210 RURAL MirillGAN 



was reached in 1914, wlieii the two states yielded 

 some 600,000 pounds of mint. Then the production 

 fell off until 1919, when the output was 225,000 

 pounds. Mint, when harvested, has its essential oil 

 removed by distillation. Mint is said to produce 

 normally 30 pounds to the acre, but yield? are .said 

 to vary from 10 to 80 pounds. The mint is cut 

 with a scythe and, after the oil is extracted, the 

 straw is used as a stock food.^ 



The commercial growing of mint in Michigan is 

 said to date from the year 1830. In 1847 the price 

 of ])eppermint oil has been given at $1.25 a pound, 

 while in 1919 prices are reported to have varied 

 from $3.50 to $G.(i0 a pound. In the record pro- 

 duction year of 1914, mint oil sold at about $1 a 

 pound, according to the expert of the Department 

 of Agriculture. The industry seems to have suffered 

 occasionally from over-production and from mo- 

 nopoly, and as far back as 1888 the c(mipetition of 

 Japanese oil was taken notice of, although in 1886 

 St. Joseph County, Michigan, was credited with a 

 production of 70,000 pounds of peppermint oil, one- 

 fifth of the world's outpiit." The oil is used for con- 

 fectioners' and medicinal purposes. In 1920, the 

 experimental growing of peppermint in the Upper 

 Peninsula was undertaken by the Land Commissioner 

 of the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railroad, 

 with apparently satisfactory results. In this instance, 



^ On mint-culture in Midi., see Kept. State Bd. Agr., 

 1888, 452. 

 ''Ibid.. 4rA. 



