WHAT IS GINSENG? AN ACCOUNT OF THE HISTORY ANO CULTIVATION OF GINSENG SB BY C. M. ROOT OMAHA, MEB. COPYRlGViT I905. Class Copyright ]J^ COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. WHAT IS GINSENG? AN ACCOUNT OF THE HISTORY AND CULTIVATION OF GINSENG Ginseng plant with cluster of berries. BY C. M. ROOT, OMAHA. NEB. OOPYRIGHX 1905. LlBRftRYof OUNSRfcSS fwu Gcpies rteceiveu FEB 21 1905 Oepynem tntry iiL'-tSS a^ ;\Xc. NOi : COPY S. i.^^. . == What is Ginseng? Ginseng is a Chinese word meaning man shape, from the fancied resemblence of the root to the body of a man. The loot when growing wild has a resemblence of the headless trunk and limbs of a man. It is a plant of slow development. The first year it is little more than a straight rootlet with a tiny stalk some three inches high bearing two leaves : The second year it grows a stem five inches high and has three leaf stalks «ach bearing 5 serrated leaves somewhat resembling strawberry leaves, but they are longer and narrower and slightly glaucous. The third year there will be from 10 to 15 leaves and the plant will commence to bear seed. About the first of July there appears on a stem that is shot up from the end of the stalk a cluster of pale yellow flowers with a greenish tinge each flower if pollenized will turn to a green berry will continue to grow for 6 weeks, when it turns red and after a short time of ripening it will be ready to pluck. The number of berries in a cluster varies according to the complete or incomplete polenization of the flower at the time of blossoming. Sometimes there are no more than fifteen seeds, instances are recorded where over 200 seeds have been taken from a single cluster; 40 to 50 seeds to a plant may be taken as the average yield when the plant is cultivated. I would advise that bees and insects have free access to the plants at the time of blossoming, they will increase the yield of seed. Ginseng belongs to the same family as the parsnip^ carrot and celery. Its value is in its root. The Chinese have raised it for hundreds of years. So great was the demand for it that the home supply became exhausted some 200 years ago. A Jesuit Missionary, Father Jartony, gave a description of the plant and sent samples of the root to Father Lafitan, who was a missionary among the Indians of Canada. Father Lafitan began to search for it in the woods of Canada and soon found plants that had roots resembling those from China. They tasted like them and seemed to haye the same medicinal qualities. The French, who then controlled Canada, gathered it for export. The dried root found a ready market in China at good prices. The exporters only paid 40 cents a pound for it delivered in Montreal and sold it for $10 a pound in China. A French company who had a concession from the home government assumed control of the gathering and export of the article; from |2.o0 a pound they raised the price to $10. This so stimulated the gathering that any kind of a ginseng root was dug and often sent with much dirt to China. The result was that the Chinese refused to buy it, and the ginseng trade became insignificant. Sometime after this the people of the American colonies found ginseng growing in the woods. They dug it and the trade with China was resumed, and ginseng became a staple article of export. As the new west was opened up it was found that it grew in all the states east of the Rocky Mountains. Cultivated G-inseng. The Imparial government of China many years ago commenced cultivating ginseng, and now has extensive gardens surrounded with a high screen. It is carefully watched and its products after providing for the wants of the Imperial family are sold for fabulous prices; from $150 to $200 a pound. The Imperial ginseng gardens furnish quite a revenue to the government. What the Chinese government was doing a number of years ago some wideawake Americans conceived that they could do. Some of these pioneers have been very successful. There have been many doubting Thomase's,who have declared that ginseng could not be grown to profit by cultivatian. The following clipped from the Joplin Times, a reputable paper, should set all doubts at rest, as it shows 100 pounds of dried ginseng roots produced by cultivation on a small space of ground were sold for the remarkable price of $1250. "Capt. Douglas E. McDowell, proprietor of the McDowell Ginseng garden ol this city, shipped 100 lbs. of dry cultivated Ginseng roots to Swatow, China, this week for which he received in advance $12.50 per pound. This is the highest price he has ever received for a ship- ment, the price last fall being $10.00 per pound. At the time of this shipment he was compelled to refuse an order for 500 pounds at $11.00 per pound because he did not have the roots and was unable to get them. The industry _ 6 — IB SO young that very little of the cultivated product ii* on the market. Capt. McDowell is the largest grower of Ginseng in America and is one of the few dealing in the nursery stock who realy grows any. Nearly all others do a brokerage business only, purchasing their stock from others and from wild root diggers. In all his literature