ADULTERATION AND FRAUD. 91 



will be the first crop dug. In general, therefore, the 

 statements as to amounts that can be obtained from 

 acres are misleading. There are very few men who 

 have sold dried root from more than a square rod at 

 a time, and who can give an accurate account of the 

 cost of production from even that small area. 



These estimates recall the statement made by a 

 certain prominent man as to the rate potatoes could be 

 dug with a power potato digger. The author can 

 vouch for the facts in the case, which were as follows : 

 In a level field where the soil was free from obstruc- 

 tions, a pair of horses, better and stronger than most 

 farm horses, was made to haul the digger as quickly 

 as possible once across the field, a distance of 

 about one hundred yards, account being taken of the 

 time. From this the time necessary to dig an acre 

 was calculated, no account being taken of the time 

 necessary to turn the team to start back on the next 

 row. The rate was announced as a possible one. In 

 practice, it is doubtful if any team could 1 have worked 

 day in day out and made half the speed even upon most 

 favorable land. The statement was not fair to the 

 machine, to the horses, nor to the man who made it. 



The paragraph quoted below from Special Crops 

 shows the way in which similar estimates are made in 

 ginseng culture. This, it will be noticed, is for the 

 seed, but numerous similar estimates are published 

 concerning the root. "We know that there are extrav- 

 agant claims made about the profits to be reaped in the 

 cultivation of ginseng. Facts are facts and when we 

 see right before our eyes what is being accomplished, 

 we feel like saying to certain editors of agricultural 

 papers that they should go a little slow about charging 

 falsehood and misrepresentation upon ginseng grow- 

 ers. Our best plant last year gave us one hundred and 

 seventeen seeds. That plant was in a bed, where plants 

 were set six inches apart each way. These seeds were 



