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“ScieNTINC 3 AND. OTHER } NOTES ‘ON ESSENTIAL OILS. 3 41 
bol ‘ ae on fhiettt. The persistent summer rain in 1913 (19182) has, as B. Grof : reports, 
fa youred the development of this fungus pest on the wild as well as on the cultivated 
meatictics of mint. He describes the pest on the Japanese peppermint (Mentha canadensis, 
: var. f. piperascens) as follows: The aecidium appears at the end of April on the stalks of 
‘the shoots of from 10 to 12 cm. in length, causing swellings. The lower leaves dry up, 
whereas the upper ones remain green. The uredospores appear in July, the teleutospores 
at the end of September. A severe attack may bring about a complete failure of the 
“crop and impairs the quality of the oil. In order to destroy the fungi, the leaves that 
have fallen off are collected in autumn and burnt. The beds attacked are sprayed with 
a 2 per cent. copper sulphate solution, which is eee in spring, and the mint is 
: then cut in June, before the uredospores appear. 
rd 
Bint Oil, French. D. Coste?) reports on the cultivation of peppermint — 
_ in the Basses-Alpes, in an article from which we extract only the following particulars. 
} Peppermint plants may reach a height of 75 to 90cm. in good soil, when the yield 
_may amount to 15000 to 20000 kilos per hectare, whereas on inferior soil it would 
Be 10000 to 15000 kitos of fresh herb. The value of the fresh herb, as bought by | 
_ the distillers, is 1500: to 2000 Francs per hectare, for good soil.. The maximum yield 
2 would be 2 kilos of oil from 1000 kilos of fresh herb. 
In 1910, peppermint was grown on an area. of about 10. Mertates in the 
neighbourhood of Castellane. 
iF 
oe 
~-. 
Pe eeiniat Oil, Japanese. ih ithe last weeks, the Japanese market showed 
a tendency to adapt itself to the American conditions, so that a considerable rise 
resulted, the more so as the bad crop will force the United States to import more 
_ Japanese oil than in previous years for stretching the stocks at home. There is a firm 
_ tendency in London as well and considerably higher prices are to be expected during 
_ the winter. The unfavourable rates of exchange will have their share _too in raising 
the price of the pharmacopeeia quality, which is manufactured from Japanese oil. 
The exports from Japan during the first six months were as follows*): — 
199 7,2 1918 1919 
IAM Pent sy PY en aos Jo AOD A Oe. 78 603 198 724. 
to the value of yen . . 235784 161 671 $30 649. 
A few years ago, it was tried successfully to introduce into Germany and the 
German colonies slips of Japanese peppermint; in Dahlem they developed excellently 
and yielded an oil rich in menthol’). The United States have been less fortunate 
“in this respect®), as they have repeatedly tried in vain to import living Japanese 
“peppermint plants. Only once, a consignment had arrived in good condition, owing 
_ to special precautions, but unfortunately the sanitary authorities went so far in their 
zeal as to disinfect the plants thoroughly, in consequence of which not a single one 
survived. 
- _ According to the American Commerce Reports, it has been tried, in Japan, to obtain 
seeds from the Japanese peppermint plant (Black Mint), but without success so far. 
BS This plant is cultivated, in Japan, in two regions of different climatical character. 
The lion’s share of 92 per cent. belongs to Hioksatio (Jesso), the large northern island, 
a 
1) Heil- u. Gewiirzpflanzen 2 (1918), 66. As per a discussion in the Internationale agrartechnische Rund- 
a (original Hungarian). — *) Parfum. moderne 11 (1918), 137. — 3) Chemist and Druggist. 91°(1919), 1105. 
— *) Comp. Gildemeister and Hoffmann, The Volatile Oils, 2"4ed., vol. Ill, p. 503. — 5) Perfum. Record 9 (1918), 242. 
