PROFITS. 81 



tivating ginseng in this section, but supplies to date 

 have not been large." 



Messrs. Speyer & Son, Lexington, Ky., had this 

 to say on July 22, 1902 : "We are now paying from 

 $3.25 to $3.50 per pound for Kentucky ginseng; cul- 

 tivated root will bring from $4.25 to $4.50. The culti- 

 vation of ginseng is becoming more common each 

 year, and of course the more it is cultivated the cheaper 

 it will be. The market to-day is extremely dull, with 

 a lower tendency." 



Messrs. Eisenhauer & Co., under date of July 23, 

 1902, wrote as follows : "Our prices for fall dug gin- 

 seng last season in average lots, ranged from about 

 $4 for small fibery roots from Kentucky and Ten- 

 nessee to about $7 for 'seng from the best sections 

 this, when our market was at its strongest. The quan- 

 tity of ginseng cultivated and marketed, thus far, is 

 quite insignificant, although considering the number of 

 persons now interested in its culture, there ought to be 

 a material improvement in this respect during the next 

 year or two. The fact that shipments of cultivated 

 root consist chiefly of large selected pieces (the smaller 

 specimens being put back into the ground) means of 

 course that it has been bringing higher prices than 

 average lots of wild roots. Otherwise it is of no 

 greater value, and we have been informed by con- 

 sumers that it lacks somewhat the peculiar flavor 

 possessed by the wild growing 'seng, which will hurt 

 its value should it ever be exported in noteworthy 

 quantities. 



"The outlook this season is not at all satisfactory. 

 The unusually low value of silver, together with a light 

 demand in Hong Kong, has caused losses to the ex- 

 porters on a large proportion of their purchases, and 

 in some cases these losses were quite severe. If you 

 will consider the extraordinary advance in ginseng 

 during the past few years to a large extent forced 



