The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Part 83

I have consulted many mint growers, who have cultivated it for a series of years, in regard to the average yield per acre, and have arrived at the following estimate, which I think is low, provided the land is suitable, and is properly cultivated. I estimate the average yield per acre for the first year at 18 lbs.; the second year at 14 lbs.; and the third year at 8 lbs.--making the product for three years 40 lbs., which I think will not materially vary from the actual result, though growers aver they have raised from 30 to 40 lbs. per acre the first season.

Several years since, the only method of extracting the oil then known was by distilling the herb in a copper kettle, or boiler, and condensing in the usual manner; a slow and tedious process, by which about 12 or 15 pounds of oil could be separated in a day. But recently steam, that powerful agent, which has wrought such immense changes in our social and national economy, has been applied to this subject with its usual attendant success. The present method consists in the use of a common steam-boiler, of the capacity of from 100 to 150 gallons, from which the steam is conveyed by conductors into large wooden air-tight tubs, of 200 gallons capacity, containing the dried herb; from which it is conveyed, charged with the volatile principle of the plant, into a water-vat, containing the condenser. The water collected at the extremity of the condenser, although it does not readily commingle with the oil, is highly tinctured with it, and is used to feed the boiler. Two tubs are necessary, in order that when the "charge" is being worked off in one, the other can be refilled. The oil is then to be filtered, and is ready for market. The expense of a distillery is estimated at 150 dollars, which, with the labor of two men, and a cord of dry wood, will run 40 lbs. of oil per day. The usual price for distilling is 25 cents per pound.

The cost of production is of course greatly modified by circ.u.mstances. If grown on rich bottom lands, or prairie, unusually free from weeds and gra.s.s, the labor required will be comparatively trifling. From information derived from the princ.i.p.al mint growers in this vicinity, I have prepared the following estimate of the cost of production of an acre of mint for three years:--

FIRST YEAR.

Dollars.

Rent of an acre of land one year 8.00 One day plough and drag, one hand and team 2.00 Half day furrowing, digging roots, one hand and horse 1.00 Three days planting, at 75 cents 2.25 Two days dressing with hoe, at 75 cents 1.50 Two days with cultivator and hoe, 1.00 2.00 Two days with cultivator and hoe (third dressing) 1.50 One and a-half days cutting new mint, at 75 cents 1.13 Curing and drawing to distillery 1.50 Distilling 18 lbs. oil, at 25 cents 4.50 Can for oil 25 ----- 25.63

SECOND YEAR.

Rent of an acre of land one year 8.00 Cutting one acre of old mint 75 Curing and hauling to distillery 1.50 Distilling 14 lbs. oil, at 25 cents 3.50 Can for oil 25 ----- 14.00

THIRD YEAR.

Rent of an acre of land one year 8.00 Cutting, curing, &c. 2.25 Distilling 8 lbs. of oil, at 25 cents, and can 2.25 ----- 12.50 ----- Total expenses for three years 52.13

Forty pounds of oil, at dollars 1.37 per pound 55.00 Deduct expenses 52.13 ----- Net profit 2.87

In the above estimate I have omitted the expense of roots, for the reason that the crop will yield as many as are required for planting. The price of roots is about 50 cents per square rod, and if they are in demand, the profit of the crop will be greatly enhanced by selling them at that, or even a lower price.

It will be readily perceived that the culture of peppermint promises no great return of profit in sections of country where land is valuable, and where the expense of production is nearly double what it is in newly-settled districts. It is a fact that in Michigan, and other Western States, the actual expense of production is about one-half less than the above estimate, and the yield is a fourth greater; the greater distance from market, which is usually New York city, not being taken into account, the freight on oil being comparatively trifling. Another consideration in favor of prairie cultivation is, that the mint will endure for years by simply ploughing over the surface every second year, which seems to invigorate the herb, and obviates the necessity of replanting every second or third year, as must be done in older settled localities."

In India the perfumed oils are obtained in the following manner:--The layers of the jasmine, or other flowers, four inches thick and two inches square, are laid on the ground and covered with layers of sesamum or any other oil yielding seed. These are laid about the same thickness as the flowers, over which a second layer of flowers like the fruit is placed. The seed is wetted with water, and the whole ma.s.s covered with a sheet, held down at the end and sides by weights, and allowed to remain for eighteen hours in this form. It is now fit for the mill, unless the perfume is desired to be very strong, when the faded flowers are removed and fresh ones put in their place. The seed thus impregnated is ground in the usual way in the mill and the oil expressed, having the scent of the flower. At Ghazipoor the jasmine and bela are chiefly employed; the oil is kept in the dubbers, and sold for about 4s. a seer.

