196 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



all branches of trade in Kichland coonty, Wis., amounting to SIO^OOO lasfe 

 year, and will probaWy reacb $80,000 this year. The prie» is ten cents a 

 pound green, and forty-two cents dry. In Minnesota the trade is equally 

 lively. But here is the gist of Mr. Phelps' letter, whiclt 1 hope- some one 

 can answer : 



Now, then, if as is alleged, China and Japan afford a ireliable and un- 

 failing market for this intrinsicaKy valueless aud harmless root, at such 

 rates as these, why can't it be cultivated profitjtbly ? TwOf hundred dol- 

 lars a ton for the green root is a price which it s«em& to me should invite 

 some experinaents. Will you ask the Farmers' Club to ventilate the fjucs- 

 tion, and issue its "^vemilion (ginseng) ediet " on the sabject. 



Mr. Robinson said : My first impression is that it is so peculiarly a wiM 

 plant, growing in thick shade and rich woods mold, that it would ao-t bear 

 field culture. Who can answer — and also wheAer the market has any 

 stability 1 There was a time once, since the settlement of America, in 

 which a great ginseng fever raged, but the Chinese got their fill, the mar- 

 ket failed, and merchants were ruined. 



Wm. R. Prince, — Mr. Belknap, of Wall street, made an experiment 

 some years ago in garden culture, but I have siever heard of any great 

 success. I have grown it in gardens. There was a time, it is sai:^,, when 

 it sold in China for its weight in gold. It is a plant of simple habits, and 

 I don't know why it can not be cultivated. 



The President. — The Chinese trade failed as soon as the Chinese discov- 

 ered that the American and Tartariaa ginseng were diflFerent. 



KYANIZING. 



R. G. Pardee presented a letter and a specimen of a kyanizing stake 

 from J. W. Fairfield, of Hudson. It has been in the ground nine years, 

 and is perfectly sound. It was kyanized by blue vitriol, one pound to 

 twenty quarts of water, soaked three or four days. 



ON PRESERVING WOOD. 



Mr. Fairchild's letter to Mr. Pardee : 



Hudson, June 14, 1859. 



On reading your remarks at the Institute last week respecting my ex- 

 periment of preserving wood, &c., I forthwith resolved to write you. I 

 have delayed till this day, when it occurred to me that I might best " post 

 you up" with a stake. I went to my garden and found all my stakes in 

 use. One standing by a firebrush now strong enough to stand alone I 

 thought could best be spared. I teok it to the block (most martyrs prefer 

 the block to the stake — but I prefer the stake in this instance) and sawed 

 off what I send you. I found rot in a spot that greatly puzzled me at 

 first, and I concluded not to send it, but on reflection I became satisfied 

 that this rot must have been in the stake when made. They were all 

 made from the refuse strips in a carpenter's shop, in the fall of 1850. The 

 point I send you has been in the ground, summer and winter, since the 



