I 



Some Minor Farm Crops. 77 



The plants are dibbled in during May, in rows 12 inches to 

 15 inches wide, and from 12 inches to 18 inches apart. The 

 plants are sold by the bushel, and about 10-12 bushels go to an 

 acre. The ground must be kept clean by frequent hoeing. As 

 a peppermint plantation only lasts from four to five yeai'S, it is 

 necessary to form three or four beds that will come on in 

 succession, and this is usually done in the following manner :— • 



In October or November, after the first crop has been cut, 

 trenches are dug from 8 feet to 10 feet apart, 15 inches deep, 

 and 18 inches wide, the displaced earth being spread 2 inches 

 deep over the plants between the trenches. Young shoots 

 spring from the rhizomes of the old plants and make roots in 

 this soil and in the following spring some of these are trans- 

 planted to other beds, the area under cultivation being thus 

 extended. 



In the following year the same process of earthing and 

 transplanting is applied to the new beds, so that at the end of 

 the fourth year, when the first bed is broken up, they take its 

 place, and continuous succession is obtained. 



Late in the second and following years the old plantation 

 is ploughed over four or five inches deep, disc coulters being 

 used to cut the rhizomes, and in the spring the land is harrowed 

 before, and sometimes even after the young plants appear. 



The peppermint plantations in their second year give the 

 best results, and each year afterwards they gradually deteriorate. 

 When the plantations are broken up at the end of four or five 

 years, the land should not be used again for peppermint 

 growing for many years. 



Influences of Manures. 



A series of experiments with Hungarian pei)permint plants 

 corresponding to the English black peppermint have, during 

 recent years, been made at the agricultural experimental station 

 at Vienna. It was found that the yield of oil from an area 

 manured with farmyard manure, nitrate of soda, super- 

 phosphate, and kainit, was nearly double that from the same 

 area which had received only farmyard manure, and nearly 

 treble that from land which was not manured at all. 



Diseases. 



The plant is subject to a fungus disease known as "rust," and 

 in the Mitcham district as " snuff," and this is ]nost prevalent 

 and injurious in chalky districts. The fungus appears on the 

 stems in the form of swellings, which develop into minute yellow 

 cups containing spores. Brown spots may also appear on the 

 leaves and lower parts of the plant. Their presence is due to 



