260 
Camphor  in  China. 
Am.  Jour.  Ptaarm. 
May,  1897. 
GROWTH  OF  THE  CHINESE  CAMPHOR  INDUSTRY. 
The  growth  of  the  camphor  industry  on  the  mainland  of  China 
is  shown  by  the  following  facts  taken  from  various  China  Customs' 
Yellow-books.  From  the  "  List  of  Chinese  Medicines,"  miscel- 
laneous series,  No.  17,  which  gives  details  of  the  trade  in  drugs  of 
all  kinds  for  the  year  1885,  it  appears  that  camphor  was  unknown 
as  a  product  of  the  mainland,  except  in  the  single  province  of 
Chekiang,  there  being  the  small  export  that  year  from  Ningpo  of 
25  piculs.  Ningpo  exported  32  piculs  in  1889,  40  piculs  in  1890, 
and  none  since,  apparently.  The  Customs'  "Trade  Reports,"  for 
the  different  years  show  the  gradual  appearance  of  camphor  pro- 
duction in  other  parts.  Kowloon  exported  88  piculs  in  1888,  106 
piculs  in  1892,  87  piculs  in  1893.  This  was  conveyed  in  junks,  and 
its  provenance  is  doubtful,  but  it  was  perhaps  from  the  province  of 
Kwangsi.  Canton  exported  122  piculs  in  1893,  37  piculs  in  1894, 
and  237  piculs  in  1895.  This  is  Kwangsi  camphor.  The  Pakhoi 
Trade  Report  for  1894  states  that  the  first  record  of  the  article  was 
in  1892;  in  1893  the  export  was  23  piculs,  which  increased  to  128 
piculs  in  1894,  and  <(  it  comes  from  Lu-chuan,  near  Yu-linchow,  and 
is  likely  to  grow  in  importance,  as  plantations  in  that  and  other 
places  in  the  neighborhood  are  coming  to  the  bearing  age."  In 
the  Pakhoi  Trade  Report  for  1895,  the  export  is  given  as  596 
piculs,  and  the  writer  says  that  this  gratifying  increase  is  due  to  the 
extended  cultivation  in  Kwangsi.  In  Formosa,  only  old  and 
enormous  camphor  trees  are  utilized,  and  I  am  inclined  to  doubt 
the  existence  of  camphor  plantations  in  Kwangsi ;  the  camphor 
produced  is  more  likely  to  be  from  old  forest  trees.  The  Chinese, 
at  any  rate,  did  not  plant  any  trees  with  a  view  to  the  manufacture 
of  camphor. 
EXPORT  OF  CAMPHOR  FROM  CHINA. 
In  1895  the  exports  of  camphor  from  different  Chinese  ports  was  : 
Foochow,  187  piculs  ;  Amoy,  668  piculs ;  Canton,  237  piculs  ;  Kow- 
loon, 68  piculs,  and  Pakhoi,  596  piculs.  In  the  Fukien  province 
there  are  large  forests  and  camphor  trees  abound.  Some  years  ago, 
a  party  of  Japanese  went  into  the  interior  of  Fukien  to  manufacture 
camphor,  but  nothing  came  of  this  attempt.  The  Foochow  export 
is  probably  the  product  of  this  province,  but  that  of  Amoy  is  doubt- 
ful, as  it  maybe  Formosan  camphor  smuggled  over  to  the  mainland 
in  junks.    The  export  of  the  other  three  ports  is  produced  in  the 
