GINSENG AS A GARDEN PRODUCT. 



311 



he would make a success of it if he should ship it to China, but he 

 has a demand at home for all the seeds and roots he can raise at the 

 present time. 



Mr. J. F. Empenger: I have been in the business for about 

 two years, and I have had success from the start. I have planted 

 from the roots, because I could not get any seed. The wild seed 

 did not come up. It takes eighteen months for the seed to germi- 

 nate. Because it does not come up the first year many give up try- 

 ing. I find it can be handled just as easily as a cabbage plant. I 

 have not dug any yet so I cannot tell how large they have grown in 

 two years time. There is money in trie business at $5.50 per pound 

 at home: There is certainly money in selling the seed, and there 

 ought to be money in it when you can sell both the roots and the 

 seed. 



Mr. Rolla Stubbs : There is a neighbor of mine who com- 

 menced experimenting two years ago with a small bed. What he 

 planted two years ago is coming up nicely, and he planted more seed 

 this fall. He is making for it the natural conditions it finds in the 

 timber. A shady location with sandy soil is the best place. He 

 is experimenting for his own benefit to see what can be done with 

 it. The young plants are coming up very nicely. 



The President : Cultivation in time will work surprises. The 

 burden of my thought so far has been that I have not heard of 

 any one selling the plants, and I cannot get over the fact that the 

 Chinamen do not raise it with all their facilities. They say it brings 

 its weight in gold in China. 



Mr. C. B. Waddell : My father has been experimenting four 

 or five years with ginseng in Illinois, and I thought it was a streak 

 of insanity cropping out in the family, but I must write home that 

 there are some here taken the same way. (Laughter.) 



Mr. Bush : I think it compares favorably with the Belgian 

 hare craze. When you could sell them from $15 to $500 it was 

 very profitable, but when the craze died out you could not give 

 them away. 



Mr. Ditus Day : "I am one of the oldest members of the so- 

 ciety. I can remember the first meeting we held thirty-five years 

 ago. I want to say that it rejoices me to see the growth of this so- 

 ciety. Thirty-five years ago ! — and there are very few of them left. 

 I joined the society at the first meeting, and they met then in this 

 city. I have enjoyed this meeting more than any I have ever at- 

 tended. I am an old man now, but I hope I have done some little 

 good. I am not a nurseryman, only a farmer, but I have produced 

 one apple that is one of the best in the state." 



Prof. Green : I would like to hear from a man who always 

 has good apples and has done much for horticulture in this state, but 

 who has never said anything at these meetings. I refer to Mr. 

 William Oxford." (Applause. ) . 



