The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1886-10-21
The Peppermint King.

This p~otentate was born in Oneida
county, New York. on June 10, 1910,
says The Farm and Household, and his
name, which has for many years been
kept standing in type in the chief mar
ket journals of the world. is Hiram G.
Hotchkiss. Now IS years old, he is To-
bust and plump, bustling with activity
among his peppermint bottles during
the season of oil production, and in ey-
cry way master of his speciality. When
he was Z years old his parents removed
from Oneida county to Ontario county,
which adjoins Wayne, and settled in
the town of Phelps. At the age of Is
he started 4 small country store, to
which later he attached IL iouring-mill,
thereby becoming u general furnisher
of food material. About 1887, ten to
twelve years after Burnett had put a
practical appraisement on the value of
the now famous Wayne county weed,
Mr.. Hotchkiss began to buy pepper
mint oil of the farmers about Lyons,
who took it to him as the most enter
prising merchant they knew. He also
got into the business of buying the raw
meter.al, as it would be offered to him
in connection with wheat taken to his
mill, and d;stilling the oil himself. He
presently saw a future for Wayne
county peppermint. and, disposing of
his business in Phelps. removed in
1871 to Lyons, here gradually to assert
dominion over the peppermint-oil bust
ness of the world. There are two or
three other dealers in the county, but
the bulk of the crop goes to market
through the hands of Mr.. Hotchkiss.
The mint is raised chiefly in the
towns of Huron, SoduS. Galen. Marion,
Arcadia, Williamson, Lyons. and Rose.
The loan soil of the flat lands of these
towns is naturally adapted to it, but the
richness of the plant in oil varies so
greatly that producers can not mix
their crops for distilling, taking Il pro
rata share of the oil, as dairymen mix
their milk in Il common pool at the
cheese factory, and take a pro rata
share of the cheese. The mint acreage
OF the county this year is estimated to
be about four thousand acres, and this
area is said to be only about one-half
what it would have been if the season
had been favorable. MIR. Hotchkiss
estimates the total product of oil this
year to be worth 1920, 900. In a fairly
good season it rises much beyond this
amount. The crop is now, of course,
all in, and much of it has been sent on
its way TO the candy factories. the
bakeries. and the aching stomachs of
the world.
Peppermint long ago ceased to be
looked upon as Il weed in these parts.
1t is a legitimate agricultural product,
planted and attended to as systematical-
ly as a crop of wheat or potatoes. The
oil is sent to market from Lyons in
wholesale quantities, but Il small part
of each years product is put up in
phials ito give away to my colicky
friends" as Mr.. Hotchkiss says. The
bottles for m contain twenty
ounces, and eighteen bottles are packed
in a case, the current worth of a case
at first hand being 500. Mint farmers,
who during the season of shipping and
packing frequent Mr.. Hotchkiss' fac
tory, say that peppermint-raising is
considerably more profitable than
wheat raising, and is a surer crop, the
average of seasons and the market
considered, than almost anything else
they could produce on their available
mint soil.