Chemistry of Essential Oils

LABIATE 213

The chief Japanese plantations are located North of Yokohama, and

southward into the provinces of Bingo-Bitchin. The largest centre of

cultivation is in the province of Uzen, which produces more oil than all

the other provinces put together. Uzen is in the north-east of the island

of Hondo, the chief of the Japanese islands. After Uzen, Bingo is the

most important producing province. The following map (reproduced by

the courtesy of the editor of the Chemist and Druggist) illustrates the

ohief peppermint districts in Japan :—

Oil dT Peppermint

FIG. 25.

American Peppermint Oil.—According to the United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture, the United States produce—mostly in Michigan,
Indiana, and New York—rather under half of the world's total output
of mint (peppermint and spearmint) oils, or approximately 250,000 Ib.
out of a universal production of 600,000 Ib.
The Agricultural Department affirms that on the muck lands of
Southern Michigan and Northern Indiana, where mint culture has