464 



MEDICINAL PLANTS 



MEDICINAL PLANTS 



Fig. 689. Peppermint 

 {Mentha piperita) . 



Perhaps 2,000 pounds will cover the amount of 

 English and German peppermint oil distilled yearly. 

 These countries import most of their oil from the 

 United States. Michigan, northern Indiana and 

 Wayne county. New York, are the most important 

 regions. The Japanese pep- 

 permint oils are obtained 

 from a different botanical 

 source, Mentha arvensis piper- 

 ascens, Malinvaud, and Mentha 

 arvensis glabrata, Holmes. 



Peppermint - culture i s 

 practiced in Michigan on 

 black muck land, obtained 

 by the draining of swamps 

 and marshes, after it has 

 been thoroughly subdued by 

 previous cropping. After 

 fall-plowing, the land to be 

 used for peppermint is har- 

 rowed in the early spring 

 and provided with furrows 

 about three feet apart, into 

 which the slender roots are 

 thrown so as to make an un- 

 broken row of plants. The 

 soil is drawn over the roots 

 and made firm by treading. 

 The young plants . are care- 

 fully hoed during the first 

 season to remove weeds 

 which injure the crop, partly by contaminating the 

 oil. By fall the peppermint runners so nearly cover 

 the ground as to interfere with further use of the 

 hoe. Horse cultivation may be made use of until 

 fall, when the runners will practically cover the 

 ground. 



In August or early September, when in full 

 bloom, the herb is mowed usually with a scythe, 

 dried until only enough moisture remains to pre- 

 vent the falling of the leaves, and hauled to the 

 distillery. The distilling apparatus consists essen- 

 tially of a boiler from which live steam is obtained ; 

 large circular wooden vats connected with the 

 boiler, into which the herb is thrown for steam 

 treatment ; a condenser, consisting of a tight tube 

 surrounded by cold water, through which the va- 

 pors from the wooden vats are conducted and 

 cooled ; and a receiver into which the condensed 

 water and oil flow from the condenser. [See article 

 on OU-bearing Plants.} The oil is separated from 

 the water and stored in tin or glass containers, and 

 the exhausted "hay" is sold for fodder for stock 

 or allowed to rot for fertilizer purposes. 



Peppermint oil, when frozen, separates into two 

 parts, — a crystalline solid, menthol, and a clear oily 

 residue having the taste and odor of peppermint. 

 Menthol is present in an especially large proportion 

 in Japanese oil. It is used in solution in combina- 

 tion with other remedial agents in sprays and 

 other forms of medication, and, being a local anaes- 

 thetic and disinfectant, is molded into the form 

 af pencils or cones or as loose crystals for inhala- 

 tion or external use in headache, neuralgia and 

 similar troubles. The oil is used as a flavoring ■ in 



most varied kinds of products, such as candies, 

 soaps and various drinks. The United States is a 

 large exporter of peppermint oil. It has varied in 

 price from seventy-five cents to three dollars and 

 fifty cents per pound in the last ten years. 



Red Pepper (Capsicum species). Solanaceoe. (T. B. 

 Young.) Pigs. 690, 691 ; also Fig. 95. 



In the United States these plants, belonging to 

 Capsicum annuum, Linn., and varieties. Capsicum 

 frutescens, Linn., and varieties, and perhaps still 

 other species, are annuals, although where they 

 are not killed by frost the latter series of forms 

 are perennials. 



C. annuum is a very variable member of the 

 family Solanaceoe. It has a fibrous root system, a 

 smooth, branching, herbaceous stem, one to three 

 feet high, bearing entire, ovate or nearly elliptical, 

 smooth, acuminately-pointed leaves and whitish 

 flowers singly or in small groups at the nodes. The 

 fruits vary widely in size, shape, color and pun- 

 gency. 



C. frutescens is a perennial shrub reaching, 

 in warm climates, a height of several feet, with 

 branched and spreading tops, sometimes decum- 

 bent ; leaves broadly ovate, fruits most various in 

 shape, size and color, but usually small and very 

 pungent, borne on long peduncles. 



Paprika type. (Pig. 690.) A sweet red pepper, 

 mild in pungency, grown especially in Hungary, 

 coming into the world's commerce through the port 

 of Budapest chiefly. The plant resembles in general 

 appearance the ordinary red pepper of the garden, 

 the fruit varying from a narrow, truncated-conical 

 form to a slender pointed form. It is grown to a 

 limited extent in South Carolina, where it seems 

 best suited to a rich, loamy soil. It has come on 

 the market in small quantities from California. 



In the South, the seed should be sown in a well- 

 prepared seed-bed by March 1, and covered very 

 lightly. The plants should be ready for transplant- 



Fig. 690. Paprika peppers. Wliole dried fruits as tney appear 

 wlien ready for market. (Yearbook, 1905.) 



ing to the field by the last of April. A rich, loamy 

 soil suitable for garden purposes is desirable. It 

 should be put in good tilth by April 1, when the 

 plants are ready for the field. When necessary, 

 any good combination of fertilizers may be used. 

 A mixture of 8 per cent phosphoric acid, 4 per cent 

 ammonia, and 4 per cent potash has been found 

 beneficial. Stable manure is good. 



The plants are set in rows three to four feet 

 apart, and twelve to eighteen inches apart in the 

 rows. Cultivation is given as for other field crops. 

 In July the pods begin to ripen. They are picked 

 at about weekly intervals and dried in special dry- 

 ing houses by low, artificial heat. They are sold in 



