The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-04-02
Children'S Column.
wHERE CAMPHoR COMES FROM

asked Sandy McLaurin, picking a
5IocL Of camphor out of a jar that
4orf on the counter.
The druggist at the corner near
cs-rv's home was a good friend to
~ the boys, and they liked to ask
him questions.
-Camphor? That is a long story"
The speaker and questiOner sat down
behind the prescription counter.
nF.ve You ever noticed that row of
Tr7sns down on Fourth Street, near
,be Grammar school? Well, the tree
that produces camphOr looks very
mrch like any one of those. It grows
IN China, Japan, and other parts of
EASTERN Asia. Occasionally a cam
Dror tree becomes so old andsO large
that il Is 81 veritable landmark. In
1921. for Instance, a traveller in Japan
Described a tree which he found that
WAS thirty six feet about the trunk.
Almost % century and Il half later
the same tree was said by another
traveller to be fifty feet around.
-9.E your grandmother ever make
v-- take a few drops of spirit of
ra~-lnr? You know what a fiery
e-- 1t has, then. You wouldn't
think that cumphor and the CHINA
Non sticks that you like so well are
fir cousins but they belong to the
same botanical family.
Ill you take one of the shiny green
leaves from a camphOr-tree and rub
it gently between two stones, you
smell the same odor as comes to you
when YOU take the lid off a camphor-
jar. Every part of the tree contains
its part of the gum, but the bulk of
it comes from the root, trunk, and
branches. The first step Is to re
duce a tree to chips, and these are
put into iron vessels having Il cone
shaped cover lined with rice straw.
Then the vessels are heated, and the
camphOr is driven out Of the chips.
Do YOU know what I mean when l
use the word volatile? No? Well,
a thing is volatile that seems to fly
off in the air. Now, camphOr is
volatile it is capable of being chang
ed into vapor. When heati is applied
to the iron vessels the camphOr is
volatilized, but it ~condenses almost
At once that is, it is changed to a
multitude of tiny little Jumps of
solid camphor, which fasten them
selves on the straw hat lines the
cover. 1t is then scraped from the
straw, refined and pressed into
blocks"
Is camphor used for anything but
medicine and to keep off moths?''
.>ari Sandy.
II was just coming to that.
Strange as it may seem, we can get
substance from it thatlooks almost
ls. ivOrv-hurd and beautifully
White Go out to the first showcase
5- The left, and bring me a white
com . and one of those hand mirrors
will IL white back
oaaJ7 looked puzzled as he obeyed.
This material" tapping the back
Of Tie mirror, sis called celluloid,
an it is made from camphOr and
cotton. 1t is used for hair-brushes,
s-.. boxes, knife-handles, and many
other articIes. In another field we
G-.rattit plays its part in changing
sl--..a of the world or shaping the
destiny Of d nation. Camphor is
1>- IN making e:Gokeless gun
p.~. r.. Our country certainly
learn / the value of it in the scrn
le- .ys.''
~..--. Sandy ventured, ''IshOuld
TIN with all the big armies every
tlut most of the cumphOr
. used for powder"
.....t zeal of it is. That is why
.rl has been so dear for a num-
..r- past"
Mt tar camphOr be used?'
a.. Tar camphor is really
No.. .. r at all, though some
.. dis. red, about twelve years
..artt would take the place Of
in preventing the ravages
For many years it was
s.,y it was a puzzle to get
1t comes, in u roundabout
.u bituminOus coal. When
..l cJa.I- heated IN u cor
it Is split up into gas (used
.ngJ, u heavy, black liquid
and coke; and it is from