202 ODOKOGRAPHIA. 



Wilkl), (Sowerby, Eng. Bot. t. 853), a small trailing herb of very 

 rapid growth and very difficult to exterminate. Its odour is 

 powerful and offensive. 



In America the mint is cut with a sickle, scythe, two-fingered 

 cradle, or mowing-machine according to the option or carefulness 

 of the cultivator. It is then allowed to wdlt in the sun for five or 

 six hours and is then raked into heaps and allowed to remain a 

 short time before being distilled. (It is thought that by this 

 process, a larger yield of oil is obtained and its colour improved, 

 but it is difficult to believe this, because there must be loss by 

 evaporation, loss of the most volatile and finest part of the oil, and 

 the effect of sweating the herb in heaps would be a distinct 

 alteration in the character of the oil by reason of fermentation and 

 oxidation.) 



Xot every cultivator is provided with a still, but such appliances 

 are found distributed about the region at accessible distances. 

 Some are of the most primitive character, and others are 

 constructed more elaborately. The apparatus and method differ 

 from that employed in Europe. The still consists of a wooden tub 

 or vat of heavy staves hooped with iron, and of a size to 

 correspond with the amount of steam furnished by a boiler. Many 

 of the vats are 4 to 5 feet in diameter and 8 to 10 feet deep. The 

 wilted mint is packed into the vat by treading with the feet until 

 the vat is full, when a cover, made steam-tight with rubber packing 

 is fastened down with screw-clamps. A steam-pipe connects the 

 lower part of the vat with a boiler, and another pipe from the 

 centre of the cover connects the vat with the condensing worm. 

 The latter varies in size according to the capacity of the still, but 

 becomes progressively smaller towards the outlet. The worm is so 

 placed as to have a constant stream of cold running water 

 surrounding it. The steam from the boiler being admitted to the 

 vat at a pressure of 30 to 40 pounds, the oil of the mint is 

 volatilized, and mixed with the steam it is condensed in the worm 

 and received in a separating vessel in the usual way. In many 

 instances the receiver is made of tin. The aqueous distillate is not 

 at every distillery redistilled with a fresh charge of herb, so 

 doubtless much oil held in suspension and in solution is wasted. 

 The yield of oil from American plantations is estimated at from 

 10 to 30 pounds per acre, the young plants yielding the most, but 

 much depends on the weather during the early months of the 



