THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
[April 1, 1902. 
Diatillatiom at lOO ° C. wae continued for two hoars, 
when 4i litres (7-93 pints) of water containing cam- 
phor and oil had collected in the condenser. This 
was then passed through a wet paper filter to sepa- 
rate the camphor and oil from the water, 24'53 grams 
of the mixture being obtained, equal to I'lO per cent. 
The oil was separated from the camphor as much 
as possibl*, the yield of each on the original flash 
being '765 per cent, pure camphor and "345 per cent, 
camphor oil. Another distillation was made in the 
■ame way of 10 lb, of coppice shoots one year old 
from a tree that had been cut down. The yield of 
camphor from this was very small, only '192 per cent, 
and shows that the first year's growth from a tree 
cut down to the ground is practically valueless, but 
it is probable that young flash from such coppiced 
treei would inoreas* in the camphor contents during 
the next and aucoeeding y&ara. 
Further distillations were also made of the entire 
prnnings weighing 501b. of a Ave year and nine 
mtnthg old tree of average growth, the leaves 27 lb. 
and branches 23 lb, being distilled separately, the 
former yielding '767 per cent, of pure camphor and 
some oil, the latter only traces of oil, showing that 
the whole of the camphor is practically in the leaves 
and not in the young wood. The reason of this 
ehould be investigated, as it is from old wood that 
the bulk of the camphor of commerce is obtained. 
CHARACTERB. 
The camphor obtained from all the ahove experi- 
ments has the usual crystalline form, and is perfectly 
colourless unless condensed in an iron vessel, when it 
ia tinged with red from the oxidized iron. It floats 
on water, in which it is almost insoluble, and small 
fragments rotate rapidly when floated on this liquid. 
It burns with a yellow smoky flame, leaving no 
residue, and volatilizes readily at the ordinary tem- 
perature. It is easily seluble in alcohol, either, and 
chloroform, and is precipitated from the former, in 
white fiooculent masses, when the solution is poured 
into water. It sublimes readiiy, and has an odour 
of camphor, but not so powerful as ordinary camphor 
from old wood. Its specific gravity is -987 ; it melta 
at 175° 0.,347° F.; and boils at 206° C.400° F. it 
dissolves readily in nitric acid, with some develop- 
ment of heat, and immediate separation of the 
solution into two layers, the upper of a red colour 
and the lower pale yellow or colourless. The addi- 
tion of water precipitates the camphor as a white 
mass from the upper layer of the solution apparently 
unchanged, 
SUILIMATION EXPERIMENTS, 
These were conducted at varying temperatures 
iind under different conditions in order to try and 
obtain the translucent state common to commercial 
camphor. The most successful method was by mix- 
ing the crude camphor with slaked lime in the pro- 
portion of 4« to 1, and subjecting ;thi3 in a closed 
Tessel to a low heat for twelve hours, the heat 
being gradually increased up the sides of the vessel 
in order to drive all the camphor into the upper 
portion. Copper vessels are the best for the purpose, 
as glass is liable to fracture from condensed mois- 
ture running down to the heated sides. 
Before sublimation can be effected it is essential 
that all the c»mphor oil should be expressed from 
the camphor. The camphor when first distilled 
appears to be paactioally free from oil, but after 
standing some days oil gradually separates and sinks 
to the bottom of the mass of crystals, and this 
appears to continue for months. Filtration with 
the aid of a vacuum effects a partial separation but 
in practice on a large scale it would be best 
effected by means of a centrifugal machine similar 
to that employed for the separation of crystalline 
BDgar from molasses, 
OIL 
The oil obtained with the camphor from the leaves 
Ig of a clear ye'tlov/ colour, having a specific gravity 
(tt 80 * F. Qf '9662. It conta^iua 9, certain amount of 
camphor in solution, which can be separated to 
some extent by cooling to 10® C. It would there- 
fore be advisable to cool the mixture of camphor 
and oil, as much as possible, before submitting it to 
centrifugal expression. 
The root oil, of which 1-22 per cent, was obtained 
from the air-dried roots was almost colourless and 
had no smell of camphor. It consisted of a mixture of 
two oils, one lighter and one heavier than water, the 
specific gravity of the mixed oils being 1-058 at 80* F 
yiELD AND PHOBPECTS. 
The figures about given show that the yield varies 
a good deal, but that on the average about '75 to 1 
per cent, of camphor may be expected from the young 
leaves and twigs, as well as a small quantity of cam- 
phor oil, which also has a market value. Samples of 
camphor mixed with the oil were valued lately at 
B126 per cwt. If we assume that clippinfi will yield 
about 1 per cent, of camphor and oil worth Ki per lb. 
we should be well within the mark. The cost of 
obtaining this should be about 1163 per acre made up 
ai follows: — 
Es. c. 
Pruning 1,210 trees and carrying to factory 37 0 
Distilling, fuel, packing &c, . . ... 16 0 
53 0 
/,«., camphor can be put on the market as cheaply as 
tea per pound if the yield be at the rate of 177 lb, per 
acre (oost of tea being estmiated at 30 cents}. Now 
177 lb. will be yielded by 17,700 lb. of clippings. In 
the case of bushes 6 feet apart this meaus 141 lb, 
per bush per annum, or about seven times the weight 
of flush obtained from a prosperous tea bush, On 
the other hand, the bushes are only half as many 
to the acre, and the pluckiag is much closer, so 
that this estimate is not unreasonable, and the pro 
duct is more valuable than tea. It seems not un- 
reasonable to expect that where a bush, with 36 
square feet of space to grow in. yields 12 to 15 lb. 
of clippings a year, the cultivation will prove remuner- 
ative — not abonanza, but yielding a fair profit. In 
the Hakgala Gardens this yield is exceeded, 
80 far as rough experiments show. 
M. KELWAY BAMBEE, 
Government Chemist. 
J. O. WILLIS, 
Director, Eoyal Botanic Garden* 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Ehea Fibre. — Mr. Jefferies, of the Nurseries, Oxford, 
sends us illustrations of the growing plaot and of the 
fibre it produces. The value of the fibre of the Boeh- 
meria nivea has long been appreciated, but some difii- 
culties still exist ia the cleaning the fibre and divesting 
it of resin.— 6fo?'rfe!ie/s' Chronicle, 
Sydnet Botanic Gardens. — During the month of 
Match the garden was visited by immense numbers 
of flying-foxes. There most have been many thou* 
sands of them, and some of the large trees were 
quite black with them. Several local sportsmen shot 
large numbers, and the destructive animals were all 
killed or flew away in about a week from the first 
appearance of the swarm. It is many years since 
the gardens were visited by a plague of these 
animals. — Ibid. 
The Age of trees. — The estimation of the age of 
trees by means of the number of rings visible in 
the wood is well known to be subject to many ex- 
ceptions. In a recent number of the Bevue Sorticole 
it is pointed out that by pinching, or pruning or 
grafting, a second layer of wood may be formed 
in one year in a shoot. The explanation given by M. ; 
GuiGUARD is that the pinching or other operation 
brings about a state of rest, less sap is directed to 
the wound. But when the adjacent buda being to 
grow, the afflux of sap is increased, aQ«| a fresh zone 9{ 
wood is the result.— Ibid, 
