40 THE GINSENG INDUSTRY. 



is where any method is practiced at all), instead of the 

 method described above, the result will be a reduction 

 in the amount and the quality of the seed, a diminution 

 in the size and the quality of the roots produced, and an 

 increase in the time required to grow them to a market- 

 able size. The same results will be apparent when no 

 method at all is followed, though in a somewhat less 

 degree. These results will become more evident as the 

 years advance, the roots getting smaller and taking 

 longer each generation. 



CULTIVATED VERSUS WILD BOOT. 



For export, select the largest and heaviest roots ana 

 make them perfectly clean. Such ginseng is in greatest 

 demand and commands the highest price. Unless spec- 

 imens in some remote degree resemble the human form, 

 the less they are branched the better. If roots be found 

 that in any way look like the human body, wash and 

 cure them with extra care and keep them separate from 

 the rest, as the Chinese value them far more highly than 

 the ordinary roots. In general, however, look to size, 

 form, weight and smoothness. These are most frequently 

 found in the cultivated roots, and are due largely to 

 transplanting. This practice tends to produce many 

 fibrous roots, instead of a few lar^e branching ones. 

 The main advantage of this is that the rootlets readily 

 snap off in the drying, thus leaving a smooth shaft but 

 little defaced by their removal. 



Cultivated roots require less time in drying and suf- 

 fer less shrinkage in the process than wild roots, and on 

 account of their better appearance, being whiter and 

 clearer (translucent), they command a higher price in 

 the market than the wild. In 1897 a New York grower 

 sold his crop for $1.50 more than the market quotation 

 ($4.50), for the best quality of wild root from his state. 

 This figure was then unusual, in fact the highest paid 



