THE 

 GINSENG'S SECRET 



May 26th 



OW safely buried is the treasure 

 of the small ginseng, that pret- 

 ty little wild plant, with its 

 feathery ball of bloom and cir- 

 cle of attendant leaves. It 



carpets many a mossy nook in the 

 open wood or swamps, its clusters 

 ^ of fragrant white pompons 

 often intermingled with 

 the purple blooms of the 

 fringed polygala just de- 

 scribed. 



The "ground-nut" it is plain- 

 ly called in all our botanies; but 

 I have known an eighty- year- old countryman who had 

 picked the blossom in his childhood and had known 

 the plant all his life, and its name, too, and yet had 

 never suspected why it was called "ground-nut." 1 

 5 



