FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Camphor for Florida. 
119 
W. O. Reichtmanii:—I regret that I 
cannot make quite as explicit report as I 
would like. Probably the thing that 
most of you are interested in, is whether 
camphor can be produced commercially 
in the United States. The first thing to 
be ascertained is as to whether the plant 
can be grown at all successfully or not. 
The natives of Florida can probably 
answer that question much better than I 
can, as they have it here with them, and 
have undoubtedly noticed the habits of 
its growth. From; the trees which are 
present, it seems to me that there is but 
one answer to this question, and that is, 
that the tree can be grown, and grown 
successfully. 
The second point I would mention, is 
as to whether the camphor tree as grown 
in this country is producing camphor. 
You have already had two reports, one 
presented in 1896, by Ffenry Hubbard, 
stating* that he had received as high as 
one and fonr-tenths per cent, of camphor 
from the fresh twig ot the camphor tree. 
The second was from; Dr. Walker, last 
year, in which he presented soine of the 
work of the Department and the results 
of his own personal experiments. 
Our work has been confined to Florida 
and in California, but at the present time 
we have not as yet found a single tree 
but that an appreciable quantity of cam¬ 
phor was contained in tlie leaves and 
twigs of the tree. The amount of the 
camphoii* does not compare with the 
amount reported as being found in the 
trees grown in its native oondition. This 
may be due tO' several reasons. The 
chief reason is perhaps that we are work¬ 
ing only one side of the matter and the 
people of Formosa are working under 
entirely different conditions. They may 
be working on the basis of dry material, 
and we on fresh material, which would 
give a variation of sixty per cent. 
The last point tO' be mentioned, and 
perhaps the most important point in con¬ 
nection with the camphor work, is the' 
camphor as produced in the United States 
of a quality that it can be used commer¬ 
cially. Samples of the camphor that have 
been produced in Florida have been sub¬ 
mitted to the trade for their own demon¬ 
stration and observation, and the report 
sent tO' the Department from the firms 
who have been testing it, is, that they 
would have thought it was from Japan or 
Formosa if tliev had not known where 
it Came from. 
Secondly, does it have all of the quali¬ 
ties, physical and chemical, that the For¬ 
mosa and Japanese camphor have? It 
has. )• I 
Lastly, I can only state that one firm 
has taken the matter up, and has started 
planting aTract of three thousand acres 
with camphor in your own state. 
I regi'et that I cannot go into the de¬ 
tails of the work and give you a more 
detailed talk. This, I trust, may be done 
in the immediate future. 
Dr. Walker produces samples of cam¬ 
phor. 
Dr. Walker—I am not in a position to 
give you much further*information about 
the matter. Mr. Reichtmann has taken 
charge of the camphor plant. I am 
doing my best to' cultivate as much cam¬ 
phor as I can. Mr. \Vood is now in 
charge of the work at Huntington. Dr. 
