6 



PEPPERMINT. 



Pig. 1. 



-Peppermint -'runners," showing method of 

 pi'opagation. 



The two varieties mentioned are closely related liotanically. al- 

 though in general appear- 

 ance they are quite differ- 

 ent. The variety known 

 as black mint {Mentha 

 piperita nulgaris) has piu'- 

 ple stems and slightly 

 toothed, dark-green leaves, 

 while the white mint 

 {Mentha piperita offici- 

 nalis) has gre6n stems, 

 with brighter green leaves, 

 which are more lance- 

 shaped and more deeply 

 toothed. Black mint is much more hardy and i:)roductive than either 

 the American mint or the white mint, 

 and is groAvn on nearly all pepper- 

 mint farms in this country. The white 

 mint. Avhich produces a fine grade 

 of oil. is rarely cultivated on a com- 

 mercial scale in this country on ac- 

 count of its inability to withstand the 

 climate and its smaller yield of essen- 

 tial oil. 



The oils spoken of as Japanese and 

 Chinese " peppermint " oils are not ob- 

 tained from the true peppermint plant, 

 but are distilled from entirely diti'erent 

 species, namely, Mentha arvenms plper- 

 ascens Malinvaud and Mentha arrensts 

 glahrata Holmes, respectively. 



COUNTRIES WHERE GROWN. 



The most important pejipermint- 

 producing countries are the United 

 States. England, and Japan. Pepper- 

 mint is grown on a smaller scale in 

 Germany, France, Italy, Russia, China, 

 and southern India. 



In Japan, peppermint cultivation 

 is said to have been undertaken 

 before the Christian era. The plant 

 groAvn there is not, as already fig. 2. 

 stated, the peppermint cultivated in 

 our country, but Mentha arrensifi pipei'aseens, which is entirelj^ dis 



Leaves and flowering top of 

 peppermint. 



