58 PRESENT STATUS OF THE INDUSTRY. 



upon a similar item which appears in a communication 

 from Mr. Payson it may be well to call attention to the 

 fact that southern grown plants of the same species 

 and even of the same variety are slower in reaching 

 maturity than when grown in the North, because the 

 southern season is longer than the northern. Two in- 

 stances will illustrate these points : Southern corn 

 brought to Michigan direct from the Gulf States could 

 not be made to ripen its seed ; but when planted for a 

 series of years at places removed each year or so far- 

 ther and farther from the South, seed was obtained at 

 last from plants grown in Michigan. The reverse is 

 true of Michigan corn taken to the South; it grows 

 rapidly and ripens its seed !< in advance of the south- 

 ern varieties planted at the same time, but in a few 

 years it loses its earliness and becomes like other south 

 ern varieties. 



With ginseng it is the same; the character of the 

 plant will appear in the seedlings and will disappear 

 only after these or their descendants have been grown 

 for a series of years under the changed surroundings. 

 The change is merely an adaptation to climatic condi- 

 tions. It would be well, therefore, to buy seeds and 

 plants, not merely that have been grown in the 

 North, but that have been grown in the North from 

 northern seed. It seems probable that the New York 

 plants referred to by Mr. Payson were grown from 

 southern seed planted in New York State. The dif- 

 ference of three weeks between the time of ripening 

 of their seed and the seed of Canadian plants treated 

 like them, seems too great to be accounted for in any 

 other way, New York and Southern Ontario being 

 approximately alike in climate. 



HOW TO BEGIN 



It will be noticed in reading the letters from 

 growers in connection with what is said on Page 14, 



