GINSENG. 25 



CHAPTER IX. 

 QINSENQ. 



Culture. 



In transferring a wild plant from its natural home to an arti- 

 ficial one, it is always safer for us before attempting to improve 

 upon the conditions of this natural home to acquaint ourselves 

 with the conditions of things. We are then in a better position to 

 attempt improving upon nature if such improvements are applicable. 



Let us therefore study the natural home of the ginseng 

 plant to see what we find there. What are the conditions we find 

 on the hills and ridges of a forest where the butternut, the sugar- 

 maple, rock-elm, slippery-elm, birch, white-oak and basswood 

 (or linden) abound? We find that the topographical conditions 

 provide for surface drainage in very wet weather; the porous 

 nature of the subsoil further provides for subdrainage, as well as 

 allows moisture to come up from below in times of drought. It is 

 a rich loamy soil, such as is commonly termed dry land, meaning 

 that the ground is free from any hard pan subsoil, which would 

 prevent free subdrainage in wet weather and cause pools of water 

 to remain on the surface for days and sometimes weeks, while in 

 times of drought it will bake hard and prevent moisture from com- 

 ing up from beneath. 



We further find on the surface of the ground in such forests 

 an abundance of leaves and rotted wood, covering the ground like 

 a blanket. This cover answers several purposes for the welfare 

 of ginseng. The freshly fallen leaves serve as a mulch or winter 

 cover to protect the roots from repeated freezing and thawing, 



