1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



the case. The outside row of potatoes is 

 apt to be ground that is not plowed and 

 harrowed so thoroug-hly, and oftentimes 

 does not get as good cultivation; and there 

 is more or less tramping on them in turning 

 around. Where the road ran through that 

 potato-patch I am inclined to think they 

 plowed up and fitted the road, field, and 

 all. I judged from the looks of things. I 

 suppose they left a vacant strip just wide 

 enough for a wagon to get through. There 

 was certainly no place for one wagon to 

 pass another in that whole potato-field. I 

 am inclined to think that, on very rich 

 ground, well manured and thoroughly fit- 

 ted, we may profitably put potatoes only 

 three feet apart, and from a foot to fourteen 

 inches apart in the row — that is, we can do 

 that in Ohio, saj' after we have turned un- 

 der a heavy clover sod. In the Michigan 

 sandy soil, especially where there has been 

 no clover turned under, and no stable ma- 

 nure was ever used, possibly it may be 

 profitable to put the potatoes three feet 

 apart each way. You see this would make 

 only /la/J Jis many hills in the field; but 

 putting them so far apart would certainlj' 

 g-et larger jtotatoes, and probably more in 

 a hill. If one sing-le stalk is g'oing to give 

 15 good-sized potatoes, however, as I secur- 

 ed near friend Hilbert's, we can well af- 

 ford to give such a hill plenty of room, say 

 as we have it in putting the hills three feet 

 apart each way. Now, friends, it is quite 

 likely we sometimes lose half a crop or less 

 by putting our potatoes too f ir apart. At 

 other seasons and in other localities, per- 

 haps we lose almost as much by going to 

 the opposite extreme. Where we get them 

 too far apart we usually have the largest 

 and the most potatoes to the hill. Let us 

 each and all test the matter for our OcV?i 

 fields. 



GINSRNG AND GINSENG-GARDKNS. 



Since what I have said in regard to grow- 

 ing ginseng, I have been assured several 

 times that it is not so difficult to grow — in 

 fact, I find it has been growing- in consider- 

 able quantities on my place in Michigan. 

 One day when I was at work at that spring- 

 I have told you about, a big Indian came 

 and sat down and very quietly began 

 watching me. He did not seem to want to 

 talk; but an " Injun " was something of a 

 curiosity' to me, and I made him talk. He 

 had a sort of sack hung" around his neck. 

 I asked him what he had in it. He then 

 pulled out a big handful of fresh ginseng 

 roots just dug. To get acquainted I g-ave 

 him 25 cts. for the bigg-est root in the lot. 

 Then I asked him if he found them growing 

 in ;//)' woods. He nodded his head in the 

 affirmative. I then asked him if he could 

 show me the growing plants. He did not 

 want to answer, but finallj^ admitted he 

 could. I offered him 25 cents more to show 

 me the growing plants, so I could see whiit 

 they look like. He said he would bring- me 

 one, top and all; but when I wanted to g-o 

 with him and see him dig them he shook 



his head. P^inally I agreed to g-ive him 25 

 cents to bring me a whole plant, top and 

 all. He disappeared in the bushes, and 

 came back in a very few minutes with a 

 root in one hand and a top in the other. 

 Some of my friends told me afterward that* 

 the Indians remember the particular spots 

 where the ginseng grows, and they get 

 roots there more or less everj' j'ear, leaving 

 the small ones to grow until they are larg-e 

 enough to dig. He did not want me to know 

 where the ginseng-patch was on my own 

 land. 



A few months later I heard boys' voices 

 oif in the woods one Sunday afternoon. I 

 hunted them up and inquired what they 

 were doing. I found they had collected 

 quite a lot of little g-inseng roots. The In- 

 dians save the small ones to g-row larger; 

 but those boys dug- ever^- thing, little and 

 big. This was in October; but the little 

 roots had a good strong sprout on each one, 

 ready for next year's growth. Now, my 

 ranch would be a splendid place for a gin- 

 seng-garden; but unless I could be right 

 there every day in the j^ear I do not sup- 

 pose any kind of fence would keep g-inseng- 

 hunters out. The plant the Indian brought 

 me stood up fully two feet high. The leaves 

 had a beautiful glossy surface on the under 

 side, as if they had just been varnished. 

 The plant very much resembles sarsaparil- 

 la and some other plants having five leaves 

 radiating from the center; but the g-inseng 

 has a very much finer and more delicate 

 appearance than anj- of these other plants. 

 In answer to my request for a report from 

 some one who did not advertise seeds and 

 plants, I received the following: 



GINSENG-GKOWIXG, BV ONE WHO DOES NOT 

 SELL SEEDS OR PLANTS. 



You say you would like to hear from some one who 

 is in the ginseng business, who has not plants or seeds 

 to sell. Mr. Benjamin Palmer, of Boydon, Crawford 

 Co., Wis., has been in the business about six years, and 

 he does not sell plants or seeds. I was oii his patch 

 last spring, about two-' birds of an acre You could 

 not tell ii from the rest of the hillside, except from the 

 fence. The plants had n t got up through the leaves 

 yet, but they were there all right, about ten inches 

 apart in the row. I don't know how wide the rows 

 are ; but where he raked the leaves off the voung 

 plants, I believe you could count a hundred ina foot 

 square, no bigger than a darning-needle. The first 

 ones he planted he says will grow 'i feet high. I sup- 

 pose they have seeds on them. He says he lost time 

 in not knowing how to manage them at first, or other- 

 wise he would have had more plants. I don't think 

 he cultivated around the plants except to spade around 

 when he planted them. May be they do better that 

 way. They have to be more or less in the shade of 

 the trees. He thinks there is lots of money in the bus- 

 iness if a man can hang on for twelve or fifteen years. 



Woodman, Wis., Oct. 16. John Murray. 



I believe the big prices for books on the 

 subject have pretty well gone b}-. The best 

 thing- I have found for a small sum of money 

 is one I have mentioned before, by J. W. 

 Sears, of Somerset, Ky. The price is only 

 10 cents (we can mail them from this office). 

 The high prices for plants and seeds have 

 also come down quite a good deal. In fact, 

 on page 836 you will find seedling plants 

 advertised as low as 3 cents each, and seed- 

 bearing plants for only 12 cents each. 



