FRUIT-GROWING 



GINSENG 



357 



Grading. 



The grading of American fruits is in a chaotic 

 condition. There is no uniformity in the principles 

 or practices of fruit-grading. All fruits should be 

 graded at least into sound and imperfect fruit. 

 There is a large demand for low grades of fruit 

 among the poorer classes, and there is no objection 

 to the sale of low grades, provided the grade is 

 plainly designated on the package, and the fruit is 

 not unwholesome. The sound fruit may be still 

 further graded into several classes, depending on 

 the relative color, perfection and size of the fruit. 

 In packing in boxes, each of the grades should be 

 sized accurately, and the number should be desig- 

 nated on the end of the package. If there is not a 

 large quantity of the higher grades in the sound 

 fruit, all of it may be marked under a brand known 

 as "orchard run," which usually means that the 

 unsound fruit and culls have been eliminated. The 

 orchard-run grade is in common use among apple- 

 packers in the East, who eliminate the imperfect 

 and the smaller sizes of perfect fruit, marking the 

 grade as No. 1. Small-fruits can be graded into 

 different sizes if there is sufficient variation in 

 the size. 



Selling. 



It is a good policy for the average fruit-grower 

 who does not grow large quantities of fruit to sell 

 it on the tree, in the package, or on an f. o. b. 

 basis, unless he belongs to an organization that has 

 a marketing system developed, or has unusual 

 facilities for posting himself on the condition of the 

 crop and the market. If he does not care to sell, 

 he may store it for a possible rise in price later on. 

 There are many variations in the method of selling 

 fruit that cannot be discussed in this article. It 

 may pay the grower who has large quantities of 

 fruit to handle it through a commission merchant. 

 A firm should be selected that is reliable, and the 

 grower generally should ship to no one else in the 

 same market. If he has large quantities of fruit, 

 he may be able to arrange with the merchant to 

 handle his fruit exclusively. The fruit can then be 

 advertised, the merchant can circularize the trade, 

 or make known the virtues of the fruit in other 

 ways. In shipping fruit to commission merchants, 

 the grower should not lose sight of the fact that a 

 large proportion of the commission merchants of 

 the country have become fruit-dealers, and that 

 they sell their own fruit in competition with the 

 fruit that is consigned to them. The highest re- 

 turns are probably received by those who are suc- 

 cessful in developing a special trade among retail 

 grocerymen, private individuals or other special 

 customers. The success of a special trade depends 

 primarily on the man who attempts to develop it. 

 A high grade of fruit packed attractively and with 

 scrupulous honesty has to be supplemented by per- 

 sonal qualities in the grower to enable him to im- 

 press on a customer the superior merits of his fruit. 



Shipping. 



The quick-ripening fruits that are to be shipped 

 some distance should be forwarded in refrigerator 



cars in hot weather. This applies to the stone 

 fruits, the small-fruits, grapes and the early varie- 

 ties of apples and pears. It applies also to the 

 fruits of all kinds of the Pacific coast except the 

 citrus fruits, provided they have been handled in 

 perfect condition. In cool weather the fruits can 

 be shipped in special ventilator cars, or in refrig- 

 erator cars operated as ventilators, if the car is 

 needed to protect the fruit against the cold. The 

 carrying quality of all fruits is improved by cool- 

 ing them to about 40° before loading. It requires 

 several days in transit to reduce the temperature 

 to 40°. If the fruit can be cooled, it can develop a 

 higher color before picking, and the market area 

 can be greatly extended. 



GINSENG, AMERICAN. Panax quinquefolium, 

 Linn. Araliacem. Pigs. 506-510. 



By B. L. Hart. 



Ginseng is a small perennial herb, the thickened 

 roots of which are used medicinally by the Chinese 

 ■ and Koreans. Although long known in China, the 

 plant was first described and named botanically 

 from North American specimens by Linnaeus 

 in 1753, as Panax quinquefolium. In 1843 the 

 Chinese plant was separated by C. A. Meyer as 

 Panax Ginseng. Later, these plants were trans- 

 ferred to the genus Aralia as A. quinquefolia, 

 Decne. & Planch., and A. Ginseng, Baill. By some 

 authorities the oriental P. Ginseng is considered 



Fig. 506. The ginseng plant in bloom. It bears tliree leaves 

 about one foot from the ground, each with five leaflets 

 (whence the name quinquefolium) . 



to be only a geographical form of one cosmopolitan 

 species, P quinquefolium,. The word ginseng is 

 said to signify "man plant" in the Chinese; and 

 the roots are apparently employed on the old 

 doctrine of signatures, which assumes that plant 

 forms resembling human organs, are specifics 



