138 PRESENT STATUS OF THE INDUSTRY. 



case of small trout and lobsters in some states. If this 

 provision were somewhat difficult to enforce, it would 

 at least call attention to the wastefulness of killing the 

 young plant. 



The State of Virginia already has a law limiting 

 the time of collecting, of which the text is as follows :* 



AN ACT for the protection of ginseng in the 

 counties of the State. 



SEC. i. Be it enacted by the general assembly of 

 Virginia, If any person shall dig any ginseng from the 

 1 5th day of March till the I5th day of September, such 

 person, on conviction before a justice of the peace, 

 shall be fined not less than five nor more than ten 

 dollars and costs for each offense. 



SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That on the con- 

 viction of anyone of such offense the informant shall 

 be entitled to one-half the fine, the remaining half 

 going to the Commonwealth. 



SEC. 3. This act shall be in force from its 

 passage. 



In the same line, but more stringent, is a law 

 passed by the legislature of Ontario, Canada, in 

 1891 :t 



SEC. i. Except for the purpose of clearing or 

 bringing land into cultivation, no person shall, between 

 the first day of January and the first day of September 

 in any year, cut, root up, gather, or destroy the plant 

 known by the name of ginseng whenever such plant 

 may be found growing in a wild or uncultivated 

 state. 



SEC. 2. Any person who contravenes the pro- 

 vision of this act shall, for every such offense, upon 

 summary conviction before any justice of the peace, 

 be subject to a penalty of not less than five dollars or 

 more than twenty dollars, together with costs for 



*Acts and Joint Resolutions of Virginia, 1875-76, Chapter go. 

 tStatutes of the Province of Ontario, 1891, Chapter 52. 



