Milford chronicle., 1889-10-11
PEPPERMINT CULTURE.
A BRANCH OF AGRICULTURE PEcU-
LIAR TO A NEW YORK COUNTY.

Raising the Plant as Regular crop--It
Pays from $50 to 500 Per Acre-How
the Discovery Made by Yankee Ped
dIer Has Been Worked Upon.
Fifty years agoa Yankee peddler named
Burnett included in his rounds the northwest
srn counties Of New York. He was from
Massachusetts,, and, besides carrying the usual
stock Of goods that the peddlers Of that day
found a ready and profitable sale for, was
always looking out for a speculation or bar
gain in anything in which he could see the
promise Of dollars profit. On one OF his
trips into Wayne county he discovered a
plant growing wild here and there, which he
recognized as peppermint This was quite
common i'm some parts Of Massachusetts,, and
-, farmers thSsU added few dollars an
nually 70 Their returns 10y disabling and sell
ing its oil Spearmint, or common mint, was
a plant that grew nearly everywhere, but
peppermint had at that time been found
nowhere else in the country outside Of Massa-
setts. Burnett had dealt to some extent in
the peppermint oil Of Massachusetts, and
found It profitable goods, SO 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 utilize the pep
permnt plant of this locality.
SENT TO HAMBURG.
At last some Of the Wayne aud Ontario
sounty 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 as a regular crop, The plant did well un-
Ter 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-dve
years ago not more than 900 pounds OF pep
permint oil were grown in the whole coun-
try, the chief supply Of the article coming
from China and Japan.
In 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 pay nlent for goods furnished them un-
til he had on hand quantity of the product
for which he must receive $1,000 70 make
him oven. He resolved 70 find a wider mar
ket for the oil than it had yet known, and If
possible TO Introduce it as "A standard product
He placed his stock Of oil in tin cans and took
n sample Of it 10 New York None Of the
irug 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 TINT market. Procuring
sufficient number of the now old fashioned
u ounce lip mouthed ink bottles, he removed
his oil from the tin cans, satisfied himself 10y
inspection that it was rs pure as any pepper
mint oil then made, and placed it in the bot
ties. He scaled the bottles and Put on each
one this label:
Peppermint oil. from Wayne county. New York.
Z. :. 4 GGarGnteod pure by II. g. H0tch6iSS
lie consigned the oil TO a firm in Hamburg,
naming the sum he should receive for IL II it
was accepted. Nothing WAS heard from it
for a long time Then Mr. HotchkisS re
ceiyod a draft for the sum he demanded, with
an order for another consignment of poppcr-
mint oil That WAS the actual beginning Of
an entirely new branch Of agriculture, not
only i'm this country, hut i'm tie world. Mr..
HotchtisS gave up his other business and
went into the growing aud distillinS OF pep
permint on an extensive scale, and the Wayne
county farmers followed his example 10 such
a degree that 10000 pounds Of peppermint
oil is now distilled from their crop in favor
Eaio SEASONS