46 GINSENG. 



Impulse is a poor asset on which to launch a ginseng garden, for 

 the busines.s is a waiting game in which the stayer takes the prize. 

 After the reader has absorbed the contents of this book, he should 

 be in position to decide for himself whether he will join the ranks 

 of the ginseng growers, or will stick to less intensive and less 

 exciting crops. 



Ginseng is a special crop, to be successfully grown only by 

 those who can bring to their work an abundance of intelligent 

 effort and willingness to give it the proper care and attention. 

 For those who are willing to do this, and willing to run the risk 

 of loss from diseases, and who can aiford to wait for returns on 

 their investment, this crop offers relatively large profits. Under 

 favoral)le circumstances one acre of ground is capable of produ- 

 cing over 4000 pounds (dry weight) of roots in five years' time. 



PROFITS. Profits are what interest most of us more than any other 

 part of a proposition, and are the most difficult as well as the most 

 uncertain part of a proposition to figure out in advance with any 

 degree of certainty. In addition to such uncertainties as cost of 

 production and market price, the profits in the ginseng business, 

 as well as in all other lines of business, vary and depend largely 

 upon the proprietor's ability — where some are financially success- 

 ful, others may fail— and the ginseng business is no exception to 

 this rule. Therefore it would perhaps be best to let everyone fig- 

 ure out his own profits from his own experience. For the conve- 

 nience of the reader the author will quote figures from the records 

 of a business of growing and marketing ginseng, which was start- 

 ed in the fall of 1901 and discontinued in the fall of 1910. The 

 business had been conducted as a side line and an experiment. 

 Several persons were financially interested, while one had charge 

 of caring for the garden; and when in the fall of 1910 it was ap- 



