THE PLANT WORLD UNDER CARE 



20 



for publishing a record of one of the 

 best sales. It is natural to put the best 

 story at the front. But leaving out all 

 exceptional sales and all exaggeration 

 by unprincipled dealers, the fact re- 

 mains that ginseng" as a money-produc- 

 ing crop is remarkable. 



Knowing the commercial as well as 

 the botanical interest in the plant when 

 we first began to work in the grounds 

 of the present Arcadia last spring, one 

 of the first things to be sowed was gin- 

 seng seed in Arcadia Grove. Some 

 of these have succeeded well, perhaps 

 as well as could be expected from a 

 somwhat unfavorable location and 

 from inexperience in ginseng culture. 



In order to get the facts at first-hand 

 from some one with actual, practical 

 experience, I called upon Mr. 11. R. 

 Smith, who resides at the corner of 

 Bedford and Oak Streets, in the thickly 

 settled portion of Stamford, Connec- 

 ticut. He has furnished the specimens 

 from which the accompanying illus- 

 trations were made. I also show Mr. 

 Smith hoeing his crop of ginseng in 

 its limited quarters by his back door. 

 The houses in that part of the town are 

 near together, and the back yards are 

 of the handkerchief kind, but he has 

 shown what can be done in so very re- 

 stricted an area. From a patch about 

 fifteen feet square, he states that he 

 has sold some two hundred dollars' 

 worth of roots, hut this is not an annual 



income. It takes about six years to 

 produce a crop. Rut it is a satisfac- 

 tion to care for the plant around which 

 there is so much mystery and so much 

 botanical interest, and which, if suc- 

 cessfully grown, brings a fabulous 

 price. Jii the limits of this article, I 

 do not intend to enter into the details 

 of the culture, because these may be 

 readily obtained from the many booklets 

 of the many growers. There seems 

 to be no immediate danger that the 

 price will fall, even if the number of 

 producers be doubled. The demand 

 being so large from China, and the 

 crop being of so slow a growth, it 

 would take a long time to overstock the 

 market. Now that China has become 

 a Republic, perhaps her wealth will 

 so increase, and the Chinese will come 

 so closely in touch with America, that 

 the market will be even better. At any 

 rate, it is a satisfaction for a nature 

 lover to have at least a small bed of 

 ginseng in the back yard. The plant 

 has its intrinsic interest, and it is from 

 that point of view that we call our 

 readers' attention to it. 



Plenty of Interest in Nature. 

 I was very much interested in your 

 suggestion upon nature study at our 

 Institute and have tried some and find 

 plenty of interest. — Clyde I,. Voress, 

 Sidney. C'hio. 



A ROOT OF GINSENG, UIOUI.V PRIZED IJY THE CHINESE. 