The newest oils afford the finest perfume. In Europe a fixed oil, usually that of the bean or morerja nut, is employed. Cotton is soaked in this, and laid over layers of flowers, the oil being squeezed out so soon as impregnated with perfume. Dr. Johnson thus describes the culture and manufacture:--

_Cultivation of Roses_.--Around the station of Ghazipoor, there are about 300 biggahs (or about 150 acres) of ground laid out in small detached fields as rose gardens, most carefully protected on all sides by high mud walls and p.r.i.c.kly pear fences, to keep out the cattle. These lands, which belong to Zemindars, are planted with rose trees, and are annually let out at so much per biggah for the ground, and so much additional for the rose plants--generally five rupees per biggah, and twenty-five rupees for the rose trees, of which there are 1,000 in each biggah. The additional expense for cultivation would be about eight rupees eight annas; so that for thirty-eight rupees eight annas you have for the season one biggah of 1,000 rose trees.

If the season is good, this biggah of 1,000 rose trees should yield one lac of roses. Purchases for roses are always made at so much per lac. The price of course varies according to the year, and will average from 40 to 70 rupees.

_Manufacture of Rose-water_.--The rose trees come into flower at the beginning of March, and continue so through April. Early in the morning the flowers are plucked by numbers of men, women, and children, and are conveyed in large bags to the several contracting parties for distillation. The cultivators themselves very rarely manufacture.

The native apparatus for distilling the rose-water is of the simplest construction; it consists of a large copper or iron boiler well tinned, capable of holding from eight to twelve gallons, having a large body with a rather narrow neck, and a mouth about eight inches in diameter; on the top of this is fixed an old dekchee, or cooking vessel, with a hole in the centre to receive the tube or worm.

This tube is composed of two pieces of bamboo, fastened at an acute angle, and it is covered the whole length with a strong binding of corded string, over which is a luting of earth to prevent the vapour from escaping. The small end, about two feet long, is fixed into the hole in the centre of the head, where it is well luted with flower and water. The lower arm or end of the tube is carried down into a long-necked vessel or receiver, called a bhulka. This is placed in a handee of water, which, as it gets hot, is changed. The head of the still is luted on to the body, and the long arm of the tube in the bhulka is also well provided with a cushion of cloth, so as to keep in all vapour. The boiler is let into an earthen furnace, and the whole is ready for operation. There is such a variety of rose-water manufactured in the bazar, and so much that bears the name, which is nothing more than a mixture of sandal oil, that it is impossible to lay down the plan which is adopted. The best rose-water, however, in the bazar, may be computed as bearing the proportion of one thousand roses to a seer of water; this, perhaps, may be considered as the best procurable.

From one thousand roses most generally a seer and a half of rose-water is distilled, and perhaps from this even the attar has been removed. The boiler of the still will hold from eight to twelve or sixteen thousand roses. On eight thousand roses from ten to eleven seers of water will be placed, and eight seers of rose-water will be distilled. This after distillation is placed in a carboy of gla.s.s, and is exposed to the sun for several days to become pucka (ripe); it is then stopped with cotton, and has a covering of moist clay put over it; this becoming hard, effectually prevents the scent from escaping. The price of this will be from twelve to sixteen rupees. This is the best that can be procured.

_Attar of Roses_.--To procure the attar, the roses are put into the still, and the water pa.s.ses over gradually, as in the case of the rose-water process; after the whole has come over, the rose-water is placed in a large metal basin, which is covered with wetted muslin, tied over to prevent insects or dust getting into it; this vessel is let into the ground about two feet, which has been previously wetted with water, and it is allowed to remain quiet during the whole night. The attar is always made at the beginning of the season, when the nights are cool; in the morning the little film of attar which is formed upon the surface of the rose-water during the night is removed by means of a feather, and it is then carefully placed in a small phial; and, day after day, as the collection is made, it is placed for a short period in the sun, and after a sufficient quant.i.ty has been procured, it is poured off clear, and of the color of amber, into small phials. Pure attar, when it has been removed only three or four days, has a pale greenish hue; by keeping it loses this, and in a few weeks' time it becomes of a pale yellow.

