34  THE  PEPPERMINT  PLANTATIONS  OP  MICHIGAN. 
found  to  produce  better  than  on  the  prairie  soil,  where  it  not 
only  required  more  labor  to  cultivate  it,  but  was  often  unprofit- 
able, from  the  roots  being  winter-killed,  occasioned  by  the 
snow  being  blown  off  the  level  fields,  and  thus  exposing  the 
ground  to  the  influence  of  the  frost ;  its  cultivation  being  aban- 
doned on  the  prairies,  it  was  thereafter  limited  to  the  township 
of  Florence,  where  it  has  principally  been  cultivated  ever  since, 
there  being  but  little  over  one  hundred  acres  employed  in  Mint, 
outside  of  St.  Joseph  County,  in  the  whole  State. 
During  the  first  year  of  its  production,  the  oil  was  purchased 
by  the  village  merchants,  and  exchanged  in  New  York  City  for 
merchandise  suited  to  their  trade.  As  the  product  increased, 
these  merchants  acted  as  agents  for  eastern  dealers,  who 
bought,  sold  or  exported  it,  shipping  it  to  Europe,  where  it 
was  principally  disposed  of  in  the  Liverpool  market. 
The  Mint  oil  being  a  fancy  product,  and  not  a  substantial 
staple  commodity  of  commerce,  the  surplus,  after  our  own  and  the 
European  market  was  supplied,  was  of  little  value  until  there 
occurred  a  new  demand.  Asa  natural  consequence,  competi- 
tion in  speculation  upon  its  purchase  and  sale  in  the  City  of 
New  York  became  hazardous,  there  being  many  houses  more  or 
less  engaged  in  the  business.  At  this  time  (about  1844)  the 
house  of  Patterson,  Stone  &  Co.,  in  that  city,  adopted  the  fol- 
lowing enterprise,  with  the  view  of  monopolizing  the  trade  in 
Mint  oil : 
This  house  first  sent  an  agent  to  Europe,  to  determine  the 
amount  of  the  demand  in  the  Liverpool  market.  This  he  did, 
and  ascertained  it  to  be  about  12,000  pounds  per  annum.  They 
then  sent  another  agent  west,  to  determine  the  amount  of  the 
product  annually.  This  agent  found  plantations  in  Wayne  and 
other  counties  in  Western  New  York  ;  others  still  larger  in  the 
counties  of  Ashtabula,  Geauga,  and  Cuyahoga,  Ohio  ;  and  final- 
ly those  of  Florence  in  this  State.  The  plantations  in  New 
York  did  not  produce  enough,  those  in  Ohio  too  much,  and 
those  in  Florence  just  about  the  quantity  required  to  supply 
the  Liverpool  market.  He  consequently  entered  into  contract 
with  the  producers  in  New  York  and  Ohio,  whereby  he  bound 
them  under  heavy  penalties  to  plow  up  their  Mint  fields,  and 
destroy  the  roots,  and  not  plant  any  more  Mint  or  sell  or  give 
