Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-09-24
PEPPERMINT CULTURE.
A BRANCH or AGRICULTURE Pecu-
LIAR TO A NEW YORK COUNTY.


der Has Been Worked Upoa-
Fifty years agoa Yankee peddler named
Burnett included in his rounds the northwest
eru counties Of New York He was from
Massachusetts, and. besides carrying the usual
stock II goods that the peiilers Of that day
found a ready and profitable sale for, wss
always looking out for speculation or bar
gain IL anything in which he could SEE the
promise Of dollars profit. On one OF his
trfus into Wayne county he discovered
plan. growing wild here and there, which be
recognized as peppermint This was quite
common in some parts Of Massachusetts, and
In. farmers there added few dollars an
nuaIlv 10 their returns by distilling and sell
ing it, OIL Spearusnt. or common mint, was
a p!aat that grew nearly everywhere, but
peppermint had at that time been found
nowhere else in the country outside OF Massa-
sets. Burnett had dealt to some extent In
tbs, peppermint oil Of Massachusetts,, and
found il profitable goods. 80 he went to gath
ering the wild peppermint Of Wayne county
and distilling its oil on his own account
This product he sold about the country,
and for several SEASONS he was the only one
who thought it worth while TO utiliza the pep
permint plant of this locality
SENT TO HAMBURG.
At last some of the Wayne and Ontario
county farmers woke up To the fact that they
might as well make few dollars themselves
out Of this wild product Of their waste places,
and began To transfer the plant from its
places Of spontaneous growth and cultivate
it a. a regular crop. The plant did well I'M
der cultivation. but SO little general import
ance was attached to it that not more than
two or three hundred pounds Of oil was dis
titled in any one year In fact, forty-fve
years ago not more than 500 pounds Of pep
permint oil were grown in the whole coun-
try. the chief supply of the article coming
from China and Japan.
La 1874 II. G. Hotchkiss was keeping little
country store in the village Of Phelps, Onta-
rio county In the course of his dealings
with the farmers he had taken peppermint
oil in pa ineIt for goods furnished them un-
til he had on hand a quantity of the product
for which he must receive $1,000 TO make
him even He resolved TO find wider mar
ket for the oil than it had yet known, and il
possible to introduce 1t as a standard product.
He placed his stock Of oil in tin cans and took
a sample of it TO New York None of the
drug dealers would touch it, declaring THAT it
was not pure. Mr.. Hotchkiss returned home.
Hamburg, Germany, being a great center
for the sale and distribution Of essential oils,
he concluded TO try the peppermint oil Of
WAYNE county in that market. Procuring
sufficient number of the now old fashioned
81 ounce lip mouthed ink bottles, he removed
his oil fruil the tin cans, satisfied himself by
inspection that it was as pure any pepper
mint oil then made, and placed it in the bot
ties He sealed the bottles and put on each
one this label:
Peppermint oil from Wayne county, New York,
U. ). A Guaranteed pure by II G. Hotchkiss.
He consigned the oil to a firm in Hamburg,
naming Inc sum he should receive for it if it
was accepted Nothing was heard from it
for "a long time. Then Mr.. Hotchkiss re-
ceiyed u draft for the sum he demanded with
an order for another consignment of pepper
mint oil. That the actual beginning OF
an entirely new branch of agriculture, not
only in this country, but in the world. Mr..
Hotchkiss cave up his other business and
went into the growing and distiling OF pep
pernint on an extensive scale, and the Wayne
county farmers followed his example to such
degree that 10000 pounds of peppermint
oil is now distilled from their crop in favor
able seasons.
HOW 1T IS GROWN.
The peppermint crop is not one that re-
turns fancy profit To the farmer, but il he
can get ~ pound for his oil, below which
the price seldom, if ever, goes he realizes a
good return. Twenty-Five pounds of oil to
the acre is the lowest general average Of the
crop. 1t is not an uncommon thing for the
oil To command 50 a pound, and the price
haa been as high as s..
a.The cultivation of peppermint is simple,
but requires great deal of labor in keeping
:, .i.t-xr
rears its dainty blossom among the pepper
mint rows, as much at home as it is in the
meadows. and the aesthetic golden rod en-
riches the mint borders with its color. But
while the daisy and the golden rod may be
indispensable in my lady's corsagc their ex-
pressed oil ningling with the pungent juices
of the peppermint do not add to tie efficacy
of the latter in curing her baby's stomach
ache Another weed, unknown in New y ork
state until the Wayne county farmers began
to cuit,ssto pepIei ..iint, AID Which is still
unknown outside of the peppermint fields, is
perpetual menace to the purity of the farm
ers product. Th- is locally known rag
weed, but it is not the oil fashioned rag weed
that grows every where. 1t looks something
like lettuce, aud yields OF itself an abundance
OF bitter and purgent oil. 1t does not re-
qni,i n great deal of this weed, if distilled
with the mint, to diminish greatly the value
of n farritTs crep No new insect pest has
followed the cultivation of peppermint, un-
ike almost every other product Of the farm,
insects do not interfere with the growth of
mint. Keeping the crop free from all weeds
i, the principal care that attends its cultiva-
ton.
4 field of peppermint yields two crops.
The cts, or parts Of old plants are planted