HERBA MENTHiE PIPERITi^^. 485 



New York, and Ohio. In ^lichigan where the plant was introduced in 

 1855, there were in 1858 about 2100 acres devoted to its growth, all with 

 the exception of about 100 acres being in the county of St. Joseph, where 

 there are about 100 distilleries. The average produce of this district 

 was estimated in 1858 at 15,000 lb; but the yield fluctuates enormously, 

 and in the exceptionally fine season of 1855 it was reckoned at 30,000 lb. 

 We must suppose that it is sometimes much larger, for we have been 

 informed by Mr. H. G. Hotchkiss, of Lyons, Wayne County, State of 

 New York, one of the most well-known dealers, in a letter under date 

 Oct. 10, 1871, that the quantity sent out by him in the previous year 

 reached the enonnous amount of 57,365 lb. It is further stated by the 

 oflicial statistics of Hamburg for the year 1876 that this port received 

 25,840 lb. of peppermint oil from the United States and 14,890 lb. from 

 Great Britain. 



From the statistics quoted by Stearns ^ it would appear that the 

 produce of oil per acre is somewhat higher in America than in England, 

 but from various causes information on this head cannot be very 

 reliable. 



Peppermint is cultivated at Sens in the department of the Yonne in 

 France - and in Germany in the environs of Leipzig, where the little 

 town of CoUeda produces annually as much as 40,000 cwts. of the herb. 



The annual crop of the world is supposed to yield 90,000 lb. of 

 peppermint oil.^ 



Peppermint oil varies greatly in commercial value, that of Mitcham 

 commanding twice or three times as high a price as the finest American. 

 Even the oil of Mitcham is by no means uniform in quality, certain 

 plots of gi'ound afibrding a product of superior fragrance. A damp 

 situation or badly drained ground is well known to be unfavour- 

 able to the quantity and quality of oil. 



The presence of weeds among the peppermint is an important cause 

 of deterioration to the oil, and at Mitcham some growers give a gratuity 

 to their labours to induce them to be careful in throwing out other 

 plants when cutting the herb for distillation. One grower of peppermint 

 known to us was compelled to abandon the cultivation, owing to the 

 enormous increase of Mentha arvenms L. which could not be separated, 

 and which when distilled with the peppermint ruined the flavour of the 

 latter. In America great detriment is occasioned by the growth of 

 Engeron canadensis L. Newly cleared ground planted with peppermint 

 is liable to the intrusion of another plant of the order Compositce, 

 Erechtites hieracifolia Raf., which is also highly injurious to the quality 

 of the oil.* 



Uses — A watery or spirituous solution of oil of peppennint is a 

 grateful stimulant, and is a frequent adjunct to other medicines. Oil of 

 peppermint is extensively consumed for flavouring sweatmeats and 

 cordials. 



^ To whose paper On the Peppermint Plan- culture en France, sea produits, falsifications 



tatians of Michigan in the Proceedings of the de F essence et mot/ens de les reconnoitre, 



Americ. Pharm. Assoc, for 1858, we owe Paris, 1868. 43 pages, 



the few particulars for which we can here ' Todd, Proceedings Am, Ph. Ass. 1876, 



afford space. — To be further consulted, same 828. 



Proceedings, 1876. 828. ■• Maisch American Joum. of Pharm. 



-Journ. de Pharm. viii. (1868) 130.— March 1870. 120. 

 Abstract from Roze, La Menthe poivr4e, sa 



