Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-02-06
AGRICULTURAL HINTS.
PEPPERMINT,

Some Facts About Its Culture-Process
of Distillation-Eastern Farmers Find
1t a Profitable Crop-A Hint to Farmers
of Other Sections.
The production of peppermint oil may
appear like a small matter, but the peo-
pie of Wayne County, \. V, could not
| easily be made to believe so, says the
American Agriculturist. The pepper
mint industry pours nearly, and some
! times perhaps fully, a million dollars
into that single county per year. From
/ Wayne County comes a very large
share Of the peppermint oil produced in
/ the United States, the balance being
produced mostly in Michigan. The oil
is used in a limited way for medicinal
purposes. much more largely by confec-
TONERS for favoring, and also in print
ing cotton fabrics. The plant is one of
! the numerous members of the L0jiItts
family, genus -Henthd, and known bo-
tanically as Nentha piprtd. Its culture
I is by no means complicated or difficult
/ The chief point is to begin right, es>
/ pecially in the matter of clean culture.
Patches of peppermint are often met
/ with in wild state along the edges of
I swamps, ponds or streams, and the
plant, in such positions, seems to thrive
: remarkably we'll. 1t succeeds, however,
on almost any soil, and even yields
more oil when grown upland than in low
situations. The crop always succeeds
best when planted early.
The land selected for the crop should
be well drained and in a fair average
state of fertility. No manure of any
kind is ever applied, as it is thought to
cause excessively rank growth and con-
sequent dropping of the leaves. AS
early in April as possible the land is
plowed and narrowed, and burrows
marked out twenty inches apart and
two to three inches deep. The sets used
for planting are pieces of the creeping
root stock or underground stem, from
one to two feet long, dug in spring from
plantation started the year before.
From six to eight square rods of such
plantation will furnish roots enough to
plant an acre. In planting the grower
takes an armful of the roots and drops
two or three in a place and so thiclly in
the burrows that there will be no bare
spaces, and covers the sets with his feet
as he goes along. One man will plant
from one-quarter to one-half acre a day.
The plants soon begin to grow, and
cultivation and hoeing should not be
long delayed. Some of the plants may
be a little backward in starting, and the
hoe should not be struck into the rows
until all the plants are up. The Guilt
vator should run shallow and not be al
lowed to throw soil on the young plants.
Many of the growers use culuivator
teeth made for the purpose in the
nearest blacksmith's shop. The Planet,
Jr., horseshoe works we'll. but the
Planet, Jr., or Ruhlmans hand-wheel
hoe do still better for keeping
the narrow rows clean of weeds. The
patch has to be kept worked by Guilt
vator and hoe until the plants begin to
cover the ground. No more attention
is required after this, except to an
nually NOW, cure and distill the mint.
Usually but three crops are taken off
one plantation, the ground getting too
much overrun with grass and weeds to
pay for further cropping.
When the peppermint is in blossom,
usually in August, it is ready for work
ing up. Some growers NOW it with the /
scythe, especially the first year, while .
the second and third crops are often cut /
with mower, care being taken not to
work in it during very hot weather, or to .
y
oil volatilizes very readily. When cut, /
it is left on the ground to cure. When .
the leaves are we'll wilted, but before
they begin to crumble. the crop is put
up in small cocks, like hay.
The process of distillation is quite
simple and the illustration will make it
plain to the reader. In side room is
the boiler, which may be portable or
stationary, but capable of giving sixty
pounds pressure. The watts or tubs are
steam-tight, five or six feet in diameter,
and about the same in depth. When
filled with the peppermint freshly
drawn from the field. the watts are closed
with tight-titting covers. The steam is
then turned on at the bottom. 1t vapor-
ICES the oil, and Ghe mixture of steam
and oil escapes through a tin pipe at
the top of thu tub, to be condensed in