Transcriber’s Note Italic text displayed as: _italic_ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY—BULLETIN NO. 90, PART III. B. T. GALLOWAY, _Chief of Bureau_. PEPPERMINT. BY ALICE HENKEL, ASSISTANT, DRUG-PLANT INVESTIGATIONS. ISSUED DECEMBER 28, 1905. [Illustration] WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1905. CONTENTS. Page. Description 5 Countries where grown 6 Peppermint cultivation in the United States 7 Cultivation 8 Conditions injurious to crop 9 Harvesting and distillation 10 Description of still 11 Peppermint oil and menthol 12 Export of peppermint oil 13 Prices of peppermint oil 14 ILLUSTRATIONS. Page. FIG. 1. Peppermint “runners,” showing method of propagation 6 2. Leaves and flowering top of peppermint 6 3. Peppermint still (after Dewey, in Bailey’s Cyclopedia of American Horticulture) 12 B. P. I—189. PEPPERMINT.[1] DESCRIPTION. One of the most important essential oils produced in the United States is distilled from the peppermint plant and its varieties. The three kinds of mint grown in this country for the distillation of peppermint oil are the so-called American mint (_Mentha piperita_ L.), the black mint (_Mentha piperita vulgaris_ Sole), and the white mint (_Mentha piperita officinalis_ Sole), the two last named being varieties of the American mint. The American mint, although introduced from England many years ago, is so called from the fact that it has long been cultivated in this country, and the name “State mint” has been applied to it in the State of New York for the same reason.