30 THE PRODUCTION OF VOLATILE OILS AND PERFUMERY PLANTS. 



Some work on perfumery-plant growing has been carried on in 

 Florida, notably by Mr. E. Moulie, of Jacksonville, whose experience 

 has been distinctly encouraging. Experiments by Mr. S. C. Hood 

 with a number of oil-yielding grasses grown in the testing garden 

 carried on by the Bureau of Plant Industry at Orange City, Via., give 

 good ground for hope that a number of kinds of plants able to endure 

 a little freezing weather may be cultivated with good results. Cali- 

 fornia and the arid Southwest offer promising conditions for plants 

 which thrive in dry, sunny locations. Michigan, Indiana, and New 

 York are already well known as important centers for the production 

 of peppermint, spearmint, and erigeron oils, while Michigan, Wiscon- 

 sin, Nebraska, and other States in the north-central part of the country 

 form a most important source of wormwood oil. Doubtless other oil- 

 bearing plants now on trial may be found to do well in parts of the 

 same general section. American wormseed {Che no podium spp.) is 

 distilled in Maryland and southward, and sassafras is distilled in 

 various places, especially in the mountains, from Pennsylvania south- 

 ward. The oils of wintergreen, sweet birch, spruce, and white cedar 

 are derived from the more northern ranges of the Atlantic slope. The 

 mountainous regions of Tennessee and Kentucky supply wintergreen, 

 sweet birch, and sassafras oils. 



It is thus apparent that a number of native and introduced plants 

 rich in volatile oils have obtained foothold on a commercial basis 

 in this country, and there is good ground to hope that products of 

 this general class now obtained from abroad may in time become 

 naturalized here. 



GROWTH AND CULTIVATION. 



Several methods of procedure with regard to the propagation and 

 cultivation of volatile-oil and perfume-yielding plants are to be 

 followed, depending largely upon the nature and habitat of par- 

 ticular species of plants. Annual plants such as are grown from 

 seeds and which blossom and mature the same year are rather com- 

 mon among volatile-oil plants. 



The details of cultivation and handling vary somewhat with the 

 crop grown and are a matter for careful field study. In general, 

 the annuals are either fall or spring sown, depending upon soil and 

 climate, some seeds germinating best if left in the ground over 

 winter, as is the case with pennyroyal. Eow culture is advisable in 

 order to secure better cultivation and a consequent freedom from 

 weeds. 



Perennials are in some cases grown well from seed, as caraway and 

 wormwood, but in some cases, such as spearmint, peppermint, sage, 

 rose, and lavender, propagation from cuttings or roots is preferable. 



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