THE  PEPPEEMINT  PLANTATIONS  OF  MICHIGAN.  41 
fond  of  it,  and  will  subsist  upon  it  through  the  winter.  It  is 
thrown  into  large  piles  about  the  Mint  still,  after  being  dried,  or 
else  drawn  into  barns,  where  it  lies  till  fed  to  the  cattle  in  the 
winter. 
The  oil  cans  are  made  of  the  best  tinned-iron,  after  the  model 
of  the  tin  powder  cans,  and  contain  each  twenty  pounds  of  oil. 
In  these  cans  the  oil  is  shipped,  the  small  aperture  at  the  top 
being  soldered.  Three,  four,  or  five  cans  are  placed  in  a  case, 
the  tops  of  which  are  sloped  like  a  house  roof. 
There  are  now  in  this  State  about  2100  acres  employed  in 
producing  the  Mint  plant,  all  of  which,  except  about  one  hun- 
dred, are  in  the  county  of  St.  Joseph.  It  produces  in  oil,  per 
acre,  as  follows  : 
Maximum      .       .       .       ♦       .    20  lb.  av. 
Minimum  2  « 
Average       .       .       .  7  " 
In  England,  at  Mitcham,  where  the  Mint  plant  is  raised  in 
richly  manured  land,  the  average  yield  is  stated  to  be  17i  lbs.  to 
the  acre.  Upon  the  plantations  of  the  Messrs.  Hotchkiss  in 
Western  New  York,  the  average  yield  is  said  to  be  20  lbs. 
The  average  product  per  annum  in  this  State  has  been  as  fol- 
lows, from  the  commencement  to  the  present  time  : 
Maximum   30,000  lbs. 
Minimum   8,000  « 
Average   15,000  « 
The  crops  vary,  for  several  reasons.  That  of  1855  was  large, 
being  30,000  pounds  ;  the  dry  season  following,  it  was  reduced 
one  sixth,  i.  e.  to  25,000  pounds ;  and  the  severe  cold  of  the 
winter  of  '56  and  '57,  by  killing  the  roots,  reduced  the  crop  to 
\    one-half  that  of  '55,  it  being  variously  estimated  from  12,000  to 
\  15,000  pounds. 
\     The  prices  obtained  by  producers  of  the  oil  have  been  as  fol- 
lows : 
Highest  price  per  lb.  ...  $4.00 
Lowest  price  per  lb.  ...  1.25 
Average  price  per  lb.  .       .  2.37 
Thve  having  been  as  much  sold  at  $1.25  as  at  $4.00,  the  ave- 
rages taken  between  $1.75  and  $3.00,  the  usual  prices.  The 
