IL OF PEPPERMINT.--Mr. De Witt C. Van Slyck, of Alloway, Wayne
county, New York, furnished me with the following particulars on the
cultivation of peppermint, in December, 1849, which may appropriately
be introduced in this place:--

"As an agricultural production, the culture of peppermint in the
United States is limited to few localities; this county and the
adjoining ones, Seneca and Ontario, comprise the largest bed. In the
year 1846 about 40,000 lbs. of oil were produced. In Lewis county,
in this state, it is grown, though to a less extent; the amount of
oil produced there in 1846 was estimated at 4,500 lbs. In Michigan
about 10,000 lbs. are annually produced; Ohio furnishes about 3,000
lbs. and Indiana 700 lbs. per annum. The entire crop in the United
States, in the year 1846, is estimated in round numbers at 58,000
lbs.

The above comprises all the localities of any importance in the
United States, and the above estimates of the annual product of oil
were made from correct data for the year 1846, since which time the
cultivation of mint has rapidly decreased in consequence of a
speculative movement by a New York company, who in the spring of
1847 purchased nearly all the mint then growing in this State, and
stipulated with the growers not to raise it for two years
thereafter, which condition was generally observed on the part of
the growers. The present year (1849), on account of the drought, has
not realised the expectations of those engaged in its culture,
although the amount of oil produced is much larger than the product
of the two preceding years. In this mint district, 8,000 lbs. have
been raised; Lewis county furnishes 1,000 lbs.; Michigan, 8.000
lbs.; Ohio, 1,000 lbs., and Indiana 500 lbs. So that the entire crop
of 1849 will not materially vary from 18,500 lbs.

I have consulted several of the principal dealers in mint oil, whose
opportunities have been ample to form a tolerably correct estimate
of the amount of oil annually consumed, and their opinion fixes the
total consumption, for the various purposes for which it is used in
the United States and in Europe, at from 20,000 to 30,000 lbs.
annually.

The price of mint oil is extremely fluctuating. Like other unstaple
commodities, the value of which depends upon their scarcity or
abundance, it never has assumed a con