MINTS. 



first has white flowers in May and June, and the second in June and 

 July. They are grown in any soil ; the winter is best on barren soil. 

 Their pungent leaves are much esteemed in salads, and they have been 

 much used to attenuate viscid humors, dispel flatulency, and to in- 

 crease appetite. Dried and put into a bed, they expel fleas. Being 

 sown, the plants are thinned to 5 or 6 inches, and cut as wanted ; but 

 they do not produce a succession. For drying, the whole plant is pull- 

 ed, the extreme roots are cut off, and the plant preserved as other herbs, 

 for winter's use. The slips of the winter savory are planted in spring 

 and taken up in autumn and transplanted into beds or rows a foot apart. 

 They should be kept clear of weeds. There are four species well 

 known Flower stalks axillary, in scymes turned one way; leaves 

 linear, lanceolate, entire, with sharp points. 



STOCK, mathiola, C. 15, cruciferee, sp. 11-26, ft. 2. Herbs co- 

 vered with a soft white down ; and the leaves of all the species are 

 used as pot-herbs or salads. The Gilliflowers are of this species. 



MINTS, mentha, C. 14, O. 1, Labiate, sp. 35-43, 1)h. P. 1-2 ft. A 

 name given for the supposed virtues of the plant. The green, or 

 spearmint, (M. viridis) the sort used for culinary and most other 

 purposes, is more agreeably flavored than the peppermint. It is eaten 

 with vinegar and sugar as sauce with lamb, and is used in spring 

 salads ; and when dried, in soups. Its scent is very refreshing, and 

 the leaves are excellent as a warm stomachic in producing appetite, 

 and in allaying pains of the bowels ; it also stops crude retchings or 

 vomiting, if not from inflammation. It grows in abundance near 

 moist places in the U. S., and is gathered by most families in the coun- 

 try and put in papers or bottles. With vinegar it stops the hiccough, 

 and with sugar it makes a grateful conserve. An essential oil is dis- 

 tilled from it, and also a distilled water, a spirit, and a tincture. In 

 drying, the leaves loose much of their weight, but not their taste or 

 smell. 



Peppermint (mentha piperita) is the strongest and most aromatic of 

 all the mints, and is most used in medicine. Distilled in water, it 

 yields an essential oil of considerable value. Peppermint water is 

 made and sold extensively. Pennyroyal mint (mentha pulegium) is 

 one of the varieties much used as an herb medicinally. There are 60 

 species of mints, 3 or 4 of which inhabit the U. S. They are cut for 

 drying when in flower, in dry weather. Mint was celebrated in re- 

 mote antiquity, both in Mythology and for its useful qualities. They 

 partake of the tonic and stimulating properties which distinguish all 

 labiate plants, in an unusual degree. 



The poets feined that Mintha was transformed into this plant. Mint 

 is said to prevent the coagulation of milk, and is therefore recommend- 

 ed to be used with milk diets, and even as cataplasms and fomenta- 

 tions for resolving coagulated milk in the breasts. Dry mint digested 