Capt. McDowell prints pictures of his garden. Being from Missouri, he **show8" the people. His method of cultivation differs from other growers. That he succeedi is evidenced by by the fact, that he today has thousands of plants over 24 inches high, the tallest one being 31 inches. Three years ago writers on Ginseng placed the limit of growth at 25 inches. The McDowell garden, four miles south of the city^ is a beautiful sight this time of the year. The seeds are beginning to get ripe. As they get ripe the berries, being about the size of a pea and contain- ing two seeds, turn a bright red. The deep green plant with a cluster of berries make a beautiful contrast. The plants have an average of about 40 berries though many run over 100. There is one plant in the garden which last year produced 304 seeds. The indications are that it will produce a large number this year. At 1^ cents per seed, this is a valuable plant. From one section of the garden which contains by itself 5000 five year old plants Capt. McDowell expects this year over 300,000 seeds. This is an average of 60 seeds to (he plant. Prophalytic and stimulating powers of G-inseng, The great Chinese nation of more than 400,000,000 who outnumber the entire Caucasian race universally use Ginseng. Physicians in this country and Europe strive to belittle the virtues and remedial efficiency of Ginseng. They are cither woefully mistaken or ignorant in their judgment. In the early days of American settlement Ginseng wa« found in most of the wooded tracts of the country and was dug and used as a domestic remedy. The writer lately conversed with an aged man who was born in York state and whose parents emigrated to that state when it was an unbroken wilderness. This man in his boyhood days helped his parenti hew out a home from the forest. He remembers well, that his mother every summer had an abundant store of Ginseng dug from the woods, and laid up particularly for use in the spring. He says, she used to powder it and mix it with spirits and give each member of the family a tablespoonfuU of the mixture from one to three times a day. He remembers how he used to come home tired after a strenuous day put in felling the tall timber, and his mother would give him a spoonful! of the ginseng mixture, and he would feel rested. He says it was in common use as a stimulant and nerye rester among the early settlers 60 years ago. Ginseng is coming to the front on its own merits and will surely be recognized as one of the great stimulents of tlie world taking its place alongside witK tobacco, tea, coffee and cocoa. In its way it is superior to any of those mentioned from the fact, that there is absolutely no reaction from the stimulus that it creates. The desire of stimulants is inherent in humanity, and in spite of all the efforts of reformers, will continue until the last member of the genus homo has closed his eyes and parts with his breath; until the recording angel pro- claims that time has passed into oblivion, ginseng will be used to sooth his sorrows, rest his tired frame, and sti- mulate him to carry on the arduous duties of life. The Caucasian race is continually boasting its superi- ority over the Mongolian. It is now receiving a rude shock on the Manchurian plains and in Chinese and Japanese Seas. No one race has all the world's Knowledge and we as members of the Caucasian race should be cosmopolitan enough to acknowledge that some good things come out the Orient, among them is the use of ginseng. Ginseng to the common people is what tobacco is to us and its use is well nigh as universal. When Americans stop using tobacco then will the Chinese stop using ginseng. Along with tea, ginseng has become a universal sti- mulent with the Chinese. It is a universal panacea for all ills. And when we consider its stimulating qualities there is reason in this, as we know that mental or physical stimulus is necessary to recover from di8ea8e;butwhenbothare combined in ginseng — 9 — as used by the Chinese its effect is little short of marvelous. Ginseng is a drug that has an immediate effect in this particular it resembles opium, but has none of its reactionary effects. Ginseng exalts the mind and is a foe to pessemism. It is an antidote for the blues, and has a pleasing ffeect on the mental vision. It does not increase the heart action and is a wonderful controler of the nerve centers. It calms the brain and rests the tired body; in this way it adds much to the sum of human happiness in direct opposition to the use of alchoholic stimulants. While it may not be as powerful as some drugs it has sufficient efficiency when mixed with faith to alleviate many of the diseases and pains of humanitywhethercaused by excessive labor or malaction of the bodily organs. When the American public comes to consider these facts they will conclude that the claim of those who have begun the artificial cultivation of ginseng in this country is no fancy of the passing hour, but rather an enduring fact as substantially backed as the hundreds of millions of <;apital interested in the growing and sale of tobacco. The demand is as sure and will endure as long. — 