10 THE GINSENG INDUSTKY. 



though one hundred or more may often be borne upon a 

 single head. Plants with several stems may have a 

 cluster of fruit upon each stem, though these will usu- 

 ally be smaller than upon plants of the same age where 

 only one stem appears. In the woods the plants seldom 

 bear more than fifty seeds, and usually not more than 

 half that many. 



The root, which is the part of commercial impor- 

 tance, is composed of two parts the rootstock and the 

 root proper. The former, rarely more than one-third of 

 an inch in diameter, shows the scars, already mentioned, 

 each one of which indicates a year's growth. Specimens 

 have occasionally been collected that were over fifty 

 years old, and one has been found that has reached the 

 age of sixty-five. Size and value do not, however, 

 increase, but diminish with age after a certain stage in 

 the development of the plant has been reached. The 

 power of producing seed is also lost to a greater or less 

 extent. The old specimen- referred to was very much 

 shriveled, weighed less than half an ounce, and was 

 scarcely more than one-third of an inch thick. 



J As a general thing, when the roots have attained a 

 certain age they gradually decrease in size and weight 

 year by year, and at the same time lose their medicinal 

 qualities. They continue to shrink until they become 

 mere bundles of woody fibers, shadows of their for- 

 mer selves. They may, however, take new courage 

 and send out new roots near the crowns, which, as the 

 original roots become more and more feeble, gradually 

 take their places and do their work. "When this is 

 accomplished the old roots die and slough off. This is 

 not a form of reproduction, but of the continuation of 

 the life of a single plant. Young roots may often reach 

 a weight of two or three ounces after drying, and a 

 diameter of one and a half inches. Some specimens 

 have been gathered that weighed half a pound, but these 



