var. purpurascens.

I trust that the present note, through the medium of _The Garden_,
will prevent the perpetuation of this error. This is the more
important, as I hope that the plant will come into cultivation in this
country. It is a robust plant of rapid growth, as easily cultivated as
the English peppermint, and seems to require less moisture, and is
therefore capable of cultivation in a great variety of localities. The
increasing demand for menthol, which can only be procured in small
quantities from the English peppermint, and the high price of English
peppermint oil, lead to the hope that instead of importing menthol
from Japan, it will be prepared in this country from the Japanese
plant.

With the appliances of more advanced civilization, it ought to be
possible for the oil and menthol to be made in this country at less
price than the Japanese products now cost.

At the present time large quantities of cheap peppermint oil are
imported into this country from the United States, and Chinese oil is
imported into Bombay for use in the Government medical stores. There
is no reason why this should be the case if the Japanese plant were
cultivated in this country. In Ireland, where labor is cheap and the
climate moist, this crop might afford a valuable source of income to
enterprising cultivators. It may be interesting to note here that the
plant used in China closely resembles the Japanese one, differing
chiefly in the narrower and more glabrous leaves. I have therefore
named it Mentha arvensis f. glabrata, from specimens sent to me from
Hong Kong, by Mr. C. Ford, the director of the Botanic Gardens there.