84 PRESENT STATUS OF THE INDUSTRY. 



On July 21, 1902, the same firm wrote Mr. Sears 

 as follows : "You have asked us in the past in regard 

 to overstocking the market with cultivated ginseng. 

 We do not think it is possible to overstock the market, 

 for many reasons : 



" First. The article is of such a slow growth that 

 it will take many years before the American gardens 

 can produce a sufficient quantity to supply the normal 

 demand. 



"Second. As the crop increases in volume, it nat- 

 urally should decrease somewhat in price, and this will 

 restrain many from going into the business. 



"Third. As the price declines, making it possible 

 to sell at a lower figure in China, the consuming market 

 in China will increase, making a consumption of a 

 greater quantity of root possible. 



"For several years past the production of Ameri- 

 can wild ginseng has been about stationary, at from 

 about 125,000 to 130,000 pounds per annum. In this 

 same period prices have advanced fully one hundred 

 per cent, with the result that the price has gone out of 

 reach of the vast majority of Chinamen who formerly 

 used ginseng, and it is now used only by the select few. 

 Consequently when the season opened this year, ex- 

 porters carried over from last season's goods more 

 than one-half the crop, or based upon the sales made in 

 China last year, more than a year's supply. All this 

 could be sold in a hurry if prices were sufficiently low. 

 However, there is always a demand for ginseng, 

 although if a sufficient volume of cultivated root were 

 offered the price on the wild would be very low, prob- 

 ably one-half of that for cultivated root. We do not 

 know what this price for cultivated root should be, as 

 no two gardens develop exactly the same quality of 

 ginseng, and as no two cultivators pay the same atten- 

 tion to their plants. There eventually will be a stand- 

 ard by which all gardens will work, but until that is 



