The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-08-25

was approaching a spot where Ken
 lucky moonsbine is made. beyond the
 pale of the wandering revenue colIec- ! tor.
 The wornwood plants are grown on the farm in about the same manner as
 corn, oats and other cereals. The
 plants grow from two to three feet high. They are light in color. and have the appearance of being covered with dew. As soon as the unattractive pur-
 pie blossoms appear the cutting and distilling begin. By means of an or l dinary moving machine with a drop per attachment the plants are cut down and left in large bundles to wilt in the
 hot summer sun.
 As soon as they become wilted and faccid they are loaded on wagons and hauled to the distillery, where a. big
 iron fork comes down into the load By
 means of a rope and pulleys the fork
 with its burden is hauled upward to a little car on rails where an automatic
 attachment is quickly made. In no time the car rolls to the opening over the largev at, when there is jerk to the trip ropes and the bunch of worm
 wood shrubbery is dropped into the vat This is repeated until the vat is
 filled to the top with the aromatic
 plant.
 In the engine room adjoining there is boiler. By twisting valve the steam 1 is turned into the vat so that every
 stem and leaf of the hoary plant is i'm 1 mersed in the steam, and must yield
 the essential oil. From the vat the steam passes into the condenslng pipes. laden with oil from the herb The
 pipes are submerged in cold water basins made out of cement. and there the oil collects. drop by drop, to find its way through a small opening to a vessel prepared to receive it.
 The oil, being of less specific gravity than water, collects at the top of the
 vessel provided for the purpose. The
 can into which the drops of oil and wa
 ter fall is provided with a spout which
 almost reaches the top of the vessel,
 making it appear like gardeners wa
 ter pot. Out of this spout flows the
 floating oil There comes a time in
 the process when the receiving vessel
 will hold no more of the oil, and this state is known by the bitter liquid
 escaping through the opening where the water is to flow away. The produce is then poured into the shipping fiasks to be sent away to the Eastern markets. As soon as all of the oil has been secured from the plants in the vats, the iron fork is sent down into it and brings forth the steaming stems and
 leaves. Many people cannot work with
 the plant because of the odor.
 There are about five hundred worm-
 wood farms in the United States, two of which are owned by Mir Drew. The demand for the oil is much greater than
 the supply. Much of it is imported from Europe. Great tracts of land in
 Europe are devoted to its production. l and the discovery of absinthe by two
 old Swiss women has stimulated the trade of the "green-eyed beauty" from the distilled juice of the plant
 In the past fifty years the price of oil of wormwood has advanced from $1 1 to $6 a pound. On account of the wide- spread use of absinthe it is not antici- pated that the price will ever touch the dollar mark again.
 The oil is used in making liniments and other remedies It has a penetrat- ing property possessed by no other oil,
 and when applied "goes direct to the
 bone. Prom the Indianapolis News.