54 
Piedmontese  Peppermint  Oil. 
i  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t    January,  1921. 
cent  visit  to  Vigone  and  Pancalieri,  the  centers  of  the  cultivation,  and 
also  of  the  distillation  of  peppermint  in  the  province  of  Turin.  This 
district,  which  the  author  designates  as  the  "Mitcham  of  Italy," 
yields  annually  about  eleven  million  kilograms  of  peppermint,  from 
which  25,000  to  27,000  kilograms  of  essential  oil  are  obtained.  The 
extensive  cultivation  of  peppermint  in  Piedmont  is  of  recent  date, 
and  is  due  to  the  action  of  a  French  distiller,  M.  Honore  Carles,  who, 
observing  that  the  locally-grown  peppermint  gave  a  very  poor  yield 
of  essential  oil,  had  ten  bags  of  Mitcham-quality  plants  sent  from 
England,  which  he  distributed  in  1900  to  the  growers  of  Pancalieri. 
The  plants  throve  remarkably  well,  and  may  now  be  regarded  as  a 
special  variety,  indigenous  to  that  district.  The  oil  distilled  from 
these  plants,  and  sold  under  the  designation  of  "Piedmontese  Pep- 
permint Oil,"  or,  better,  as  "Italo-Mitcham  Peppermint,"  is  now 
acknowledged  to  be  one  of  the  best  in  the  world,  on  account  of  the 
delicacy  of  its  perfume  and  the  sweetness  of  its  aroma.  This  variety 
of  peppermint  yields  about  1  kilogram  of  essential  oil  for  every 
400  kilograms  of  plants  submitted  to  distillation.  This  year  wit- 
nessed a  normal  harvest,  but  the  price  paid  for  peppermint  was 
excessive.  Whereas  distillers  had  been  prepared  to  pay  24  to  25 
lire  per  100  kilograms,  the  growers  raised  the  price  to- 30  lire.  This 
unexpected  advance  in  price  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  distillers 
work  independently  of  each  other,  each  trying  to  obtain  from  the 
growers  the  largest  possible  quantities  of  mint,  promising  them 
higher  prices.  Thus  the  growers  succeeded  this  year  in  making  a 
profit  of  100  per  cent,  by  taking  full  advantage  of  the  competition 
among  the  distillers.  A  suggestion  of  the  author  to  form  a  syndicate 
received  a  very  unfavorable  reception  from  the  distillers,  in  view  of 
the  conflicting  interests  among  the  latter. 
All  the  oil  distilleries  visited  by  the  writer  worked  continuously, 
day  and  night,  for  a  period  of  twenty-five  days.  The  most  important 
are :  R.  Subinaghi  &  Co.,  which  possesses  eight  distilling  plants, 
with  a  capacity  of  400  kilograms  each;  Barbero-Rosso  &  Co.,  with 
two  large  plants  of  650  kilograms  each,  and  six  of  350  kilograms, 
both  of  which  are  at  Vigone.  At  Pancalieri  there  is  the  factory, 
already  alluded  to  above,  of  H.  Carles,  with  twelve  distilling  plants, 
of  a  capacity  of  250  kilograms  each;  he  also  possesses  another  dis- 
tillery, with  four  average-size  plants,  at  Polonghera.  The  dis- 
tillery of  Sig.  G.  Varino,  now  managed  by  his  son,  is  the  oldest  one 
producing  peppermint  oil  in  Italy;  Sig.  Varino,  who  died  this  year, 
