GINSENG. 



iiQ 



Numerous attempts have been made to cultivate ginseng 

 and, where careful attention has been given, the returns have 

 been very satisfactory. But the plant is a native of cool, moist, 

 shady situations, and is soon killed if exposed to the glaring 

 sunlight. It usually thrives best in moist loamy soils such as 

 are found in oak or maple forests at the north. 



Mr. George Stanton, Summit Station, Onondaga County, 

 New York, is the pioneer in ginseng culture in America. He 

 has made the business profitable and has demonstrated the 

 practicability of garden culture. His method of procedure is 

 essentially as follows : Seed is sown as soon as it is ripe, in 

 September, in a carefully prepared seed bed in well drained 

 sandy loam. The bed is covered with leaf mould and with 

 brush to prevent drying and cracking of soil. Eighteen 

 months are usually required for germination. When the 

 seedlings are two or three years old, they are transferred to 

 permanent beds as carefully prepared as the first. The plants 

 are set four to six inches apart each way and are not again 

 disturbed, except to keep the weeds down, until the harvest 

 time; which will be in four or five years from transplanting, or 

 six or eight years from seed. Transplanting is best done in 

 the fall and the roots are set so that the bud for the next year's 



Figure 3S.— Lattice-work shed for ginseng garden. 



