Mint Growing. 



349 



on a chalky subsoil. It likes a moist spring and a dry hot 

 summer. It is grown from roots, not from seeds. 



The land is prepared during the winter as for a corn crop, 

 about 20 tons per acre of manure being ploughed in. A 

 fine tilth must be obtained. The plants are dibbled in in 

 May, in rows 12 in. to 15 in. wide and from 12 in. to 18 in. 

 apart. The plants are sold by the bushel and about 10-12 

 bushels go to an acre. The ground must be kept clean by 

 frequent hoeing. 



As a mint plantation only lasts from four to five years 

 it is necessary to form three or four beds that will come on 

 in succession, and this is usually done in the following manner. 

 In the autumn after the crop has been cut, trenches are dug 

 from 8 ft. to 10 ft. apart, 15 in. deep and 18 in. wide, the 

 displaced earth being spread over the plants between the 

 trenches. 



When the plants spring up some are transplanted to another 

 bed, the area under cultivation being extended, and so on 

 from year to year, so that at the end of the fourth year, when 

 the first bed is dying out the others, which have been made, 

 take its place and continuous succession is obtained. If the 

 plants are not required for extending the plantations, the land 

 is ploughed with disc coulters and in the spring it is harrowed 

 down. The mint plantations in their second year give the 

 best results, and each year afterwards they gradually deteriorate. 

 When the plantations are broken up at the end of four or five 

 years, the same land should not be used again for mint growing 

 for many years. 



Cutting and Distilling. — The mint is cut about the beginning 

 of September, when the plants flower or when a red rust called 

 " snuff " appears on the leaf. The cutting is done by hand 

 with a hook. The crop is left on the ground after cutting to 

 dry, and then packed in Russian mats and carried to the 

 distillery. It is there unpacked and boiled with water in 

 coppers or stills for about six hours. The steam from the 

 boiling mint is condensed in a metal coil of pipes contained 

 in a large vat of cold water and runs into a separator at the 

 bottom of the vat. Here the oil rises to the surface and the 

 water is drawn off. When the vessel is full of oil it is poured 

 into cans and cleared by filtration through " filter paper." 