The first few days distillation does not produce such fine attar as comes off afterwards, in consequence of the dust or little particles of dirt in the still and the tube being mixed with it. This is readily separated, from its sinking to the bottom of the attar, which melts at a temperature of 84 degrees. From one lac of roses it is generally calculated that 180 grains, or one tolah, of attar can be procured; more than this can be obtained if the roses are full-sized, and the nights cold to allow of the congelation. The attar purchased in the bazar is generally adulterated, mixed with sandal oil, or sweet oil; not even the richest native will give the price at which the purest attar alone can be obtained, and the purest attar that is made is sold only to Europeans. During the past year it has been selling from 80 to 90 rupees the tolah; the year before it might have been purchased for 50 rupees.

_General Remarks_.--Native stills are let out at so much per day or week, and it frequently occurs that the residents prepare some rose-water for their own use as a present to their friends, to secure their being provided with that which is the best. The natives never remove the calices of the rose-flowers, but place the whole into the still as it comes from the garden.

The best plan appears to be to have these removed, as by this means the rose-water may be preserved a longer time, and is not spoiled by the acid smell occasionally met with in the native rose-water. It is usual to calculate 100 bottles to one lac of roses. The rose-water should always be twice distilled; over ten thousand roses water may be put to allow of sixteen or twenty bottles coming out; the following day these twenty bottles are placed over eight thousand more roses, and about eighteen bottles of rose-water are distilled.

This may be considered the best to be met with. The attar is so much lighter than the rose-water, that, previous to use, it is better to expose the rose-water to the sun for a few days, to allow of its being well mixed; and rose-water that has been kept six months is always better than that which has recently been made.

At the commencement of the rose season, people from all parts come to make their purchases, and very large quant.i.ties are prepared and sold. There are about thirty-six places in the city of Ghazeepore where rose-water is distilled. These people generally put a large quant.i.ty of sandal oil into the receiver, the oil is afterwards carefully removed and sold as sandal attar, and the water put into carboys and disposed of as rose-water. At the time of sale a few drops of sandal oil are placed on the neck of the carboy to give it fresh scent, and to many of the natives it appears perfectly immaterial whether the scent arises solely from the sandal oil or from the roses. Large quant.i.ties of sandal oil are every year brought up from the south and expended in this way.

6. The chief use the natives appear to make of the rose water, or the sandal attar as they term it, is at the period of their festivals and weddings. It is then distributed largely to the guests as they arrive, and sprinkled with profusion in the apartments. A large quant.i.ty of rose water is sold at Benares, and many of the native Rajahs send over to Ghazipoor for its purchase. Most of the rose water, as soon as distilled, is taken away, and after six months from the termination of the manufacture there are not more than four or five places where it is to be met with.

I should consider that the value of the roses sold for the manufacture of rose water may be estimated at 15,000 to 20,000 rupees a year; and from the usual price asked for the rose water, and for which it is sold, I should consider there is a profit of 40,000 rupees. The natives are very fond of using the rose water as medicine, or as a vehicle for other mixtures, and they consume a good deal of the petals for the conserve of roses, or goolcond as they call it.

The roses of Ghazipoor, on the river Ganges, are cultivated in enormous fields of hundreds of acres. The delightful odor from these fields can be scented at seven miles distance on the river. The valuable article of commerce known as attar of roses is made here in the following manner:--On 40 pounds of roses are poured 60 pounds of water, and they are then distilled over a slow fire, and 30 pounds of rose water obtained. This rose water is then poured over 40 pounds of fresh roses, and from that is distilled at most 20 pounds of rose water; this is then exposed to the cold night air, and in the morning a small quant.i.ty of oil is found on the surface. From 80 pounds of roses, about 200,000, at the utmost an ounce and a-half of oil is obtained; and even at Ghazipoor it costs 40 rupees (4_l._) an ounce.

Five guineas have been often paid for one ounce of attar of roses.

The most approved mode of ascertaining its quality is to drop it on a piece of paper; its strength is ascertained by the quickness with which it evaporates, and its worth by its leaving no stains on the paper. The best otto is manufactured at Constantinople.

A volatile oil, erroneously called oil of spikenard, is met with in the shops, which is obtained from a plant which has been named by Dr.

Royle, the _Andropogon Calamus aromaticus._

The true spikenard of the ancients is supposed to have been obtained from the _Nardostachys Jatamansi_, a plant of the Valerian family. Dr.

