Caraway (Carum carvi) is a European biennial herb of the parsley family. It grows and fruits well over a considerable portion of the United States, especially in the North and Northwest, but its cultivation in this country seems never to have assumed commercial proportions. The seeds are used medicinally, but are mainly utilized for flavoring cakes, confectionery, and similar products. On distillation with steam, the seeds yield an aromatic oil, which is more used in medicine than the seed itself.

Soil of a somewhat clayey nature and containing a fair proportion of humus and available plant food is particularly suited to caraway, but the plant generally grows well in any good upland soil which will produce fair crops of corn or potatoes. Seeds should be sown in early spring in drills about 16 inches apart, and from 6 to 8 pounds of seed are sown to the acre. Frequent shallow cultivation throughout both growing seasons is desirable in order to keep the soil mellow and free from weeds, as a weedy crop at harvest time usually means a product inferior in quality.

As soon as the oldest seeds ripen, which is usually in June of the second year, the crop should be harvested. The plants may be cut with a mower and should be left in the swath until they have lost most of their moisture, when they may be built up into small cocks, or they may be brought in from the field and the curing finished in a barn loft. If on handling in the field the seeds shatter extensively, the crop should be brought in in tight wagons. When drying is finished the seeds are thrashed out, cleaned, and stored in bags which contain about 100 pounds each.

Returns from experimental areas indicate that a yield of about 1,000 pounds of seed per acre may be expected. One hundred pounds of seed will usually yield 4 to 6 pounds of oil. The average annual importation of caraway seed for several years has been about 2,000,000 pounds, valued at about 9 cents a pound. The war reduced the annual importations of oil of caraway from 30,000 to 9,000 pounds and increased the value from 80 cents to about $4.25 a pound.