138 



THE MUSEUM. 



The seedlings must be transplanted at 

 least once before being set in the final 

 beds. At all times these beds must be 

 kept clear of weeds by hand. Gin- 

 seng will not tolerate the use of tools; 

 horse cultivation is out of the question. 

 Such in brief are the principal points 

 to be observed in the cultivation of 

 the plant. The care necessary in the 

 preparation of the root for market is 

 no less important. 



In the autumn of the si.xth or 

 seventh year — sometimes as early as 

 the fifth — from the time of sowing the 

 seed, the roots may be dug. This is 

 not earlier than the latter part of Sep- 

 tember, after the seed has been gath- 

 ered. Roots that have not attained a 

 desirable size should be replanted, 

 only the largest being marketed. 



The operations of washing and dry- 

 ing must be very carefully done, since 

 the mutilation of a root lessens its 

 value in mairket. In the washing the 

 roots are agitated with a broom in a 

 tub of water. The water is frequently 

 changed to insure cleanlinesss, and the 

 roots, not perfectly clean at the close 

 of the rough washing, are finished by 

 hand brushes. They are then dried 

 on wire netting trays in a current ot 

 warm air, the fibrous portion, or 

 "beard" as it is called, being rubbed 

 off when it becomes brittle. The 

 "beard" is sold to the local drug trade 

 for' people who like to chew ginseng. 

 In the drying the roots lose about two- 

 thirds of their weight and become 

 very hard and brittle. They are then 

 ready for shipment. 



The cultivation of ginseng is a prom- 

 ising industry. The extension of the 

 cultivated beds is not at present rapid 

 enough to supply the deffciency in the 

 wild root, and an immediate glut is 

 not likely. Should there be a tem- 

 porary decline in price or should a 

 glut occur, as has sometimes been the 

 case, a grower need lose nothing, 

 since he may leave the roots in the 

 ground for one or more seasons know- 

 ing that they are improving in size and 

 quality. Other advantages in this in- 



dustry are that it may be made inci- 

 dental to general farming, may be 

 started and continued without e.xcess- 

 ive outlay of capital, and may be con- 

 fined to land that otherwise could not 

 be used for cultivated crops. When 

 properly managed, a very small area 

 may be made to yield a very large 

 proportionate return. 



One grower, Mr. George Stanton, 

 Summit Station, N. Y. , obtained from 

 4.^ square rods, in five years, 320 

 pounds of green root, which, when 

 dried, would have been about 106 

 pounds, worth, at the price then rul- 

 ing for cultivated root, $575. On the 

 other hand, figures such as these must 

 not be used to compute returns from 

 an acre or acres, since the cultivation 

 of ginseng in large areas is likely to 

 prove infeasible from inattention to 

 necessary detail. Ginsing is an exact- 

 ing crop and will be disappointing if 

 not properly managed. — Sciiiitijic 

 American. 



About Shells. 



In the course of my herborizations 

 in Cuba, I have had frequent occasions 

 to climb trees for flowers which I 

 could not otherwise obtain, and much 

 more frequent occasion to clamber 

 about the limestone cliffs which fur- 

 nish a great variety ot plants many of 

 which are common in such localities, 

 and are found nowhere else. In these 

 circumstances, it was hardly possible 

 that my attention should not be drawn 

 to the shells, some inhabiting the trees 

 and many more the rocks. I came, in 

 truth, to be very fond of them, spend- 

 ing many hours entirely devoted to 

 shell hunting which, ,1 began to think, 

 I could have spent more profitable in 

 my legitimate calling. I propose to 

 relate some of my observations and 

 to give my views as to some of the 

 causes of some of the phenomena ob- 

 served, hoping that they who make 

 this branch of the animal kingdom a 

 study, may be prompted to further in- 

 vestigate these phenomena more mi- 

 nutely than I had time or ability to do. 



* 



I 



