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MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 



Fig. 1.— Peppermiut •'runners,'' showing method of 

 propagation. 



The Uvo varieties mentioned are closely related botanically, al- 

 though in general appear- 

 ance they are quite dilfer- 

 ent. The variety known 

 as black mint {MentJui 

 piperita vulgaris) has pur- 

 ple stems and slightly 

 toothed, dark-green leaves, 

 whiljC the white mint 

 {Mentha piperita o-ffiei- 

 iialis) has green stems, 

 with brighter green leaves, 

 Avhich are more lance- 

 shaped and more deeply 

 toothed. Black. mint is much more hardy and productive than either 

 the American mint or the white mint, 

 and is groAvn on nearly all pepper- 

 mint farms in this country. The Avhite 

 mint, which 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 entirelj^ dili'erent 

 species, namely, Mentha arvensls piper- 

 ascens Malinvaud and Mentha arrensi.s 

 glahrata Holmes, respectivel3\ 



COUNTRIES WHERE GROWN. 



The most important j^eppermint- 

 producing countries are the United 

 States, England, and Japan. Pepper- 

 mint is groAvn 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 



grown there is not, as already ^i«- 2 —Leaves and flowering top of 



stated, the peppermint cultivated in peppeimm . 



our country, but Mentha arrensh pipcrai^een.s^ which is entirely dis- 