Stenhouse describes rather minutely ("Journal Pharm. Soc." vol. iv. p.

276) a species of East India gra.s.s oil, said to be the produce of _Andropogon Ivaracusa_, which he believes to be what is usually called the oil of Namur. It has a very fragrant aromatic odor, slightly resembling that of otto of roses, but not nearly so rich. Its taste is sharp and agreeable, approaching that of oil of lemons. It has a deep yellow color, and contains a good deal of resinous matter.

LEMON GRa.s.s (_Andropogon schoenanthus_).--This fragrant gra.s.s, which is now cultivated very generally throughout the West Indies, in the gardens of the planters, as an elegant and powerful diaphoratic, was doubtless introduced from the East. The active principle of the leaves seems to reside in the essential oil which they contain. Lemon gra.s.s oil forms an important article of export from Ceylon, amounting in value to nearly 7,000 annually.

The _Andropogon schoenanthus_, which may be seen covering all the Kandian hills, is the best possible pasture for cattle--at least as long as it is young. This species of gra.s.s is very hard, and grows to the height of seven feet, and sometimes higher, and has a strong but extremely pleasant acid taste. It derives its name from having, when crushed, an odor like that of the lemon, so strong, that after a time it becomes quite heavy and sickening, although grateful and refreshing at first. It covers the hills in patches--those, at least, that are not overgrown with jungle and underwood--and it is to be found nowhere but in the Kandian district. Spontaneous ignition frequently takes place, and the appearance of the burning gra.s.s is described as most magnificent. A few days after, from the midst of this parched, blackened, and apparently dead ground, lovely young green shoots begin to arise--for the roots of this extraordinary gra.s.s have not even been injured, far less destroyed, by the fire; and in a very short time the whole brow of the mountain is again overspread with tufts of beautiful green waving gra.s.s.--("Journal of Agriculture.")

Otto of khuskhus or scented gra.s.s, from another species, _A.

digitalis_, obtained at Ulwar in the States of Rajpootanah, was shown at the Great Exhibition in 1851, and Newar oil (from _A. maritima_) from Agra.

CITRONELLA OIL.--In the Southern province of Ceylon some half dozen estates about Galle are cultivated with citronella gra.s.s. The exports of this oil from Ceylon in the last three years have been as follows:--1850, 86,048 oz., valued at 3,344; 1851, 114,959 oz., valued at 3,742; in 1852, 131,780 oz., valued at 2,806.

PATCHOULY.--Under this name are imported into this country the dried foliaceous tops of a strongly odoriferous l.a.b.i.ate plant, growing three feet high in India and China, called in Bengalee and Hindu, _pucha pat_. About 46 cases, of from 50 to 110 lbs. each, were imported from China, by the way of New York, in 1844. The price asked was 6s. per pound. Very little is known of the plant yielding it. Mr. George Porter, late of the island of Pinang, stated that it grows wild there and on the opposite sh.o.r.es of the Malay peninsula. Dr. Wallich says, that it obviously belongs to the family l.a.b.i.atae. Viney, in the "French Journal of Pharmacy," suggests that it is the _Plectranthus graveolens_ of R. Brown. It forms a shrub of two or three feet in height. It is the _Pogostemon patchouly_. The odor of the dried plant is strong and peculiar, and to some persons not agreeable. The dried tops imported into England are a foot or more in length. In India it is used as an ingredient in tobacco for smoking, and for scenting the hair of women. In Europe it is princ.i.p.ally used for perfumery purposes, it being a favorite with the French, who import it largely from Bourbon. The Arabs use and export it more than any other nation.

Their annual pilgrimship takes up an immense quant.i.ty of the leaf.

They use it princ.i.p.ally for stuffing mattra.s.ses and pillows, and a.s.sert that it is very efficacious in preventing contagion and prolonging life. It requires no sort of preparation, being simply gathered and dried in the sun; too much drying, however, is hurtful, inasmuch as it renders the leaf liable to crumble to dust in packing and stowing on board. The characteristic smell of Chinese or Indian ink is owing to an admixture of this plant in its manufacture. M. de Hugel found the plant growing wild near Canton. By distillation it yields a volatile oil, on which the odor and remarkable properties depend. This oil is in common use in India for imparting the peculiar fragrance of the leaf to clothes among the superior cla.s.ses of natives. The origin of its use is this:--A few years ago, real Indian shawls bore an extravagant price, and purchasers could always distinguish them by their odor; in fact, they were perfumed with Patchouly; the French manufacturers at length discovered this secret, and used to import the plant to perfume articles of their make, and thus palm off homespun shawls as real India! Some people put the dry leaves in a muslin bag, and thus use it as we do lavender, scenting drawers in which linen is kept; this is the best way to use it, as this odor, like musk, is most agreeable when very dilute.--("Gardeners' Chronicle.")

