The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-10-24
HE following interesting article


 was contributed to a recent issue of the Druggist Circular and Chemical Gazette by Thomas R. Baker. Ph. D., of Winter Park, Fla:
 Since the great freezes of the winter of 1s95-6 in Florida, before which orange culture was the chief industry in the middle section of the Florida peninsula, much attention has been given by our agriculturists to the raising of crops with which freezes would not be so liable to interfere. As a result of the interest developed in this direction. which was fixed by much experimental work, many crops are now grown in Florida which be- fore the winter referred to 1t was thought could not be produced here.
 Among other possible products, 1t was thought that camphor trees were planted, some about houses and barns. some among the sprouting orange trees whose tops the severe cold had killed. and others by themselves in especially inclos- ed areas to grow into camphor groves; and many groves were planted In differ ent parts of the state.
 There was no hesitancy shown in plant ing the camphor trees on account of pos sible danger from severely cold weather, for fine specimens of the tree had not been injured In the least by the great freezes were growing in many yards and groves in Florida. Indeed. the tree grows well in southern Georgia, and is rarely injured by cold that far north.
 The camphor tree is well adapted to a sandy soil and grows rapidly and vigor- ously without much fertillzing. Several trees that were planted at Winter park five or six years ago. which were then from two to three feet high, are now fine symmetrical trees from fifteen to twenty feet high. Of the many fine trees growing in this locality the most strik- ing and beautiful one is large camphor tree. It Is about twenty-five feet high and thirty feet in diameter the lower limbs being longest, and nearly touching the ground at their outer ends. Its dense foliage shut off completely all view of the trunk and the tree looks like a broadbased pyramid of vivid green rest ing upon the ground. The trees may grow
  to take the shape of ordinary trees but the camphor trees of Florida differ ma- terially In shape from many of those growing in the great camphor forests of Japan and Formosa. There the trunk is naked to a height of from twenty to thirty feet from the ground, and a beau- tiful and symmetrical top rests upon this trunk, and the entire tree Is sym metrical, for the trunk Is proportionately large in some cases, in the older forests, reaching a diameter of ten to twelve feet In camphor- producing regions of the east the camphor Is obtained chiefly from tle trunk and larger limbs of the tree, the wood being reduced to f1neness by means of an ax or scraper. Tfees of a ed as sufficiently rich in the gum to yield enough to pay for working them
 In Florida 1t is proposed to distill only the leaves and small branches. From va rious analyses that have been made of this material, it has been found that seventy-seven pounds of leaves and a greater weight of twiss are required to yield one pound of camphor. It is ex- pected that leaves and cuttings can be taken from the tree at least twice a year.
 The writer has done much experiment. ing in distilling material from Florida trees. and probably has the greatest amount of camphor that has yet been ob- tained from this source. He has tried sev- eral forms of distilling apparatus, and