March i, 1882.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
789 
United States' forests. It has a flesh; 
inches" in length, l-'roi.'t I his root s t 
stalk, terminating in three and someti 
leaves, each with three divisions. Fro 
divergence of the petioles rises an unit 
minute whitish flowers that dovelope 
it, I Thus in May and June tlie root 
no four and five pounds of green 1 
h July and August between three 
when fuUy 
out, 
lets 
'he 
when they 
inseng. A 
is to soak 
selling, and 
i the larger 
y that the 
ly, are able 
avoid any 
ned, 
rs it 
way 
; lose so much 
,'lv. All attemn 
this 
state 
s the 
:>idly 
id to 
n of 
hout 
: bread, meat, 
lothing suffice 
read or write, moving about like <. 
oned out the State among themi 
closely akin, and bearing identical 
trusion upon their respective ten 
vigorous manner. Their wants are 
ooffee, tobacco, and come cheap arti< 
for them, for they live from hand to mouth. "It has 
been suggested that these "saugers" are hibernating 
iadmals in winter, audit would be well for their immedi- 
ate neighbours if they were so ; for reduced as these 
"almost" gypHies are to the greatest straits for the 
barest necessities of life during the cold weather, it in- 
evitably follows that other people's granaries and smoke- 
houses undergo a mysterious depiction at tunes, for your 
truo Sanger dislikes work, and a ill evade it as sedulously 
as a tramp, but when the ginseng period arrives heboid 
a change! The much-despised saucer emerges from his 
'obscurity, and, sack slung from the shoulder, and sang- 
hoo in hand (an implement not unlike a small coal- 
pick), betakes himself to the mountains. The country 
storekeeper, who has frowned upon his efforts to obtain 
credit during the winter, is now anxious to he considered 
one of his best friends, and spreads infinite webs of 
flattery to secure his custom. The sang-digger i- called 
lazy and shiftless; hut I confess that, wandering among 
the mazes of the wild hills and mountains, by the side 
of rocky, foaming troui streams, and through the cool 
wind-swept forests in pursuit of one's livelihood is fur 
BlOCe agreeable to one's senses and feelings than hoeing 
corn on a blistering hillside dining the dog days, ana 
even for those who do not have to dig • inseng for a 
living there is a strange fascination in the search for 
tho plant that cannot bo fully understood except by those 
who have experienced it. 
Ginseng root is Bold green to tho country stores, wbioh 
offer prizes for the heaviest root 1 u ngfil in, and for the 
jjtrenteet number of pounds dug 1 any ,>■ .• person dur- 
i g the Beaton. The ]■>■;,,. p,ii,! varies with the • eii.--i.ii, 
all calculations buing made upon the basis of dry '• Baug." 
i diggers 
ith whom 
ally quite 
t he had 
uid is now m excess of the supply, and China 
ling more and more every year upon the United 
t the root, it naturally follows that those who 
t successfully grow ginseng will find it a very 
tive business, until the secret of its culture shall 
.ido spread, when the price must necessarily 
become 
del-line. 
And so by the superstition of a semi-civilized race an 
otherwise ^considered weed becomes an article of great 
commercial value, gives occupation and a livelihood to 
numbers of people, aud adds materially to the wealth 
of the United States. 
ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY'S JOURNAL. 
FLAX FARMING — NARR0W-QAUOE LINKS FOR PLANTATIONS — 
ClMBBBD AND COTTON CAKK — DRAINAGE WATER. 
{Field, 17th December 1881.) 
The second part of vol. 17, second Miics. recently 
issued, contains much interesting and valuable matter, 
including three articles on Continental farming by Mr. 
H. M. Jenkins, the editor, reprinted from bis aide re- 
port on the agriculture of the Netherlands to tho Hoy ul 
Commission On Agriculture. Tho Bnt is on llax fann- 
ing in the Netherlands, which follows a long and im- 
portaut article on the modes of culture and preparation 
of ll.ix a> practised in Ireland and on the Continent, 
by Michael Andrews, Secretary of the Flax Supply As- 
loolation for the Improvement of the Culture of riux in 
liohuid. This « liter dc-v.iboa the result of his own 
oxrterimonS as t„ Mt improved mode of watering, viz., 
by securing w uuiloriu tcwpvrttlurc. This 14 eOtytod by 