10 — Cultivation of Ginseng. While ginseng is not the easiest crop to raise there are other crops harder to raise. It is no harder to raise a crop of ginseng than to raise a crop of tobacco, but the skill to raise the one would not raise the other. There are certain well defined principles that must be followed to raise a crop of tobacco ; as there are some who attempt to raise a crop of tobacco and fail. A few who have attempted to raise ginseng have failed because they either did not know the conditions necessary for success, or knowing the conditions failed to follow them. It will always be so when a new crop is introduced to the public. The great majority of those who have attempted the cultivation of ginseng have been succesful. There are features connected with ginseng culture that make it better than other crops. One is that when a bed is once started it requires little attention. Another feature is that one crop will give so large money returns. Still another it does not require a quarter section of land to yield a living. The profits of ginseng will be discussed in another place in this book, but I will merely allude to them here. A claim of $50,000 per acre has been made by its most enthusiastic advocates, and computing that it takes 5 years to secure a marketable root from seed, and that a rotation of one fifth of the field has been secured to mature each year; then a yearly income of $10,000 per year would be secured. — 11 — But to be safe, let us cut this in two and still there would be $5,000 a year. How many quarter sections will match this? Those who already have farms and families of boy» can put in an acre of ginseng for each boy, and so keep the children and grandchildren on the old homestead. The main work in cultivation, is done in the preparat- ion and starting the seed. The mulching of the beds every year takes the place of cultivation as each years^ mulch rots, it makes a large amount of humus that keeps the ground cool and moist. Land that is intended for ginseng ground should be free from weed seed. It should be put in some bed crop for a year and not a weed allowed to go to seed. Ginseng may be grown in timber land. This is the way it grows naturaly. It is often found under climbing vines where the sun peeps but once a day. This matter of shade is a vital one in growing ginseng. If we do not have natural shade we must provide artificial. There has been much discussion regarding the best height for artificial shelter. Some have contended that 4 or 5 feet was high enough, but the most successful growers, and those who have been the longest in the business provide shelters 8 to 10 feet high. There is a distinct advantage in these shelters. They tend to keep the air cooler and reflect the sun less than the 5 and 6 feet shelters. The high shelters are more pleasant to walk and work under. Tall people are not bumping their heads, and do not acquire headaches so noticeable under low shelters. With the 24 feet wide shed a row of posts must be set in the center. It makes little difference whether they — 12 — come in the bed or alley a little better in the bed. 12 feet scantling are used for cross pieces 4 feet apart to hold the mats of lath. They are best made in the form of lath wired together as is done for lath fence. Quick growing vines like the velvet bean or wild cucumbers may also be used as shelter. The best posts are cedar either red or white. A ten foot post two and one half feet in the ground will give seven and one half feet in the clear. If you wish to plan on a large scale make a shed 24 feet wide and as long as convenient. Lay off first a bed on the outside 3 feet wide then an alley 2 feet wide then a bed 6 feet wide then another 2 feet alley and then another 6 feet bed one more 2 feet alley finishing with a 3 feet bed. The mats are made at home by stapeling four feet lath to No. 8 wire. The laths to have a space of one half inch between them. Screens prepared in this way can be quickly put on and quickly removed. They may be fastened on the cross pieces by tightly nailing, or may be riveted to the cross pieces with baling wire. Those who live in a timber country and wish to get up a cheap shelter can use posts from the timber. Put poles at sides and center of shed than stretch wires two feet apart and cover with brush tied down to keep from blowing off. I suppose the brush would have to be renewed every 2 years. It is well in starting a ginseng garden to plan for a permanent shade. Have durable posts, let the scantling be of durable lumber, oak in the north and cypress in the south, and let the construction be of the best. All wood — 13 — work may be painted. The profits of the business will justify any reasonable outlay. Ginseng above all plants that we know must have a loose soil. The soil must not only be loose on top but must be friable as low down as the roots penetrate. For this reason it must be raised in beds, where no foot ever presses. The tracking must all be done in the allies. Ginseng will not bear the tread of man or beast. It has been noted in forests where ginseng was plentiful that when cattle began to graze in the forest