The peppermint, or American mint, is now naturalized in many parts of the eastern United States, occurring in wet soil from the New England States to Minnesota, south to Florida and Tennessee. It is an aromatic perennial belonging to the mint family (Menthaceæ), and propagates by means of its long, running roots (fig. 1). The smooth, square stems are erect and branching, from 1 to 3 feet in height, bearing dark-green, lance-shaped leaves, which are from 1 to 2 inches long, and from one-half to 1 inch wide. The leaves are pointed at the apex, rounded or narrowed at the base, sharply toothed, smooth on both sides, or with hairy veins on the lower surface. The flowers are borne in whorls in dense, terminal spikes; they are purplish, with a tubular, five-toothed calyx, and a four-lobed corolla. (Fig. 2.) [Illustration: FIG. 1.—Peppermint “runners,” showing method of propagation.] The two varieties mentioned are closely related botanically, although in general appearance they are quite different. The variety known as black mint (_Mentha piperita vulgaris_) has purple stems and slightly toothed, dark-green leaves, while the white mint (_Mentha piperita officinalis_) has green stems, with brighter green leaves, which are more lance-shaped and more deeply toothed. Black mint is much more hardy and productive than either the American mint or the white mint, and is grown on nearly all peppermint farms in this country. The white mint, which produces a fine grade of oil, is rarely cultivated on a commercial scale in this country on account of its inability to withstand the climate and its smaller yield of essential oil. The oils spoken of as Japanese and Chinese “peppermint” oils are not obtained from the true peppermint plant, but are distilled from entirely different species, namely, _Mentha arvensis piperascens_ Malinvaud and _Mentha arvensis glabrata_ Holmes, respectively. COUNTRIES WHERE GROWN. The most important peppermint-producing countries are the United States, England, and Japan. Peppermint is grown on a smaller scale in Germany, France, Italy, Russia, China, and southern India. [Illustration: FIG. 2.—Leaves and flowering top of peppermint.] In Japan, peppermint cultivation is said to have been undertaken before the Christian era. The plant grown there is not, as already stated, the peppermint cultivated in our country, but _Mentha arvensis piperascens_, which is entirely distinct from the true peppermint, not only botanically but also in taste and odor. Peppermint is cultivated on many drug farms in England, especially at Mitcham, the middle of the eighteenth century marking the beginning of peppermint cultivation in that country. Up to 1805, however, there were no stills at Mitcham, and the crops obtained there were sent to London for distillation. About 1850, at which time the peppermint industry in England was at its height, the effect of American competition began to be felt, and caused a decided check in the production.