AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY. 



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containing about twelve drawers, one above another, their bottoms 

 being made of stout paper. Here they stay for two or three days, 

 according to their size, enduring a temperature of ioo° to 120° C, 

 which renders them perfectly dry and ready for market. But 

 sometimes this drying is done in the sun, in which case it lasts 

 correspondingly longer. 



These prepared and dried ginseng roots have only about one- 

 fourth of their original weight ; 160-200 of them go to one kilo- 

 gramme. In colour they range from yellowish to brown. They 



Fig. 6. 



are semi-diaphanous, somewhat brittle, and have a bitter-sweet 

 taste, which excites mucus. They have to be carefully protected 

 from dampness and small beetles {RhynchopJwriis), and are used 

 in the form of decoctions and extracts. The stalks and leaves 

 of the plant are utiHzed also, being boiled to a black, sticky paste, 

 which, in consequence of its sugar having gone over into caramel, 

 looks and tastes like liquorice, though with a bitter twang. This 

 preparation is not exported. 



There are many buyers of the prepared ginseng-root, who pay 



