GINSENG. 19 



sident of the Chinese Merchants' Company of Shanghai, China, 

 one of the largest trading companies in the Orient, says: "The 

 supply is fast diminishing; the demand is growing greater each 

 year; and the amount used is only gauged by the supply. VYe 

 pay a good price for your ginseng; we would pay more if an in- 

 creased price would get it. We could use twenty times what we 

 get at present prices. It would be impossible for you Americans 

 to glut the market with ginseng in the next fifty years. Ginseng 

 is used by every Chinaman no matter how poor. The ginseng 

 market is as staple as the market for tea or cotfee, and not subject 

 to change as is every other article of commerce. Unless the 

 Americans cultivate it there is going to be a great scarcity of gin- 

 seng and that soon". 



