STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 57 



President Smith announced that a change' would be made in 

 the program, and that Col. Stevens would now read his paper 

 on the subject of "Ginseng." 



CULTIVATION OF GINSENG. 



BY COL. .). H. STEVENS. 



Mr. President : In common with all of the members of the 

 society, I am much interested in all matters that appertain to 

 the horticultural interests of the state. That the efforts of the 

 society have been fraught with great moment for the weal of all 

 classes of our citizens cannot for a moment be doubted. There 

 is one product incident to a portion of our soil and climate that 

 has never, as far as I know, received any consideration from our 

 deliberations. I refer to the cultivation of ginseng. I do not 

 hesitate to say, for one, that however insignificant this little 

 plant may appear in the minds of our members, that I can never 

 forget the dark days that immediately followed the financial 

 troubles of 1857, when by the gathering of the roots in the big 

 woods, of this native product, the families of hundreds of farmers 

 in our state were saved from actual want of bread. It was a god- 

 send to them, and a rich harvest to the merchants and traders of 

 that period. In short it was about the only article of export we 

 had, that would bring the hard cash. The woods were full of it. 

 One house in the adjoining city of Minneapolis, that of Mr. God- 

 frey Schielting, paid to the small retail dealers in the country 

 some $50,000 per annum for two or three years for this article. 

 Other houses in St. Paul, Shakopee, Mankato, St. Peter, Fari 

 bault, and other places of trade, probably paid out more money 

 each year for this product than the Minneapolis house did. Be- 

 ing intimately connected with the farmers then, I know of the 

 great value it was to them; hence my partiality and kind remem- 

 brance of the service it was to .the people at that time. 



After our annual meeting last winter I saw, for the first time 

 in many ye^'S, an almost life-long friend, Isaac Marks, of Man- 

 kato. I knew him when we were boys in the lower county, 

 and many of you will remember him as an honest merchant 

 years ago on the banks of the Upper Mississippi. I was much 

 surprised when Mr. Marks informed me that his purchases of 

 ginseng, the present product of Minnesota, amounted annually 

 to considerable sums. It would appear by this fact, so to speak^ 

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