The root of some parasitical plant, under the name of kritz, is used in Cashmere to wash the celebrated shawls, soap is used only for white shawls.

From the flowers of the Bengal quince (_aegle marmemolos_) a fragant liquid is distilled in Ceylon known as marmala water, which is much used as a perfume for sprinkling by the natives.

Jasmine oil is distilled from _Jasminum sambac_ and _grandiflora_.

SAPONACEOUS PLANTS.--Many plants furnish abroad useful subst.i.tutes for common soap. The aril which surrounds the seed and the roots of _Sapindus Saponaria_, an evergreen tree, I have seen used as soap in South America and the West Indies under the name of soap berries. The seed vessels are very acrid, they lather freely in water and will cleanse more linen than thirty times their weight of soap, but in time they corrode or burn the linen. Humboldt says that proceeding along the river Carenicuar, in the Gulf of Cariaco, he saw the Indian women washing their linen with the fruit of this tree, there called the parapara. Some other species of _Sapindus_ and of _Gypsophila_ have similar properties. The bruised leaves and roots of _Saponaria officinalis_, a British species, form a lather which much resembles that of soap, and is similarly efficacious in removing grease spots.

The bark of many species of Quillaia, as _Q. saponaria_, when beaten between stones, makes a lather which can be used as a subst.i.tute for soap, in washing woollens and silk clothes, and to clean colors in dyeing, in Chili and Brazil, but it turns linen yellow. The fruit of _Bromelia Pinguin_ is equally useful. A vegetable soap was prepared some years ago in Jamaica from the leaves of the American aloe (_Agave Americana_) which was found as detergent as Castile soap for washing linen, and had the superior quality of mixing and forming a lather with salt water as well as fresh. Dr. Robinson, the naturalist, thus describes the process he adopted in 1767, and for which he was awarded a grant by the House of a.s.sembly:--"The lower leaves of the Curaca or Coratoe (_Agave karatu_) were pa.s.sed between heavy rollers to express the juice, which, after being strained through a hair cloth, was merely insp.i.s.sated by the action of the sun, or a slow fire, and cast into b.a.l.l.s or casks. The only precaution necessary was to allow no mixture of any unctuous materials, which destroyed the efficacy of the soap. A vegetable soap, which has been found excellent for washing silk, &c, may be thus obtained. To one part of the skin of the Ackee add one and a half part of the _Agave karatu_, macerated in one part of boiling water for twenty-four hours, and with the extract from this decoction mix four per cent. of rosin. In Brazil, soap is made from the ashes of the ba.s.sura or broom plant (_Sidu lanceolata_) which abounds with alkali. There are also some soap barks and pods of native plants used in China. Several other plants have been employed in different countries as a subst.i.tute for soap. The bark of _Quillaia saponaria_ renders water frothy and is used as a detergent by wool dyers. _Saponaria vaccana_ is common in India. The pericarp of _Sapindus emarginatus_ mixed with water froths like soap. Saponaceous berries are found in Java.

The soap-worts to which the genus Sapindus belongs are tropical plants. The fruit of many species of _Sapindus_ is used as a subst.i.tute for soap, as _Sapindus ac.u.minata_, _Laurifolius emarginatus_ and _detergens_, all East Indian plants.

SECTION VI.

PLANTS YIELDING DRUGS, INCLUDING NARCOTICS AND OTHER COMMON MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES.

The chief plants furnishing the drugs of commerce, and which enter largely into tropical agriculture, are the narcotic plants, especially tobacco, the poppy for opium, and the betel nut and leaf; as masticatories--but there are very many others to which the attention of the cultivator may profitably be directed. I have already trenched so largely upon my s.p.a.ce, that I cannot do that justice to the plants coming under this section I could have wished. There are very many, however, of which I must make incidental mention. Some few medicinal plants have been already alluded to in former sections, particularly in that on dye-stuffs, &c.

THE COCA PLANT grows about four or five feet high, with pale bright green leaves, somewhat resembling in shape those of the orange tree.