2036 



MENTHA 



MENTZELIA 



in Michigan, where the industry has grown to larger 

 proportions than anywhere else. Peppermint is now 

 cultivated commercially in southwestern Michigan 

 and adjacent parts of northern Indiana, Wayne county, 

 New York, and in Mitcham, Surrey and Lincolnshire, 

 England, and in Saxony. 



Peppermint plants may be grown on any land that 

 will produce good crops of corn, but its cultivation is 

 most profitable on muck soils of reclaimed swamps. It 

 is an exhaustive crop, and on uplands is rarely included 



2360. A mint still. 



in the rotation more often than once in five years. On 

 deep, rich muck soils it is often grown consecutively 6 

 years or more with no apparent diminution in yield. 

 Peppermint is propagated by pieces of running root- 

 stocks, commonly called "roots." These are planted, 

 as early in spring as the ground can be prepared, in 

 furrows 30 inches apart. On uplands two or three crops 

 are usually grown from one setting of the "roots," but 

 in the swamp lands the runners are plowed under after 

 harvest, continuing the crop indefinitely. Clean culti- 

 vation is required between the rows, and often it is 

 necessary to hoe the plants or pull weeds by hand, espe- 

 cially on land that has not been well prepared. Fire- 

 weed, horseweed, ragweed and other species with bitter 

 or aromatic properties are very injurious to the oil if cut 

 and distilled with the peppermint. 



The crop is cut either with scythe or mowing-machine 

 in August or early September, when the earliest flowers 

 are developed and before the leaves have fallen. In 

 long, favorable seasons a second crop is sometimes har- 

 vested early in November. After cutting, the plants 

 are cured like hay, then raked into windrows and taken 

 to the stills, where the oil is extracted by distillation 

 with steam. A "mint still" (Fig. 2360) usually con- 

 sists of two retorts (used alternately), wooden or gal- 

 vanized iron tubs about 7 feet deep and 6 feet in diame- 

 ter at the top, each with a perforated false bottom and a 

 tight-fitting, removable coyer, a condenser of nearly 

 200 feet of block-tin pipe immersed in tanks of cold 

 water, or more frequently arranged in perpendicular 

 tiers over which cold water runs, a boiler to furnish 

 steam and a receiver or tin can with compartments in 

 which the oil separates by gravity. The yield of oil 

 varies from ten to sixty pounds to the acre, averaging 

 about twenty-five pounds for black mint, the variety 

 now generally grown. Three kinds of peppermint are 

 recognized: (1) American mint, "state mint" of New 

 York (M. piperita), long cultivated in this country and 

 occasionally naturalized; (2) black mint, or black 

 mitcham (M. piperita var. vulgaris), a more productive 

 variety introduced from England about 1889, and (3) 



white mint, or white mitcham (M. piperita var. officina- 

 lis), less productive and too tender for profitable culti- 

 vation, but yielding a very superior grade of oil. 

 Peppermint oil is used in confectionery, very exten- 

 sively in medicines, and for the production of menthol, 

 or more properly pipmenthol. Pipmenthol differs in 

 physical properties from menthol derived from Japa- 

 nese mint. 



Japanese mint, secured from M. arvensis var. piperas- 

 cens, is cultivated in northern Japan, chiefly on the 

 island of Hondo; not known in the wild state. 

 It has been introduced experimentally in cultiva- 

 tion in England and the United States, but has 

 not been cultivated commercially in these coun- 

 tries. Its oil is inferior in quality to that of 

 Mentha piperita, but it contains a higher percent- 

 age of crystallizable menthol, of which it was the 

 original source and for the production of which it 

 is largely used. It is propagated by rootstocks 

 carefully transplanted and cultivated by hand- 

 labor. Two crops, rarely three, are obtained in a 

 season, and by abundant fertilizing and intensive 

 culture large yields are obtained. It is usually 

 continued three years from one planting, and 

 then a rotation of other crops follow for three to 

 six years. Three horticultural varieties are recog- 

 nized, being distinguished chiefly by form of leaf 

 and color of stem. The variety known as "Aka- 

 kuki," with reddish purple stem and broad, ob- 

 tuse leaves, is regarded as best. 



Spearmint is cultivated on peppermint farms 

 for the production of oil. The plants are propa- 

 gated and cultivated similar to peppermint and 

 distilled in the same stills. The oil, for which 

 there is a smaller demand than for peppermint, 

 is used chiefly in medicine and to some extent as a 

 flavoring ingredient in chewing-gum and drinks. Spear- 

 mint is cultivated in the vicinity of many large cities 

 to supply saloons, where freshly cut sprigs of the plant 

 are used in making the seductive and intoxicating drink 

 known as "mint julep." The plant is more widely 

 known as an ingredient in "mint sauce," the familiar 

 accompaniment of spring lamb and green peas. To sup- 

 ply this demand it is often cultivated in the kitchen- 

 garden. It is easily propagated by the perennial root- 

 stocks, aiid persists year after year with little care, 

 thriving in nearly all kinds of soil, providing it does not 

 become too dry. LYSTER H. DEWEY. 



L. H. B.f 



MENTZELIA (Christian Mentzel, 1622-1701, Ger- 

 man botanist). Loasacese. Showy-flowered plants, 

 some of the herbaceous kinds grown as flower-garden 

 subjects. 



Herbs annual and perennial, shrubs and even small 

 trees, glabrous or setose, the sts. often becoming white 

 and shining: Ivs. usually alternate, mostly coarsely 

 toothed or pinnatifid: fls. solitary or in racemes or 

 cymes, white, yellowish, yellow or red; petals 5, regu- 

 larly spreading, convolute in the bud, deciduous; sta- 

 mens indefinite, rarely few, inserted with the petals on 

 the throat of the calyx: seeds flat, in a caps, dehiscent 

 at the summit. Species probably 60-70 in the Ameri- 

 cas. A good number are native in the U. S. They thrive 

 in sunny moist or dry situations sheltered from strong 

 winds. M. Lindleyi, from Calif., is frequent in eastern 

 gardens, where it is commonly known as Bartonia aurea; 

 the other species are offered by western dealers, but are 

 not generally in cult. They flower in summer. Although 

 interesting and showy, these plants have not become 

 popular with gardeners. The seeds should be sown 

 where the plants are to remain, as they do not bear 

 transplanting. M. bartonioides, Benth & Hook., is Euc- 

 nide (which see); M. gronovise folia, Fisch. & Mey., is 

 the same. By some authors, part of the species are sep- 

 arated as Nuttallia; also as Hesperaster. 



