Automatic Age

96
T he A
u t o m a t ic
proper time for harvesting. This
time is indicated by the degree of
maturity of the plants, as the oil con­
tent of the plants is governed to a
great degree by the weather condi­
tions. The majority of the growers
watch the progress of the plants by
examining the underside of a leaf
from time to time. The maximum
oil content is determined approxim­
ately by holding the leaf so that the
sun shines on it; if this is done the
oil can be seen glistening upon the
underside.
,
If warm dry weather prevails and
plenty of soil moisture is available
while the plants are blossoming, the
maximum oil content is reached when
the plants are in full bloom, but they
should not be allowed to stand long­
er, because the leaves rapidly lose
their oil when the blossoms begin to
'die. One having a large acreage to
cut should begin early. New mint is
usually ready to cut from August 20
to September 10.
METHOD OF HARVESTING
New peppermint is usually cut
with a scythe, the operator cutting
as much of the row as possible and
moving it so as to clear the row but
letting it lie on the uncut portion
which he clips off with the point of
the scythe on the return trip. Some
growers use a two-horse mower
equipped with a short sickle bar with
pea-vine guards but this method is
not generally considered satisfactory,
except where hand labor is not avail­
able as the runners are apt to be
torn up and cut off and some mint
lost.
After being cut the mint is forked
into small piles and left to wilt, and
as soon as wilted it is loaded onto
wagons and hauled to the still.
THE MINT STILL
The mint is packed into large tubs,
six feet in diameter by six to eight
feet in depth. The lids of the tubs
are closed air-tight and steam forced
through them. This steam carries
the oil along through a “ condenser
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ge
worm,” where it is cooled, thus caus'
ing the oil and water to separate
This stream of oil and water th®n
passes into a receiving can fr0lia
which the oil is skimmed into a sto1
age can. When mint is proper^
wilted about fifteen minutes are r®
quired to extract the oil from a
of plants when high pressure boilel*
are used and as .much as one
one-half hours in the small still usin£
a low pressure boiler.
After the oil is extracted, the
is drawn from the tub by means 0
a sling attached to a derrick cran ’
then is dumped onto a wagon, ham®
away and spread out on a grass P^°_
to dry, after which it is stacked °l
put in the barn for feed. It is palat
able, and most growers consider 1
nearly as good as timothy for haJ’
but being slightly laxative it show
be fed only once a day.
When a still is do’ng custom woi’K'
the charge for stilling ranges fro®*
20 to 40 cents per pound of oil wit
a normal flow. If the mint is run
ning a very low percentage of oik
flat rate of so much per “ charge” 01
tubful, is made.
CULTURAL METHODS OF
OLD MINT
W e have endeavored to explain th®
method of handling “ new” mint’
which is by far the most expensiv®
crop to harvest. The process 0
handling “ old” mint is suite different-
After the new mint is harvested'
plans are made relative to the siz®
of the acreage to be planted for th®
next year and sufficient rows save
for this purpose. The balance of th®
mint acreage is plowed about f°u^
inches deep just before the groun
freezes in the fall and left withou
working until spring.
As soon as the ground is in con
tion to work in the spring, it shou
be thoroughly harrowed with th®
disk harrow, followed with the spjke
tooth harrow and the use of the spi^e
tooth, with the teeth slanting back»
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