either in number or position to the pedicel. It is doubtful to me 

 whether they are determinate, but tlicv seem rather to he ruptures at 

 thin and weak spots between the warts. At anv rate thev are not 

 regularly fimbriate as in many of the ( Masters, hut such a' fimbriate 

 appearance as may be seen i> due to the protrusion of the threads of 

 the fleecy lining by the emission of the spore* 



It is therefore most probable that Gettrter cohanimhi* Lev. must he 

 included in the species under discussion, and there is hence but thi> 

 one unique species as yet known in the world. — A. I'. M<>k<;an, 

 Preston, O. 



Notes on Ginseng (AroHa quinqtufolia).— (Jinseng root is now 

 dug in large quantities in Canada and exported from Canada to the 

 United States, to supply the demand among the Chinese. In order to 

 prevent its eradication the parliament of Ontario has found it neces- 

 sary to pass a law prohibiting the digging of it except at certain 

 seasons. 



This trade is a revival of one of which formerly existed. In 1715 

 Pere Lafitan, a Jesuit father, who was stationed near Montreal, saw a 

 letter of Pere Jartoux, who had seen ginseng in Tartary a few years 

 before and gave a description of it. Pere Lafitan, ascertaining thai 

 the root was worth its weight in gold at Pekin, and that there was 

 " large money " in it, searched the country, and inquired from the 

 Indians, in order to find it, which he succeeded in doing. A company 

 was formed to export it to China, Japan and Tartary. The price at 

 Quebec was from thirty to forty cents a pound. At first anyone was 

 allowed to sell it, but as its value increased the company exercised its 

 monopoly rights, and in 1751 undertook to exclude all others from the 

 trade. As the demand increased the care exercised in procuring and 

 preparing the root relaxed. It was dug out of season, and imperfectly 

 dried in stove ovens. As a result the value of the export fell off from 

 five hundred thousand livres in 1752 to thirty-three thousand livres in 

 1754. Canadian ginseng came to have such a bad reputation that the 

 export ceased entirely. 



When the trade was at its height it was considered more profitable 

 to dig ginseng than to cultivate the farm, and agriculture was almost 

 entirely neglected. For a time the trade was hardly less important 

 than that in fur. 



The revival of the demand has caused great activity in the search 

 for ginseng, especially in the country to the north of Kingston, Ont.,, 

 24 



