62 ANNUAL KEPORT, 



by seed.s in the open ground, and yet thousands of them are 

 raised all over the country. It is possible that if experiments 

 were conducted aright we might have success with ginseng just 

 as we have with spruce and pine. They germinate in the 

 shade but we succeed in growing the trei'S with cultivation. 



Mr. Tuttle. You have to keep the spruce and pine in the 

 shade the first two years. 



Col. Stevens. The ginseng seems to reproduce itself after the 

 roots are all dug up. 



Mr. Whipple. I know we have dug sang for years on the 

 same grounds. The shoot comes up with one stalk and one bunch 

 of leaves on it. You will often find that where the person has 

 dug and thrown back the dirt you will find there three to half a 

 dozen of those young shoots coming up the next year. 



Col. Stevens. Let me say that I am acquainted with a respon- 

 sible party, who lives in the Big Woods, who told me that if the 

 society could plan some way in which it could be propagated 

 that he could make ten thousand dollars off every acre of land 

 that he had. 



Mr. Whipple. I don't doubt it. But I fail to find any way 

 that you can i)roj)agate it to pay. 



Mr. Smith. Perhaps we had better refer it to our experimen- 

 tal farm, to our friend Prof. Porter. 



Mr. Whipple. I don't think he has woods enough there to 

 shade it good. 



Mr. Ackerman. How long does it require for the roots to per- 

 fect themselves, to attain their growiih ? 



Mr. Whipple. That I cannot answer. 



Mr. Gideon. They don't appear to ever stop growing. 



Mr. Whipple. You will find that every shoot has a prong or 

 sort of a jog to it, and I have known them to have twelve to fif- 

 teen jogs on one stalk. You can tell by that how old the roots 

 are. I don't know how much older they get; you count these 

 and tell the number of years' growth. These shoots will rot off 

 and leave new roots. 



Col. Stevens. I will second the motion of Mr. Smith with the 

 understanding that there shall be something found out if there 

 can be. 



The motion for the appointment of a committee to report on 

 the subject under consideration at the next meeting, was carried. 

 The president appointed as such committee: C. L. Smith, Col. J. 

 H. Stevens and Prof. E. D. Porter. 



