— 5i — 



any case, it will be advisable to pay in future close attention to the 

 common marketable qualities. 



When fixing the prices of our two brands, we took into account 

 the advantageous purchases made by us before the "frosts-situation, 

 and we consider ourselves justified in advising a moderate cover at 

 the present quotations. We will in future, as heretofore, do all we 

 can to further the interests of the consumers of our brands, and will 

 as energetically oppose any unwarranted or exaggerated upward move- 

 ment, as we have successfully done in former years. 



On the 28 th December 1905, the U. S. Department of Agriculture 

 published a work by Alice Henkel, Assistant examiner of drug-plants, 

 which gives interesting and partly new information on the history, 

 cultivation, and utilisation of the peppermint-plant, and of which we 

 reproduce below an abstract, from which the purely botanical details 

 have been omitted: — 



One of the most important oils produced in the United States 

 is the one obtained from the peppermint-plant and varieties. The 

 three kinds of mint which are cultivated in that country, are the so- 

 called American mint (Mentha piperita L.), the black mint [Mentha 

 piperita vulgaris Sale), and the white mint {Mentha piperita officinalis 

 Sale); the two last-named are varieties of the first. 



The peppermint or American mint is now grown in many parts 

 of the Eastern States, and is found in the damp soil of New Eng- 

 land States as far as Minnesota, and to the South as far as Florida 

 and Tennessee. The black mint is harder and yields more than the 

 other two kinds, and comes under consideration for practically all 

 peppermint-farms. The white mint no doubt yields a very fine oil, 

 but is little cultivated, owing to its sensitiveness and small yield. 



Peppermint was first grown on a larger scale in 181 6 in Wayne 

 County, N. Y. Neighbouring counties also took up the cultivation, 

 but Wayne County was and remains to this day the principal pepper- 

 mint district in the State of New York. 



The cultivation was then gradually extended to the Ashtabula, 

 Geauga, and Cuyahoga County in Ohio, and also to Northern Indiana. 

 Roots were introduced from Ohio into St. Joseph County, Michigan, 

 and the first roots were planted in the Pigeon prairie in the year 1835. 

 In the following years, the cultivation in the last-named State extended 

 more and more, and since 35 years it has developed into the greatest 

 peppermint producing section of the United States. 



About 1844, an interesting "peppermint oil monopoly" was taken 

 up by a New York firm, which apparently brought the cultivation in 

 the State of Ohio to an end. 



