— 92 — 



but an early resumption of the upward movement is thought probable, 

 the more so because the stocks in the producing districts have almost 

 been sold off, and all the available supplies have gone into firm hands. 

 The course of prices for a long time to come will therefore depend entirely 

 upon the attitude of the speculators, for of course it is impossible for 

 the present to hazard any opinion concerning the coming crop. At about 

 the end of March the average price of menthol was 16/6 p. lb. and of 

 Japanese peppermint oil 7/6. Notwithstanding our enhanced quotations 

 for recrystallised menthol business in this article has been fairly brisk 

 lately, from which it would appear that among the consumers, too, the 

 view is beginning to be accepted that for the present there is no prospect 

 of lower prices. 



According to a report by Dr. Mtiller, interpreter at the Imperial Ger- 

 man Consulate General at Yokohama 1 ), the export of peppermint oil from 

 Japan in the year 1909 amounted to 151801 Kin, value 466657 Yen 

 (1908 = 103906 Kin, value 199925 Yen). 



Prof. Thorns 2 ) has made the notable experiment of cultivating the 

 Japanese peppermint in Germany. This experiment was conducted in the 

 botanical garden of the Pharmaceutical Institute at Dahlem, near Berlin. 



In the spring of 1909 Thorns had received from a grower in Yamagata- 

 Ken, Japan, a box containing slips of Japanese peppermint plants. Although 

 the box, which was sent by the Trans-Sibirian railway, was only 3 weeks 

 on the way, a large part of the slips was on arrival found to be rotten. 

 The roots which were still serviceable were planted at Dahlem in light 

 loamy soil in April 1909, and in the course of the summer some of them 

 had grown up into flowering plants about 272 feet high. As early as 

 August 1909 it was possible to proceed to distillation, when it was found 

 that the oil produced at Dahlem was in every respect identical with that 

 distilled in Japan. 



Briquet, of Geneva, who carried out the botanical examination of the 

 Mentha-species > recognised it as Mentha canadensis var. piperascens. Briq. 



Last summer the distillation experiments were repeated with a larger 

 quantity of raw material. The first distilling took place at the end of July, 

 when the green plant yielded from 0,087 to 0,091 °/ essential oil, correspon- 

 ding to a yield of from 0,524 to 0,535% calculated as dried herb. Judging 

 by the experience of the Japanese growers it was to be expected that the 

 August crop, which was gathered just before the flowering, would give a 

 greater oil -yield. The contrary was the case; the yield only amounting 

 to 0,076% = 0,455 % oil calc. as dried herb, but this was due to the 



a ) Deutsches Hand. Arch. 1911, February Number, p. 137. 

 2 ) Berichte d. deutsch. pharm. Ges. 20 (1910), 424. 