that the ginseng died out. In experiments by Prof. Howard at Columbia, Mo. for the state of Missouri he found that ginseng grown in hard clay ground did not increase in size in 5 years whereas when it was grown in loose ground it grows from -^ inch in size to one inch in diameter in 5 years. Regarding the space l.etween growing ginseng roots. It will grow as close as parsnips or carrots, and like them it will grow larger if given space. Just how much space depends somewhat on the rich- ness of the ground. Some growers plant and grow it 6x6 inches. In that case 4 plants would grow on every square foot of land giving more than 160,000 plants to the acre. I am, however, of the opinion that 8x8 inches is prefer- able giving 80,000 plants to an acre of beds. My reasons are that every plant that lias roots similar to ginseng has fibrous roots to draw nourishment to the fleshy root, and they extend at least 4 inches in every direction from the main root and will find more nourish- ment for the plant than when they cross and overlap one — 14 — another fighting for substance to build up the parent root. When several plants come up together as they will in a wild state — when a bunch of seeds drop in one place or two, usually one of the plants, takes the lead and in a few years smother out the rest if three or more of the plants survive. They develops small roots hardly worth digging. We think this is a conclusive argument against close planting. Buyers will give a higher price per bunch for large roots, if grown smooth, than for small ones. The seed from large healthy plants will yield large roots. I am inclined to the belief that the tonnage to the acre can be increased by the more open planting. The growth of ginseng may be stimulated by the us© of commercial fertilizers, and it is such a profitable crop that no expense should be spared in hastening iti growth and maturity. Its season of growth is short, commencing in May and ending in August. I would suggest that nitrate of soda and bone dust be used. IV — e.—a. yearling ploflt. f.^h. 2 year old plant, c. 3 year old plattt. d, 4 year old plant ready for market I — 18 — The American ginseng is acceptable to the China trade. Those who buy Japanese seed will be disapointed in the results, although it is offered cheaper than the Chinese. Anyone offering ginseng seed or plants cheaper than a list of prices that is given in another part of this book can hardly have the genuine article. Right here let me say that I have neither seed nor plants for sale. — 19 — Planting G-inseng. I suppose that you have one or two year old plants for they are the only really profitable ones to plant. Ginseng is like Franklins proverb of the roving family <'We never Knew an oft removed treeorfamily to thriving be" so when ginseng is once established it likes to stay there all its life. Plants should be set with a dibble that will make the hole as deep as, say an inch deeper than the length of the root. The soil should be moist — not wet and should be firmly pressed about the plant covering the crown one inch. Ginseng may be planted or rather transplanted as soon as the leaves are dried in the fall. This will be by the 20. of September, and planting may be continued until the ground freezes. Planting may be resumed as soon as the ground thaws in the spring and be continued until the plants start. Very few plants are lost in transplanting as they are set in the shade of the screen. It might be well to say, here, that the side of the shed must be screened as well as the top. — 20 — A large income from little ground. When once a ginseng garden or plantation is established there is no crop that we know of grown in open air without the aid of artificial heat that will giveag large returns as ginseng. The statements of those who have plants and seeds to sell seem fabulous, and until one has a full understanding of ginseng, its propogation and the large demand for it at what seems extraordinary prices, cannot credit their sober senses with its possibilities* As I have neither seed nor plants to sell, I will in this little book give a statement of what has actually been accomplished. Mr. George Stanton, a ginseng grower of New York, made the following report to the Agricultural Department at Washington: *'In 1897, from 8 1-2 beds, 3x16 feet each, 2270 roots, weight 126 2-16 pounds, were taken; 1505 taken out for replanting, weight 29 15-16 pounds, leaving 96 pounds to be dried, which made 32 pounds dry, value $165.00. There were also 1505 seedling roots weight 18 1-2 pounds. Had the entire product of marketable roots from 18 beds — 320 pounds — been dried, it would have made 106 pounds dry, which would have sold for $575.00 This will do very well with 4^ squar*^ rods of ground with five years cultivation. I do not need to add the value of the seed produced during cultivation or tl:^ value of 4,617 seedling roots. " On account of the increased prices thii year the above would have brought more than $1000. — 21 — One square rod of ground will contain 500 roots set 7x8 inches from four roots to the pound will give 125 pounds of green ginseng that will give 50 