Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 August 1911 — PEPPERMINT CROP [ARTICLE]

PEPPERMINT CROP

Suffers from Drought and Insects and Harvest Will Be Small. South 'Bend, Ind., August 6.~ A prolonged drought and the ravages of the cutworm are reru, sponsible for a reduction of about one third in peppermint yield of northern Indiana and southern Michigan this year. Consequently peppermint • 0.1 will command not less than $5,25 per pound on the market in the near future.

More than two thirds of the peppermint oil used in the United States is supplied by St. Joseph county, Indiana, and Berrien county, Michigan. With a normal yield o£ about 40 bushels to the acre, peppermint sells in the open market for from $2.50 to $3 per pound. The planting of peppermint in this section of the Country began 60 years ago. The leaf flourished only on muck ground, and the result is that the marsh land of the Kankakee, which several years ago was considered worthless, is gradually being drained and sold for prices ranging frpm $75 to $l5O per acre.