Vol. LVII. No. 2540 
NEW YORK, OCTOBER 1, 1898. 
$1 PER YEAR. 
AMERICAN PEPPERMINT CULTURE. 
IIOW THE CROP IS PRODUCED. 
The Extraction of the Oil. 
Good Soil Needed. —Peppermint can be raised 
only on good soil, and it is equally important that the 
soil shall be tilled in the best possible manner. The 
earlier the peppermint is planted the larger will be 
its growth, and of course, the earlier will it reach its 
maturity. The one thing the peppermint farmer must 
look out for is frost, and the new roots are seldom set 
until most of the danger from that source is past. 
The plowing is generally done in the Fall. Early 
in the Spring, the ground is care¬ 
fully harrowed and got into the best 
possible shape for plantiug. Ditches 
are cleaned out and new ones dug 
where necessary. The huge drains 
two to three feet deep and five or 
six feet wide which traverse the 
peppermint country are put into 
condition to carry off the surplus 
water from the field easily and 
quickly. When 
everything is in 
proper shape, 
planting is begun. 
The roots of the 
two-years-ol d 
mint—that is that 
which was planted 
the previous 
Spring—are used. 
They are not dug 
row by row, but 
the plants which 
have sprung up be¬ 
tween the rows or 
where they are too 
thick for proper 
growth are taken. 
To dig them, a fork 
with plenty of long prongs close together, a manure 
fork generally, is used. The roots, after being dug, 
are collected and piled in heaps. 
How Hoots Are Set. —Some growers transplant 
at once, claiming that the roots do not then lose any 
of their vitality. Others keep them in heaps for a 
few days to allow them to sprout, believing that they 
will do so much quicker above ground in heaps, and 
make better progress after they are planted. In the 
meantime, furrows 28 to 36 inches apart have been 
prepared in the field where the new peppermint is to 
be planted, this work being ordinarily done with a 
“ potato shovel plow ”. The furrows are 10 or 12 
inches deep, and extend the whole length of the field. 
On the smaller farms, the owner is his own digger, 
planter, etc. On the larger farms, the work is done 
in gangs—the digging gang, the planting gang, and 
those who haul the mint from the old field to the new 
ground. 
Each member of the planting gang has strung across 
his left shoulder a large canvas bag containing the 
roots to be set. Beginning at one end of the row, 
with one foot on one side of the furrow and the other 
on the other, he draws the peppermint roots from the 
bag with his right hand, and throws them into the 
furrow. Then he takes a step forward, at the same 
time kicking the loose earth which has been thrown 
up by the plow or potato shovel back into the furrow, 
thus covering the roots. Drawing another bunch from 
the bag, he proceeds in this manner until the row is 
completed. In drawing the roots from the bag and 
depositing them in the furrow, considerable dexterity 
is brought into play. Instead of merely dropping 
them, the planter gives them a swish through the air 
which causes the tangle of roots to lengthen out to 
several feet. This way of handling them has two ad¬ 
vantages : The mint can be planted more rapidly, the 
aim being more certain, and a windy day does not 
bother the planter so much as it would if he merely 
dropped the roots. 
Disadvantages and Yields.—A rainy Spring 
is a great disadvantage to the peppermint farmer, as 
it greatly hinders him in his planting. The ground, 
being wet, is difficult to get over, both men and horses 
finding it so, and the soil is likely to be chunky and 
hard to work. The best soil for peppermint raising is 
a black loam such as is found on the river bottoms. 
A great deal of the peppermint land in Michigan is 
reclaimed 
years ago. 
less, 
which 
marsh land which, 20 or 30 
was considered almost worth- 
Any land of ordinary fertility 
always has plenty of moisture 
will raise peppermint. Should the farmer 
be just embarking in the business, he 
will be able to buy the roots from men 
already engaged in the industry for, 
probably, 810 an acre. 
During the first year, the peppermint 
farmer has much to contend with. A 
long drought may seriously damage the 
crop. A swarm of grasshoppers may in¬ 
vade his fields and badly damage his mint. Weeds 
are his great enemy, and it is generally found neces¬ 
sary to go over the mint field with a hoe three times 
and with a cultivator eight or ten times during a sea¬ 
son. If all go well and dry weather and grasshoppers 
do not combine, the peppermint farmer will get 20 or 
more pounds of oil per acre from his first year’s crop. 
If things are against him, he may get only five pounds 
or possibly even less 
How It Is Harvested. —The first year, the mint 
is cut with a scythe. The second year, it is allowed 
to run without cultivation of any kind, and the space 
between rows fills up with more plants. The mint 
does not grow to the height it attained the first year, 
and the foliage is not so heavy. Lackjof cultivation 
gives June grass an excellent chance, and it mixes 
with the mint a great deal. In consequence of all 
this, the peppermint farmer seldom gets more than 10 
pounds of oil to the acre from his mint two years old. 
During the third year, the mint is allowed to run as 
it did the second, and the results are about the same 
except that the peppermint farmer gets only from five 
to seven pounds of oil per acre. The little attention 
the mint requires during the second and third years 
gives the farmer an opportunity to look after his new 
mint carefully each year, and any other crops he may 
have. After mint has been taken from a field three 
successive years, most peppermint farmers plant some¬ 
thing else, believing in a rotation of crops. It is 
claimed that the yield will be larger from the new 
mint the following year if the land has been permit¬ 
ted to have a year’s rest. 
The cutting of the mint begins, when the season is 
a good one, late in July, and continues through August 
and the fore part of September. A steady drought 
sometimes compels the mint grower to cut early to 
save the crop. The mint is allowed merely to wilt 
after being cut, and is not cured. When cured, the 
stems become brittle and the leaves containing the oil 
are broken off in handling. Wilting reduces the bulk 
of the mint, and thus makes it easier 
to convey from the field to the pep¬ 
permint distillery. 
What Is a “ Still ”?—A properly- 
constructed still, including the lum¬ 
ber used, the labor required in its 
building and the apparatus neces¬ 
sary for its equipment, costs about 
8300. Many peppermint farmers 
cultivating a few acres do not own 
a still, and have their distilling done 
by their neighbors, 20 cents a pound 
for the oil distilled being the usual 
charge. The wilted mint is brought 
from the field on a wagon with a 
large flat hayrack 
and deposited on 
the still floor. This 
floor is generally 
about six feet 
above the ground, 
and 15 x 30 feet in 
size. This part of 
the still has no 
sides but is roofed. 
Immediately ad¬ 
joining is the 
small shed-like 
portion of the 
building where 
most of the distill¬ 
ing apparatus is 
located. Here 
there is a boiler 
set in a brick arch. 
SCENES IN PEPPERMINT CULTURE. Fig. 307. 
Near the boiler 
and beneath the still floor, are two large tanks or tubs 
sunk to the floor’s level. They are 5% feet deep, and 
decrease in diameter from 5 feet at the top to 4J4 feet 
at the bottom. A lid is attached to each tank, and 
this fits so nicely that not a particle of steam can escape 
during the distilling process. The mint is pitched into 
the tubs, and the green bulk is pressed down with the 
feet just as the ancients extracted wine from the grape 
in their wine presses. This, however, is far from being 
sufficient to extract the peppermint oil, and the stamp¬ 
ing down is merely for the purpose of getting as much 
as possible into the tank. When this end has been 
accomplished, the lid is let snugly down, and as it 
is made of two-inch, hardwood planks, its weight is 