pounds of dried roots, and this at $6 per pound gives $300 income from squa.e rod of ground. True it has taken 5 years to accomplish this but did it not pay to wait. For years to come there will be an active demand for all the reliable seed that can be grown. In the five years these 500 plants would each produce 5,000 seeds that at 1 1-2 cents a seed would give a yearly income of $75. This feature of the industry for years to come will make a large and immediate income from growing ginseng. Those who start in the business now have a good outlook for selling their seed for the next five years; the time when the roots will be ready for the market. This is a partial statement of the profits of less than an acre of ginseng: Mr. G. F. Millard, a Missouri man, commenced to grow ginseng in 1893. Of his efforts the St. Louis Post Dispatch, in its issue of September 29. 1901, says: <*The success that has attended his efforts may be understood when it is known that his profits for the sixth year were $25,000 and that the returns for 1900 and 1901 are much in ex'*'': .^xo. Two years ago he sold to a single nurseryman in New York seed and roots to the value of $16,000." It must be remembered, that up to 1901 Mr. Millard's Ginseng garden did not cover one acre of ground. There is a class of people in our country that have a _ 22 — small income, and some leisure time. Ginseng raising is admirably adapted for this class. Many of these live in our large cities and towns where they could get a small piece of ground from a town lot up to an acre; and on this by putting in their leisure time caring for ginseng might not only be enjoying a comfortable income, but be laying up a competence for old age. Another class live on farms. As we have stated ginseng culture will keep families together. When the boys and girls grow up instead of going to cities or to a new country an acre deeded to each and put in ginseng will enable each boy and girl to live in comfort and have a snug bank account of their own. — 23 — The Daughters Pin Money. This was the subject discussed recently before a farmer's institute by a farmers daughter. The idea was brought out that the daughter should be given a chance to make spending money as well as the son. The various ways of making a small amount of money by the girls was discussed quite lengthy, poultry raising was one, but this enterprise has been worn out. Dairying was suggested but this would prove to be a drudgery. It was also suggested that a girl might cut and rake hay, plow, plant and cultivate corn, then she would receive the same con- sideration as her brother. But what farmer or what father would like to see his daughter doing work of this kind, although there is no occupation more healthful than working in the open air. Starting plants in hotbeds for sale, and fruit growing, raisingpopcorn and a number of other ways were mentioned, but there is one way that was completely overlooked. We presume the ommision was made from the lack of knowledge of the writer for this industry would have been her best point. The ommission was the cultivation of ginseng. This is one of the most remarkable money- makers in the whole catagory of plant.hood, there can be more made to the square rod of ground by growing Ginseng than can be made to the square acre by growing corn, wheat or cabbage or any other vegetable or cereal with less than ^one-third the labor and no more expense for the rod than, for the acre. — 24 — Ginseng is the most valuable crop in the world. More money may be made from a few square rods of ground than from the average farm, and with onetenth of the labor. Boys do not like to stay on the farm. Buy one of the tlO ginseng '*Lot8 of plants and seeds" advertised, give the boys a few rods of land and time to tend it a see how it will keep them on the farm. The money they will get for this will be a test of character. Some will hoard ap their money. Some will put it on interest in the Savings Bank. Some will dicker and trade with it. Some will buy better clothes. Some will take it to pay expenses at school. Some will spend it foolishly, this class would not stay at home anyway. A woman left a widow with a family of children and a small farm can rent her farm. No one can put money into charity to better advantage than to give her enough to start in ginseng. Many widows, thanks to the providence of their husbands in keeping up their insurance in a frater- nal order, can keep and increase the nest egg left them by raising ginseng The great class of men who because they have passed the dead line and see younger men occupying their places can raise ginseng and have an income that the younger man who has taken his place may well envy. He need uo longer be a siave of the time keeper, but with light labor and congenial surroundings pass his old age in ease and comfort. — 25 Gimseng facts little known. Corea, the land that has now apparently passed to the control of the Island Empire of Japan, has been in the source of the main supply of China for Ginseng roots. When China thinks about Corea it is not about its political status, its queer customs or its strategetical