THE  PEPPERMINT  PLANTATIONS  OF  MICHIGAN. 
35 
away  any  roots,  or  produce  or  sell  any  Mint  oil  for  the  period 
of  five  years,  and  paid  them  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  per  acre 
as  a  bonus  for  so  doing.  He  then  contracted  with  the  produ- 
cers of  St.  Joseph  County  to  pay  them  two  dollars  and  fifty 
cents  for  their  Mint  oil,  delivered  at  such  agencies  as  he  estab- 
lished in  the  county  for  that  purpose,  for  a  like  period  of  five 
years,  binding  them  under  heavy  forfeitures  not  to  sell  roots  to 
any  one,  not  to  extend  their  own  plantations  themselves,  and  to 
deliver  every  ounce  of  Mint  oil  produced  by  them  to  the  agents 
under  the  contract.  These  contracts  continued  to  be  observed 
for  about  three  years,  by  the  producers,  when  the  house  having 
gained  the  desired  end  of  this  monopoly,  a  large  fortune,  ceased 
to  enforce  the  contracts,  which,  by  this  time,  were  not  greatly 
regarded  or  observed  by  the  producers.  By  this  time,  also 
many  of  the  producers  had  amassed  fortunes  from  their  Mint 
product,  retired  from  the  business,  and  seeded  down  their  farms  ; 
other  fields  had  run  out,  and  new  ones  converted  into  Mint 
fields;  the  production  of  the  oil  again  became  general,  and  has 
since  continued  so,  but  limited  mostly  to  Florence. 
I  will  now  proceed  to  state  the  method  of  culture,  and  the 
minutiae  concerning  the  distillation  of  the  oil. 
The  Peppermint  plant  requires  a  deep,  rich,  warm  soil.  The 
opening  lands  of  Southern  Michigan,  which  are  mixed  with 
sand,  black  loam,  and  some  clay,  are  most  productive  in  oil,  if 
not  in  quantity  of  herb  to  the  acre.  The  ground  is  prepared 
by  deep  plowing  and  harrowing,  as  for  oats,  potatoes,  or  other 
summer  products,  in  early  spring,  say  from  the  middle  of  April 
to  the  20th  of  May,  or  as  soon  as  an  acre  or  so  can  be  plowed 
to  commence  with,  in  order  to  get  the  roots  of  the  Mint  planted 
before  they  begin  to  sprout.  The  ground  is  furrowed  as  for 
potatoes,  with  the  furrows  fifteen,  eighteen,  or  twenty-four  inches 
apart.  The  roots  are  prepared  by  plowing  up  an  old  field  of 
Mint  ground,  from  which  they  are  raked  out  with  rakes,  potato 
hooks,  etc.,  loaded  on  a  wagon  like  a  load  of  straw,  and  drawn 
to  the  new  Mint  ground.  The  best  roots  are  taken  from  fields 
planted  the  preceding  year,  and  it  requires  about  one  acre  of 
such  to  furnish  roots  enough  to  plant  ten  acres  anew.  The 
planter  goes  to  the  stack  of  Mint-roots  in  the  corner  of  the  field, 
or  wherever  they  may  have  been  deposited,  fills  a  bag  half  full 
