Our Future With
Nepeta Cataria
IVliiuvsol' llio world, rejoice! There'll
he eolnip lor nil from IXorlli C';irolin;i.
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i:uwi\ ii. sti;i*iii:\s
\ new farm commodity which one
day may rival tobacco as an income
producer in the mountains of North
Carolina is now being grown on an ex¬
perimental basis in Watauga County,
encouraged by State agricultural agen¬
cies.
I he commodity is catnip ( Nepeta
cataria), from which a herbal tea was
made to soothe irritable babies from
the colonial days until the early
twentieth century. In old England, cat¬
nip tea was also used as a remedy for
pleurisy, after the patient had been
made to sweat copiously in a vapor
bath. I his remedy is now considered
dangerous for pleurisy patients.
Leonard J. Presnell. who lives near
the Vilas community, was one of the
pioneer growers of catnip in Watauga
County, starting in 1970 with one-tenth
of an acre. He had found the catnip
growing wild in the fields, in clumps
which he divided and set in rows. The
plants grew until the rows were masses
of foliage which he harvested with elec¬
tric hedge clippers, dried, and sold to a
drug company. Encouraged by this suc¬
cess. he became a confirmed catnip
grower.
Cood Demand
Presnell plants the catnip in rows
about three feet apart and 8 to 12
inches apart in the rows. At harvest
they are cut four to six inches above the
ground, so the clumps will grow an¬
other crop the following year. Har¬
vested plants are spread in the sun to
dry. or if the weather is rainy, placed
in barns where the drying requires
about a week.
Ihe dried catnip is sold in Boone
to Wilcox Drug Company where the
entire plants are ground and packed in
boxes for shipment to customers. Prcs-
nell said lie had been informed the de¬
mand for catnip far exceeds the supply.
According to Presnell. one planting
will produce crops for two to three
years. New plants are produced in beds
similar to tobacco seed beds. Seeds are
sown on top of the ground in Febru¬
ary. and the beds arc covered with can¬
vas. When the plants arc four to six
inches high, they are set in the field,
approximately 10.000 to the acre.
I his year <1974 ) Presnell planted
almost four-tenths of an acre in catnip,
and County Extension Chairman W. C.
Richardson said that 26 growers in the
county planted four acres of the herb
for commercial purposes. The yield is
3.000 to 3.500 pounds to the acre, at
an average price of 43 cents a pound.
Inflation may soon hike that price con¬
siderably.
Easy to Grow
Presnell said that while he still grows
burley tobacco for a money crop, he
prefers growing catnip because "it is
easier to set out and will not die."
and it grows off better. Furthermore,
catnip needs no spraying, plowing or
chopping, since the plant spreads out
and smothers the weeds. Neither are
there acreage allotments, as with to¬
bacco. The main work is in harvesting
and drying.
The State furnishes catnip seeds, ac¬
cording to Presnell. and then sends a
man to give technical help and advice
on growing and harvesting. A portable
dryer would be sent if enough acreage
were grown.
Cats are "crazy about catnip." which
is generally ground and placed in cloth
packets for sale to cat lovers.
While this new industry is in its in¬
fancy. agricultural authorities see it as
another important source of income for
mountain farmers, although catnip may
be found growing in other areas of the
state. Three-quarters of a century ago
most families in many areas of the state
had clumps of catnip, rue. and senna,
along with mint and pennyroyal as a
part of their herbal gardens.
Catnip has downy, greyish, heart-
shaped leaves and whorls of bluish
white flowers around spikes of aro¬
matic scent. It grows to a height of
two to three feet in proper environ¬
ments.
Anyone like some catnip tea?
FIRST TO JUMP
{Continued from pave 10)
sented her with a red white and blue
knit hat with the team’s insignia on it;
she wore it proudly for the rest of the
weekend. Many of the sky divers recog¬
nized her on sight as the result of a
feature article and cover picture of her
that had appeared in a 1973 issue of
Sky Diver, the international magazine
of sports parachuting.
I iny seemed particularly impressed
when Joe Bicdcrbakc, a Charlotte
druggist who at 63 was the oldest
juniper in the meet, told her that he
had celebrated his 62nd birthday by
making 62 jumps between dawn and
dark.
It was on the weekend following the
competitive meet, however, that liny
returned to the Franklin County Sports
Parachute Center to witness an event
that undoubtedly pleased her more
than anything she had seen in years.
That was to see her great-granddaugh¬
ter. 22 year old Bonnie Young of Hen¬
derson. go through the training given to
fledgling junipers and make her first
parachute jump. It was easy to sec the
pride in her eyes as she watched her
great-granddaughter carry on the tra¬
dition that she had started back in
1908 at the North Carolina State Fair.
Leonoid J. Prcjncll. one of Ihc pioneef <om-
mcrciol gioocrt, in h<» «olnip field.
THE STATE. JANUARY 1975