importance to China, but the ginseng that comes from Corean mountains- The mere mention of Coren; which is the ordinary name for all that tract of land around the Yellow Sea and corresponds and is another name for Corea, brings to the thoughts of a Mandarin in Canton or Peking. Not so much the war between Russia and Japan, nor even the future destiny of Seoul, nor yet of its people dressed all in white, nor of the small white oxen that draw carts laden with merchandise nor anything Corean save that wonderful plant ginseng. This root is the foundation of all the commercial dealings between China and <*The land of the Morning '. The people of the west cannot understand this concentration of interest. To judge the value in which China holds ginseng you should see a mandarin of high degree opening his cansignment of new roots from Sondo the town of Corea in and around which it is principally cultivated. No gold dust, no diamonds in the rough, nor treasures of any kind were packed more carefully than this precious root. Where the consignment is large it will come in a long shallow wicker basket The basket will be covered with a waterproof material of closely woven silk. The Imperial — 26 — seal will be on it. The custom house marks a register number. The mandarin opens it very carefully. First comes a layer of scented wood dust mingled with fluffy cotton or the waste of silk cocoons. This layer is removed and now appears a layer of little packets of white and gold papers. Each packet coctains a small quantity at unslaked lime, to^ avoid any moisture which might injure the root. These packets of lime lie both above and below the ginseng. The last act in unsealing the precious root for which all this preparatian has been made is removing the last envelope of embroideried silk or of crimson and gold fish skin. When the real thing is reached it is found to be a small dried object 4 or 5 inches in length with a glistening^ surface something like dull amber, that rudely resembles in miniature the headless body of a man. In Corea it grows in the glens and along the slopes of the Kang-ge mountains north of the Songdo. It has become so scarce even here in its wild state, that it is like a four leaf clover to find a plant. The Coreans say, that only persons of blameless life and purity of heart can so much as see where the ginseng shoots upward its few stalks covered with pale leaves. There is a common tradition that when it is taken from the earth it utters a low musical cry like the wail of a lost spirit, and it must be quickly wrapped up or its virtue and strength will depart to i^^urn no more. The extreme care in the preparation of ginseng for the market among the Coreans may >^ell be imitated by the American growers. — 27 — The American public has been afflicted with many^ humbugs and impractical ideas, and we are sorry to say, that many of them were so plausible, that persons of good judgement put money in them, that they never got back. In calculating the possibilities of growing ginseng in America, we may have our faith in its final results strengthened by reviewing what California has done in supplying the country with oranges, raisins and prunes. Within the memory of most of our readers, this country depended on foreign countries for its supply. Now the imports of these articles are insignificant and they are becoming articles of export. With an increasing supply of ginseng it is not likely that the present high price could be always maintained, but it has been shown that at 11.00 a pound it is more profitable than most crops. It would be many years, if ever, before the price would decline to this low level and those who start plantations now will reap fortunes before the price declines. By that time the demand will undoubt- edly increase. The Americans will find out its virtues. The opening of China to the commerce of the world will break the Chinese monopoly, and for the same money her 400,000,000 now pay three or four times the amount now bought will be sold and used. How this demand would increase with reasonable prices may be inferred by a statement of a reliable Chinese. Ging Toy, of Joplin, Missouri. *'I use about a pound of ginseng every month. I pay $8.50 a pound. I make a tea of it and drink it every morning. Nearly all of my countrymen in America use — 28 — it, at least those that I know. Ginseng keeps us well." Mrs. Jen Hon Yee of St. Louis says: "Every good housewife in China keeps Ginseng root in the house. It costs a great deal, but it is used in small quantities and an ounce of it lasts a long time. Ginseng tea is a common drink in China. Almost everybody drinks it. It is made by boiling fine cuttings of Ginseng in water. The tea is good for all sickness, and it keeps disease away. Some of the rich people flavor their meat with Ginseng. Only the rich can afford to do this rsgularly. The root gives the meat a flavor the Chinese people like. Everybody in China is familiar with Ginseng. It is the oldest medicine we haye." — 29 — Forest Culture, While the intensive culture of ginseng is the surest way to realize profits; those who have cheap forest land especially