CHAPTER XXVIII 



GINSENG 



For many years the ginseng business has gone hand in hand with 

 the fur business. The man that has a fox farm, or a skunk ranch, 

 usually raises ginseng, although it does not necessarily follow that all 

 of the ginseng farmers raise furbearing animals. Ginseng is a root 

 that is found wild in many parts of the country and that in recent 

 years has been cultivated a nd some very fine roots grown. 



The questions are constantly asked what is ginseng and what is 

 it used for. In answer to the first question, ginseng is a fleshy-rooted 

 herbaceious plant growing naturally on the slopes of ravines and other 

 shady but well-drained situations in hardwood forests from Maine to 

 Georgia, and as far West as Minnesota, throughout most of the cen- 

 tral Mississippi Valley. In its wild state the plant grows from eight 

 to twenty inches high, bearing three or more compound leaves, each 

 consisting of five thin, stalked, ovate leaflets, pointed at the apex 

 and rounded or narrowed at the base, the three upper leaflets being 

 larger than the two lower ones. A cluster of from 6 to 20 small 

 greenish yellow flowers is produced in midsummer, followed later by 

 as many bright-crimson berries, each containing from one to three 

 flattish wrinkled seeds the size of small peas. 



In answer to the second question, no one seems to know. It 

 has long been valued by the Chinese for medicinal use, though rarely 

 credited with curative virtues by the natives of other countries. The 

 roots have been exported from this country for about one hundred 

 years, and today there are larger quantities exported to China than 

 ever before, due to the fact that the supply of ginseng has been mater- 

 ially increased by the cultivation of the root, and the cultivated crop 

 is now larger than the crop of wild roots. 



The cultivation of ginseng began about fifteen years ago, and 

 many growers have been very successful with it. At this time the 

 price is about $12.00 per pound, and those fortunate enough to har- 

 vest a large crop of the root, at the prevailing price are to be con- 

 gratulated. One grower informed the writer that he recently gathered 

 4000 pounds of roots from a two-acre patch, for which he realized 

 $50,000.00 net cash. This crop took eight years to grow. 



