860 



GINSENG 



GINSENG 



them at once, they should be placed in sacks or 

 boxes and stored in a cool, dry place. 



Shading. 



The natural home of ginseng is in the still, 

 shady forest, protected from heavy winds and the 

 direct rays of the sun during the growing period. 

 In autumn it is furnished with a mulching of leaves 

 to protect it in the best possible way from becom- 

 ing injured by frost during the winter. Nature 

 supplies these protections for the plant in its 

 native home, and the cultivator must furnish these 

 requirements in order to grow the plant success- 

 fully. When the beds are placed where they do not 

 have natural shade from trees, artificial shade must 

 be substituted. When ginseng is cultivated in the 

 open field, the grower will find that supplying a 

 proper degree of shade is one of the most difficult 

 problems, and, as the locality has a great deal to 

 do with the degree of shade necessary, it is very 

 diflScult to advise a certain kind of shade that will 

 give the best results under all circumstances. 

 After a careful test, the writer has concluded that 

 more failures in ginseng-culture have been due to 

 supplying too much shade rather than too little. 

 Some very successful results have been secured by 

 shading with brush, but as this requires a great 

 deal of repairing it can hardly be recommended as 

 a practical method. Screens built of common plas- 

 ter lath or slats can be used to advantage, as will 

 be seen in Figs. 509, 510, which give an idea how 

 to construct a ginseng arbor. 



When this style of arbor is used, the laths in 

 overhead screens should not be more than three- 

 fourths of an inch apart, while the laths in panels 

 around the garden should not be closer than two 

 inches ; and the panels should be arranged so that 

 they may be taken down in wet weather to allow 

 the air to circulate freely, thus guarding against 

 fungi and blight diseases aifecting the plant. For 



Fig. 509. A ginseng arbor with seed-beds. 



top shade, the laths may be woven with galvanized 

 wire with a common fence-weaving machine, and 

 will be found cheap and practicable. The writer 

 has used this style of shading to a considerable 



extent for the past several years, and recommends 

 it as being superior to other styles. 



With complicated arbors, sometimes the drip is 

 very injurious to the plants during heavy storms, 



^fe=-T,<. 







^nmlTiiirT I i-i I iT iT Tim ■ iT H i mi ^twm * at m.Sj 



rr-i 



Fig. 510. Ginseng arbor with mature plants. 



and with this style of shading this dif&culty is 

 overcome almost entirely. 



Enemies. 



Wilt. — The older ginseng plants are subject to a 

 wilt-disease, from a fungus belonging to the genus 

 Acrostalagmus. The leaves lose their turgidity and 

 droop down against the stalk, which retains its 

 upright position. The remedy is to dry the affected 

 roots and to remove the soil from the infected beds, 

 and to grow only vigorous roots for seed, which 

 are more resistant. 



The seedlings are also subject to wilt from vari- 

 ous causes. Sometimes the lower end is attacked 

 by rot, — "end rot," as it has been called, — causing 

 the root to shrivel and the leaves and stalk to 

 wilt. The disease seems to be associated with 

 improper moisture conditions, and ventilation and 

 drainage are recommended in its control. 



Millipedes frequently cause the seedling to wilt 

 and die, by eating the roots and parts of the stem 

 underground. The millipedes are trapped by laying 

 boards on the surface of the ground, under which 

 they gather. It is also suggested that they may 

 be destroyed by scattering pieces of potato poisoned 

 with arsenic, as they attack potatoes readily. 



Alternaria blight is one of the worst enemies of 

 the ginseng-grower. It manifests itself by a spot- 

 ting of the leaves. In the morning the spots look 

 as though they had resulted from drops of scalding 

 water, the diseased leaf-tissue being dark green and 

 watery. When the diseased parts have become 

 dried by the sun, the spots are yellowish and papery, 

 the centers becoming brittle and easily broken out 

 when handled. The leaves soon hang limp and dead 

 from the stalks. Moist or rainy weather with high 

 temperature seems to be most favorable to the 

 rapid development of the disease. The disease may 

 be prevented by a thorough application of Bordeaux 

 mixture. The most certain method is to spray the 



