THE GINSENG INDUSTRY. 



yearling plant when full grown as it is seen in July, and 

 b, a root as it appears in October. The whole work of 

 the plant the first two, three, or even more, seasons, is 

 to develop the solitary bud that is to produce the leases 

 and stem, of the following year. This bud is borne at 

 the crown, of the root, and is called by the Chinese the 

 "head." When growth ceases, the stem breaks off 

 beside the bud, leaving a scar that is always retainedo 

 Fig. 3, c, shows the bud and the scar on a two-year-old 

 root as it appears in October. 



During the second year the plant may produce from 

 one to three branch-like stems with from three to eight 

 leaflets, and may reach a hight of five inches. In the 

 third year from eight to fifteen leaflets may be produced, 

 and the plant may grow eight inches tall. In after 

 years there may be as many as four leafstalks. ea6h 

 bearing usually five leaflets sometimes three or seven r 

 arranged, as in the horse-chestnut leaf, like the fingers 

 of the hand, as seen in Fig. 4. 



The two smallest leaflets are an inch or two long, 

 the others three or four. In outline they are egg-shaped > 

 with a saw-toothed margin and an abrupt point. The 

 large end is away from the stem. In cultivated beds 

 specimens with five leafstalks and twenty-five or thirty 

 leaves may be found, and they may reach a hight of 

 thir,ty inches, though twenty is as tall as they usually 

 get in the woods. The stems of mature plants are gen- 

 erally about the thickness of a lead pencil. 



The flower stalk, which is usually from two to eight 

 inches long, according to the strength of the plant, is 

 borne erect at the point where the leafstalks branch out 

 (Fig. 4), and bears in late June or in early July a 

 cluster of inconspicuous, odorless yellowish-green flowers 

 arranged in an umbel somewhat like the flowers of pars- 

 ley or carrots. The fruit h soon formed, and develops 

 from green in August to a handsome scarlet in the mid- 



