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Among- the group of agricultural pursuits which should be 
viewed with suspicion as not likely to prove remunerative on an 
extensive scale, is to be included the cultivation of drugs and 
medicinal herbs. Of late years many attempts have been made, 
chiefly through the medium of magazine advertisements, to ex- 
ploit the cultivation of the Chinese medicine Ginseng. Led on 
by alluring promises, many small growers throughout the States, 
have been induced to embark on the production of this drug. In 
consequence the Chinese demand, which has always been supplied 
locally, has been many times met and American growers have 
found it impossible at any terms to dispose of their supply. Thus 
has been exploded another of the wonderful money-making pro- 
jects which are continually held out to the public. It is well to 
regard with close scrutiny any new scheme which, through ad- 
vertisements, promises wonderful returns, and among such the 
attempted Ginseng boom has proved a conspicuous failure. Of 
course, money has been made out of the venture, but it has been 
on the part of the exploiters who first pointed out the alluring 
prospect and then generously undertook the distribution of seed. 
Another illustration of the misfortune which is apt to overtake 
the grower of medicinal plants is furnished by the experience of 
the attempt to produce Quinine in California. The extensive 
use of this drug and its advancing market value induced many 
agricultural enthusiasts to advocate its cultivation in apparently 
favorable parts of California. In consequence of this, extensive 
planting of the Cinchona plant was carried out in that State about 
twenty years ago. The industry seemed to promise well, until 
an unusual fall in temperature stamped out the young plantations. 
Meantime the price of Quinine had declined rapidly until it is now 
less than a tenth of its former value. Even had the Cinchona 
plant flourished in California, the present price of Quinine, taken 
in conjunction with the labor cost of stripping the bark, renders 
it certain that not one pound of the drug would have been profit- 
ably produced in the United States. 
With regard to the attempted cultivation of Ginseng, of the 
three requisite elements to success, apart from suitable cultural 
methods, each is either wanting or at least uncertain. The con- 
sumption of the drug is chiefly confined to one country and is, so 
far as known, not increasing; the labor facilities of the attempted 
new country of cultivation are certainly inferior to those of China ; 
and the area of possible cultivation is well nigh universal. These 
three conditions in conjunction prevent the growing of Ginseng 
from being profitable anywhere but in the country of its con- 
sumption. 
In the case of the attempt to grow Cinchona in California, be- 
sides the fact that the climatic conditions alone proved sufficient 
to stamp out the industry, one of the elements requisite to the 
success of tropical agriculture was altogether absent and another 
was uncertain. On the one hand the per capita consumption of 
