December, 1908 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



267 



have said in reply that this is work for 

 the small plot owner, the same as bee- 

 keeping, mushroom growing or any other 

 specialty. It is the most profitable of all, 

 however, if the grower observes the rules 

 for successful culture and has patience to 

 wait for three or four years. A quarter 

 of an acre will produce enough to send 

 his boys to college if he plants in a small 

 way and faithfully reproduces from his 

 own plot. The artisan, clerk or laboring 

 man who has a small garden can make a 

 success of ginseng growing and money 

 for himself. 



Melons By the Ton 



L. A. Hamilton, Lome Park, Ontitrio 



The 

 ■losely 

 which 



History of Ginseng 



A. W. Twiner, Saugatock, Mich. 



American ginseng is a plant 

 related to the parsley family in 

 family are included the parsnip, 

 carrot and celery. The wild root found 

 in the forests of America is a near re- 

 lation of the Chinese and Corean root 

 (Panax Ginseng). Ginseng is a Chinese 

 v\ord meaning man-shape. It was found 

 in Canada near Montreal in the year 

 17 16 by Father Lafitan, a missionary 

 • imong Iroquois Indians, after a descrip- 

 tion of the plant and samples of the root 

 had been sent to Canada two years prior 

 to that date by a brother missionary in 

 China. 



Soon after its discovery the French 

 began to gather it and export it to China. 

 It soon became a very important article 

 of export, the roots costing forty cents 

 n pound at Quebec, and selling for ten 

 or twelve times that amount in China. 

 At that time the Company of the Indies 

 controlled the trade between Canada and 

 China. In 1751, the company raised the 

 price to $10.00 a pound which caused the 

 Canadian hunters to gather it out of .sea- 

 son, to imperfectly clean and dry it and 

 to send somewhat similar roots until the 

 Chinese refused to buy it at any price. 

 For several years the ginseng trade from 

 America ceased, until a few years ago. 

 .Since then the root has been largely cul- 

 tivated with a favorable market in China. 

 The export for 1907, according to report 

 issued by the United States Department 

 of Agriculture, was $1,268,658, this be- 

 ing mostly cultivated root. 



Watch for the next issue of The Cana- 

 dian Horticulturist. An article on 

 foes of vegetables will appear. 



One of the finest vegetables for the 

 table is Brussels Sprouts. It should be 

 grown more extensively, and the public 

 should be taught its value. 



The vegetable gardener, who has an 

 abundant supply of water available, is 

 fortunate. .Sometimes a small amount of 

 water applied at the right time, will 

 make the difference between a good crop 

 and a total failure. 



IF ONE can judge from the crop mar- 

 keted in Toronto, the season of 1908 

 must be looked upon as one peculiar- 

 ly fitted for the growing of melons. The 

 warm copious rains of the early season 

 pushed forward the growth of the plants. 

 This was followed by a long period of 

 dry weather, with hot days and warm 

 nights which hastened the maturing of 

 the fruit. 



The conditions were somewhat similar 

 to those prevailing in eastern countries 

 where the melon is extensively grown. 

 There, melon gardens are largely confined 



Two difficulties present themselves to 

 the melon grower in this locality : The 

 transporting of this bulky crop to mar- 

 ket and the low price obtained for it. 

 .So far, no practical or uniform package 

 has been invented for shipping in. The 

 product finds its way to market in eleven 

 quart baskets, various kinds of berry 

 crates and apple barrels. 



The Island of Montreal has made a 

 specialty for a number of years of grow- 

 ing melons of a certain type, and the 

 growers by producing a good article 

 and judiciously advertising it, have suc- 



HarTCtting Melons by the Ton in Ontario 



FruitSFarm of Mr. L. A. Hamilton, Lome Park 



to the low lying margins of the rivers 

 and the bars left dry by the falling 

 waters. The writer has watched the 

 natives on the banks of the Nile, and on 

 the Ganges, following up the receding 

 waters and planting the melon seeds as 

 fast as the bars appear above the sur- 

 face of the water. The ground is then 

 completely saturated with water which, 

 on being subject to great heat, causes 

 the plants to grow with great rapidity 

 and to bring their fruit to maturity with 

 little or no rainfall. 



The rapidity of growth, and the gen- 

 erosity of the crop in the Lome Park 

 district, has not been confined to melons 

 alone but to all others of the gonrd fam- 

 ily. Water melons and squash have been 

 grow on contiguous ground, weighing as 

 high as forty pounds for the former and 

 125 pounds for the latter; these results 

 were obtained from .seed sown in the 

 open air and without the use of any ar- 

 tificial stimulants during growing period. 



ceeded in establishing a market for their 

 melons and disposing of them at a price 

 that makes the Ontario grower turn 

 green with envy. We have a soil that 

 seems particualrly adapted for the grow- 

 ing of this crop, but it is poor encour- 

 agement to the grower to get on an 

 average five cents a piece for choice 

 melons ranging in weight from two to 

 eight pounds each. Is it not possible 

 by means of cold storage to ship melons 

 to England profitably, thereby enlarging 

 the market and stimulating the indus- 

 try? 



Grow the best that can be grown, and 

 the market is yours. 



An error occurred in printing the arti- 

 cle on "Ornamental Gardening in South- 

 ern British Columbia," that appeared in 

 the November issue. In the third line of 

 the. third column, the word "forests" 

 should have read "tourists." 



