ennial roots grow to a
very large size, and are seldom of any use until after four or five
years' growth. The asafoetida is procured by taking successive slices
off the top of the root and collecting the milky juice., which is
allowed to concrete into masses of a fetid resinous gummy matter, with
a sulphur oil, similar to that of garlic, which is probably its active
ingredient.

An inferior sort is obtained from _F. persica_, another species with
very much divided leaves, growing chiefly in the southern provinces of
Persia. It comes over usually in casks and cases. The British
consumption of the drug is about 10,000 lbs. a year. A little is
procured from Scinde. In 1825 the quantity imported was 106,770 lbs.,
in 1839 only 24 cwts.

The wholesale price in the Liverpool market, in January 1853, was L1
to L3 10s. the cwt.

CAMPHOR.--The Camphor tree (_Camphora officinarum_, _Laurus Camphora_)
is a native of China, Japan, and Cochin China, of the laurel tribe,
with black and purple veins. Camphor is procured from all parts of the
tree, but it is obtained principally from the wood by distillation,
and subsequent sublimation.

Many plants, such as the cinnamon tree, supply a kind of camphor, but
the common camphor of the shops is the produce chiefly of _C.
officinarum._

Two kinds of unrefined camphor are known in commerce.--1. The Dutch,
which is brought from Batavia, and is said to be the produce of Japan.
This is imported in tubs covered by matting and each surrounded by a
second tub, secured on the outside by hoops of twisted cane. Each tub
contains about one cwt. Most of this goes to the continent. 2.
Ordinary crude camphor is imported from Singapore and Bombay, in
square chests lined with lead-foil, and containing 11/4 to 11/2 cwts. It
is chiefly produced in the island of Formosa, and is brought by the
Chin Chew junks in very large quantities to Canton, whence foreign
markets get supplied.--("Pereira's Materia Medica.")

In the southern part of Japan the tree grows in such abundance that,
notwithstanding the great consumption of it in the country, large
quantities are exported. Koempfer says, that the Japanese camphor is
made by a simple decoction of the wood and roots, but bears no
proportion in value to that of Borneo. There is also an imitation of
camphor in Japan, but every body can distinguish it from the genuine.

The camphor of Sumatra is procured from the stem of a large tree,
_Dryobalanops Camphora_,