April 1, 1904.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
65^ 
CAMPHOR AND THE CAMPHOR IN- 
DUSTRY. 
The war in the Far Bast is likely to have con- 
siderable effect on the Camphor Industry, especially 
in Europe and America. A certain amount of unrest 
has been envinced in the English market, and the 
quotations for camphor have gone up considerably. 
Fortunately for the Japanese the war is not being 
carried on in their own territory, and destruction 
of crops and plantations will not take place. Also 
the island of Formosa, largely interested in camphor, 
is little effected. But there are difficulties in the 
saocessful working of the monopoly in Formosa ; 
the labour question is cropping up, and it is diffi- 
cult to get labourers for the forest-work and the 
distilleries. The prices paid to the native distillers 
are said to be unremunerative. In London there is 
already practically a camphor famine ; prices tor 
" bells" have gone up to 4s. 6d., and 53. will probably 
be reached before long. Everything seems to point 
out a good opportunity for camphor planters in 
the future, and those who have already gone in 
for planting are to be congratulated. We hope to see 
the industry taken up more extensively in Ceylon 
than it is at present. Some notes on camphor in 
the Gardeners' Chronicle will prove interesting and ' 
are worth persual. 
Although camphor is obtained from several 
plants belonging to widely distinct natural orders 
such aa Barns, Sumatra, or Borneo camphor, 
from Dryobalanops aromatica of the natural order 
Dipterooarpeae, Blumea, or Ngai camphor of China, 
from Blumea balsamifera, natural order Compositfe, 
and others, yet the source of commercial cam- 
phor is Cinnamor;nm camphora, a tall-growing tree 
of the order Lauract OB, native of China, .Japan, and 
the Malay islands. In the interior of the island of 
Formosa, aa well as in Japan and throughout Central 
China, the tree is very plentiful, 
THE GOVERNMENT MONOPOLY IN JAPAN. 
In Japan the manufacture of camphor is a Govern- 
ment monopoly, and the stringent regulations and 
methods adopted by the Government when taking 
over the industry have, no doubt, been the cause of 
the short supplies in the markets at the present 
time, as the making of it being so unremunerative 
to the people, small quantities only have been pro- 
duced for some considerable time past. The natives 
of Formosa are also said to have given much tirouble 
to the Government by their frequent attacks on the 
stills. The result of all this has been the holding 
back of supplies of crude camphor, so that European 
refiners for a long time have had little more than 
their old stocks to work upon ; consequently prices 
have been advancing, and the quotations have al- 
ready increased from about 2s. Qd. to 4s. per pound. 
DISTILLING THE CAMPHOR. 
To obtain the substance it is necessary to cat the 
trees down* and then further to cut up the wood 
tnto chip?, which are boiled in vessels containing 
water ; over these vessels are placed inverted earthen- 
ware pots, which are sometimes lined with straw. 
The steam arising from the water in the pots carries 
with it the camphor, which is deposited in cryatals 
aionud the inside of the pots or on the straw, and 
ia afterwards scraped off and placed in chests lined 
with lead or tinned iron. Formosa camphor is usually 
packed in this way, and is generally in a semi-liquid 
state from having some water mixed with it for the 
purpose, it is said, of preventing evaporation. 
* This is an erroneous statement. It is quite un- 
necessary and would be wasteful in the extreme to cut 
the trees down to obtain the camphor. Twigs and 
I branches with all tho leaves on are out off for the 
boiling process, and it seems that the more the 
camphor laurel is thus pruned the stronger and 
better it grows, forming a beautiful shrub, a camphor 
plaiutatioa having a moat attractive appearanoe, 
THE REFINING PROCESS. 
Upon arrival in Europe this crude camphor finds 
its way into the hands of the refiners. The European 
process of refining, it is said, was long kept a secret, 
and towards the end of the seventeenth century the 
whole of the camphor brought to Europe was sent to 
Holland for sublimation. A similar monopoly also 
existed in Venice for some time. Camphor refining is 
still carried on in Holland, but it has spread into other 
countries and towns, as England, Hamburg, Paris, , 
New York, and Philadelphia. The following is a 
brief description of the process of sublimation, which 
however varies slightly in different refineries. 
The camphor, as imported, is broken up and mixed 
with from 3 to 5 per cent, of slaked lime, and 1 
to 2 per cent, of iron filings, When sifted this mixture 
is passed through a funnel into a series of glass 
flasks, which are almost completely buried in a sand- 
bath. Instead of heating these by means of a fire, 
where flame might ignite the gas given off during the 
process of sublimation, dishes of fusible metal kept 
warm by a furnace below the room are used, Iq 
these flasks the camphor is kept at a high temper- 
ature for twenty-four hours. When thoroughly melted 
the sand is removed from the upper half of the flasks, 
and into the neck of each some paper is pushed. 
A lower temperature is thus produced, and the vapour 
from the camphor condenses on the inside of the 
exposed half of the flask, forming a solid cake of 
pure camphor and leaving all impurities at the 
bottom, Care has to be taken not to admit the 
air too freely, as the camphor would be rendered 
opaque. 
CAMPHOR BELLS " 
The entire process occupies about forty-eight houra 
and is completed by removing the flasks from the 
sand and sprinkling them with cold water ; the glasses 
being thus broken, the refined camphor, in the form 
of a large bell-shaped cake is removed. Each of these 
bells or cakes is about 3 inches thick and 10 to 12 
inches across, and weighs from 9 to 12 lb. 
The whole process of refining is one that requires 
much attention and care, more particularly with re* 
gard to its very inflammable nature. Every pre* 
caution is taken in the refioing house against fire. 
Over the furnaces upon which the sand-bath is spread, 
and into which the flxsks are plunged, are arranged 
iron trays full of sand, which by touching a lever 
could be made to discharge their contents over the 
heated camphor below, should any of the flasks 
catch fire. Besides this there are plenty of means 
of exit in case of need. 
It is said that the use of camphor as a disinfectant 
has much decreased of late years — a fact that can be 
fully accounted for from the numerous other disin- 
fectants that are constantly being introduced, and 
that are, moreover, cheaper ; but another market for 
camphor that is continually being extended is that 
for the many articles to which celluloid is now 
applied. It is estimated that ten times more camphor 
is now used for this purpose than is consumed by 
the druggists. The consumption of the article in the 
United States is said to amount to 200,000 lb. a 
month, a very large proportion of which is used in 
the celluloid and patent medicine trades; further 
than this, it is said that as the Japanese Govern- 
ment look upon camphor as a valuable war asset, 
they are keeping back its export, more particularly 
as if the war is prolonged they will require all 
their supplies for the manufacture of smokeless gun- 
powder. As ft proof of the money value to .Japan 
the export of this article represents it may be said 
that for the ten months of lest year ending in Ootc ber, 
the quantity sent out of .Japan amounted to 3,710,874 
kin, of the value of 3,254,000 yen, a kin equalling 1"3 
lb, avoirdupois, and 8 yen equRlling 'is, OJd. 
CAMPHOR FOR ASSISTING PLANT GROWTH, 
"Mr. T. W, Lee, writing in ihs Journal of Agri- 
cidtwa, says t^ftt most aee^a are greatly hastened 
