NOTES ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. 65 
As far back as 1904, B. Pater‘) tried to cultivate medicinal plants at Klausenburg. 
He now reports on spearmint and peppermint. Spearmint was cut first at the end 
of June, then again at the end of September, and a third time between October 17th 
and 227d, In order to find out what effect the third cut might have, he left half the 
field untouched; it turned out the next year that the third cut had not had any influ- 
ence on the plants getting through the winter. He recommends as the best remedy 
against Puccinia Menthae to cut the plants earlier and not to wait until the flowers 
appear. It is true, one generally imagines that the plant is richest in oil when flowering, 
but it must be taken into consideration that the leaves attacked by Puccinia are without 
any value. Puccinia seems to spread from the soil, for the bottom leaves show the 
disease first, and then it spreads upwards. 
Pater further describes the properties of Hungarian spearmint oil, on which we 
have reported before now’). Experiments of perfuming soap with spearmint oil gave 
very favourable results. An antiseptic soap of pleasant odour was thus obtained, which 
made the skin soft and smooth. 
Pater reports fully on his experiments with peppermint. He cultivated plants 
which came from Rev. Josef Agnelli’s plantation at Csari and which he calls Mentha 
piperita var. Agnelliana. The herb was dried naturally as well a artificially, this in a 
heatable hop-oast. The naturally-dried peppermint contained 0,7024 p.c., that dried 
artificially, 0,8844 p.c. of oil. Peppermint planted in spring 1908 was already in 1912 
very weak and degenerated, so that it could hardly be used. The soil was poor and 
exhausted from the outset, which accounts perhaps. for the failure of the experiment. 
The properties of Hungarian peppermint oil®), as well as of Olewm Menthae aquaticae 
Hung.*), were described by us already three years ago. 
Experiments with Mitcham and Japanese peppermint are also being made (see 
page 34). About 80000 slips of Mitcham peppermint are required for 1 hectare of land. — 
In 1904, Pater planted pieces of rhizomes, taken from calamus plants from a pond 
close by, on a bed which could easily be watered. In October 1906 the calamus was 
well developed. The bed had, it is true, frequently been weeded, hoed and manured. 
The result was satisfactory. 
The cultivation of violets in southern France. 
In an article published by a French horticultural journal®), we find an exact de- 
scription of the cultivation of violets in southern France, as well as statistics of the 
export of violets from Hyéres. The cultivation was begun there about 30 years ago; 
it has developed to such an extent, that in winter more than 500 parcels of 3 kilos 
each are sent off daily. There are 500 to 600 women employed in the gathering. Of 
late years, Vence, a village in the Maritime Alps (arrondissement Grasse), seriously 
competes with Hyéres. For half a century, flowers for the perfumery industry had 
been grown at Vence, but on account of the low prices offered by the manufacturers, 
a start was made to cultivate violets for the export of the flowers, with remarkable 
success. The varieties mostly planted are “Victoria” and “Princesse-de-Galles”’. 
At Hyéres, the violets are still frequently grown on open fields, but of late the 
growers have begun to cover the plantations slightly against frost, which causes the 
flowers to appear sooner. 
1) Die Heilpflanzenversuchsanstalt der landwirtschaftlichen Akademie in Kolozsvar, Part 1; Kolozsvar 1914. — 
*) Comp. Report April 1912, 118. — *) Comp. Report April 1911, 91. — 4) Comp. Report April 1912, 132. — 
*) Bull, Soc. Hort. Nice 17 (1913), 373; Bull. Sciences pharmacol. 21 (1914), 234. 
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