what are known as cut over lands, where the large timber, has been cut off leaving the smaller trees and underbrush could cheaply grow ginseng. It would be wise to fence in a tract of this land with woven wire fence and experiment in raising ginseng in the natural shade. This can be done by either planting the seed under the shade of small trees or the plants. The Ginseng gardens at Songdo, Corea and the Imperial Parks of China are said to have many trees that shade the Ginseng. All weeds and perennial plants must be eradicated to give the Ginseng full swing. The ground must be spaded or lightly turned with a plow and must be either raked or planked, a covering of forest leaves should be put on. The leaves should be partly decayed to keep from blowing. As weeds shoot up through the mulch they should be pulled. If the mulch gets very dry it should be watered, but unless the weather is very dry this will not be necessary as the mulch and shade will hold the moisture a long time. It seems to me that in these cheap forest lands there is a grand opening for growing ginseng. Some of the pine lands are doubtless too sandy to grow Ginseng to a markatable size, but on all these tracts — 30 — there are many ravines and flats that would grow choice ginseng. Most hard wood lands will grow ginseng, the only exception being those that are too cold as ginseng requires a warm rich soil. In native woods beech, maple, hickory, oak, walnut and butternut abound, where ginseng grows. It would seem to me that ginseng culture would be more successful where native timber grows. But it is so slow in growth, that quick growing trees planted at the same time as ginseng would give ample shade before the roots matured, meantime temporary shelter could be given the young plants. To give some idea of the profit of ginseng growers where young plants and seeds are grown, I append a price list of Joplin firms: PRICE LIST. One year old roots, per 100 $ 9.50 One year old roots, per 1000 87.50 Two year old roots, per 100 15.00 Two year old roots, per 1000 120.00 Three year old roots, per 100 25.00 Three year old plants, per 1000 220.00 Seeds, per 1000 11.50 "Stratified" Seed, per 1000 17.50 — 31 — Cultivated G-inseng Superior. The cultivation of ginseng has gone far enough in this country to show that the roots produced by cultivation are much better and will bring higher prices than the ginseng dug in the woods. Cultivation has the advantage of an even distribution of the plants in the bed. Every individual plant having its own space and an equal chance for developement. Fertilizers can be applied and the growth of the plants stimulated. In a dry time it can be irrigated and the forces of nature kept at work throughout the season. The superiority of the cultivated over the wild ginseng is shown in the prices the McDowell gardens received for their surplus, which was 112.50 a pound as against |6 paid for the best wild in the St. Louis market. The cultivated ginseng raised in the Songdo Gardens of Corea and that received in the Imperial Chinese Parks brought still higher prices. The agricultural Department at Washington gives the following table, showing the exports of Ginseng, and the price per pound, from 1901 the latest official figures obtainable : Year Pounds Average Price per lb. Total Value Yeart Export. 1858 366,052 $0.52 $193,796 1868 370,066 1.02 380,454 1878 421,395 1.17 497,247 1888 308,365 2.13 657,358 1889 271,228 2.33 634,091 32 Year Pounds Average Price par lb. Total value Year's Export. 1890 223,113 2.71 605,233 1891 283,000 3.39 959,998 1892 228,916 3.51 803,529 1893 251,205 3.15 792,928 1894 194,564 3.18 619,114 1895 233,236 3.54 826,713 1896 199,436 3.86 770,673 1897 197,573 4.71 846,686 1898 174,063 3.66 638,446 1899 196,196 3.98 782,540 1900 160,101 5.20 833,710 1901 149,069 5.38 801,672 It will be noticed that the supply has gradually- decreased and the price has gradually increased. Following is a special dispatch that appeared in the St, Louis Globe-Democrat under date of January 23. 1904. Columbia, Mo., January 22. — Prof. W. L. Howard of Missouri university announced today the results of three years' experiments on a state horticultural farm in the cultivation of Ginseng. The experiments have already demonstrated that any farmer in Missouri, or in any state in this section of the country, may, with only $5.00 or $10.00, start a Ginseng farm that may mean a fortune. Prof. Howard said today: *'A Gmseng farm may be put on a paying basis in two or three years, and so far as cultivation goes, very little of it is required. Our experiments here have proved clearly that a Ginseng farm may be started at an expense — 33 — Dried Ginseng root ready for market. — 34 — of only $5, on a plot of ground only 25 feet square. *'The first essential is shade, as a moist soil is required. The shady side of any farmhouse will do for the purpose. Previous to our experiments here, I believed with others that a leaf-mold soil was essential. But our experiments have proved conclusively, that a leaf mold soil is not essential, and that Ginseng of the very best quality may be grown on ordinary garden soil. ^