whecdver it can ba made 
to live ; but for c immaroial distillation, aud for the 
piodaction of wood for cabinet purposes, it must be 
grown under the most favoarable conditions. The 
minimum winter lemperuture sbould not be below 
20 ' f" > ""Od this mi;iimum should be of rare occurrence. 
The soil, preferably aandy and well drained, should 
ba irrigated uuleas there are abundant raius. Fifty 
inches of water during the warm growing season is 
desirable, and muoh more may well be used where 
the air la very dry. 
" An abundimce o£ plant food, rich in nitrogen, is 
required for rapid growth, but the kind of fertilizer 
thfi.t can be most profitably applied will vary accocding 
to the character of the soil in each locality. In the 
ab-sence of dsfiiiite information in this regard 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 trees 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 seeda are collected 
at maturity in Oatcber and November, and after drying 
are packed in sharp white sand or sume similar mate 
rial to ketjp them fresh until tho time of planting in 
Bpring, About the last of March they are sown in 
drills in the seed b^d. The soil of the seed bed should 
be a jood sandy loam mixed with abont 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 
Bun if the weather ia warm. The best soil temperature 
for germinating camphor seeds is from 70"^ to 75° F. 
The temperature of the atmosphere may be ten degrees 
higher. Trie seedlings will grow well at higher temper- 
atures, but are likely to lack vigour and hardiness. The 
se'^dlings m y oe grown in pots, which will facilitate 
tranaplTi'iiin;; at tnv time, or they mav be transplanted 
in nursery rows early in April v/hen one year old. 
Plants two years old are generally regarded as best 
for final phiutiiig. At this age they vaty from 20 to 
40 inches m height. 
" PLANTi;,G ATCD CULTIVATION, 
" In Jap.n, where the law reqaiies that a new tree 
ihall ba aet out for every one cut, they are not 
geudially set in atraigiit orchard rows, but cultivation 
there Ih performed uimost exclusively by hand labour. 
There arc no records shov/ing results of regular orchard 
planUt'S' beic© the distances at which trees should be 
planted must be determined by the size and form of 
the tress and the methods of cultivation and of pro- 
curing the gnm. They may be set closely in rows 
about 10 feet apart, and alternate rowa out and reset 
every five years, thu? producing bush-like plante 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. 
" 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 materirtlly 
checking the growth of the tree. The largest propor- 
tion of camphor is contained in the older, largfir roots; 
the trunk, limbs, twigs, and leaves containing suc- 
cessively a decreasing proportion. When the camphor 
tree is killed nearly to tho ground by frost it eenda 
up vigorous shoots from the base. It may be ex- 
pected to do tho same when cut, especially if cut late 
in the fall. Experiments are needed to determine 
whether this growth may be depended upon, or 
whether it will be more profitable to dig out the 
larger roots aud set out new seedlings. 
DISTILLATION. 
" In the native forests in Formosa, Fnkien, and 
Japan, camphor is distilled almost exclusively from 
the wood of the trunks, roots, and larger branches. 
The work is performed by hand labjor, and the 
methods employed seem rather crude. Different 
methods of distillation sre employed in different 
districts, but those in use in the province of Tosa, in 
Japan, appear to be the most skillul. The camphor 
trees are felled, and the trunk, larger limbs, and 
sometimes the roots, are cut into chips by hand 
labonr with a sharp concnve adz?. The fresh chips 
are placed in a wooden tub about 40 inches high atid 
20 inches in diameter at the base, tapering toward 
the top like an old-fa,shioned churn. The perforated 
bottom of the tub fits tightly over an iron pan of 
water on a furnace of masonry. The tub has a 
tight-fitting cover, which may be removed to put 
in the chips. It ia surrounded by a layer of earth 
about 6 inches thick to aid in -retaining a uniform 
emperatnre. A bcimboo tube extends from near the 
ttop of the tub into the condenser. This consists of 
two wooden tubs of different sizes, the larger one 
right side np, kept abont two-thirds full of water from 
a continuous stream which runs out of a bole in 
one side. The smaller one is inverted with its edges 
below the water, forming an air-tight chamber. Thia 
air chamber is kept cool by the w^.ter falling on the 
top and running down over the sides, The upper 
part of the air chamber is sometimes filled with 
clean rice straw, on which the camphor crystallizes, 
while the oil drips dowa aud collects on the surface 
of the water. In some cases the camphor and oil are 
allowed to collect together on the surface uf the 
water and are afterward separated by filtration 
through the rice straw or by pressure. Abont twelve 
hours are required for distilling a tubful by this 
method. Then the chips are removed and dried 
for use in the furnace, and a new charge is put in. 
At the same time the camphor and oil are re- 
removed from the condenser. By thia method 20 to 
40 pounds of chips are required for 1 pound of crude 
camphor. The principles generally held to be essen- 
tial in distilling camphor of good quality are : — (1) 
The heat must be uniform and not too great, pre 
ducing a ste:^dy supply of steam; (2) the steam 
afsa?r liberating Ibe cumphor must not come in cont.ict 
with metal, that is, the tub and condensing apparatus 
must be of wood. 
CEYLON'S PROTEOTIVK DUTY: AN 
IMPORTANT LETTER. 
1, Waterloo Stieet, Calcutta, Jan. 15. 
Dear Sir,— With regard to the letter of 
Mr John Densham on^the above enbject— 
after criticising the policy involved (which 
