1873 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
181 
Ginseng. 
Every now and then there is an excitement 
about Ginseng, arising from reports of great 
prices received for the article. We have had 
several letters concerning it, especially asking 
is a universal panacea, not only curing all 
bodily ills, but clears the judgment and gives 
vigor to old age. Those who have investigated 
the matter regard its attributed effects wholly 
due to the imagination; and though the root 
produced in this country is not, as the Chinese 
usually staminate only. The showy portion, 
an open sheath, spreads away from the flowers, 
while in the cultivated Calla it quite encircles 
and hides them. In our native plant this sheath 
or envelope, which is botanically called a spathe, 
is white upon the upper surface but green upon 
ginseng. —(Aralia quinquefolia.) marsii calla. —(Calla palustris.) 
about its cultivation. Ginseng is botanically 
Aralia quinquefolia (formerly called Panax), 
and belongs in the same family with the Euro¬ 
pean Ivy. The fleshy root, which is from four 
to nine inches long, throws up a simple stem 
about a foot high, which bears at the top three 
leaves which have usually five divisions. The 
flowers are inconspicuous, greenish white, and 
in a small umbel; these are succeeded by bright 
red, berry-like fruits. The engraving shows 
the different parts very much reduced. Gin¬ 
seng is found throughout the temperate portions 
of the country, but owing to persistent digging 
it is very rare except in the sparsely settled 
portions of the West. It flourishes in rich, 
cool woods, especially upon hill-sides, and as it 
is not found growing in other situations it is 
probable that it could not be successfully culti¬ 
vated. Still, the experiment is worth making, 
as there are many plants that are naturally 
found only in very wet places that flourish per¬ 
fectly well in ordinary garden soil. The root of 
Ginseng has a sweetish and somewhat pleasant 
aromatic taste, and is not considered to possess 
any important medicinal properties. Its com¬ 
mercial value is due to the demand for it in the 
Chinese market. There is a very similar plant 
in China, the true “ Selling-seng'' which is in 
that country so highly esteemed that the district 
in which it grows is under government surveil¬ 
lance, In the Chinese materia mediea Ginseng 
have found out, the “Original Jacobs,” it is no 
doubt just as good, being quite as harmless. 
It is one of those articles upon which specula¬ 
tors have made and have lost large sums, as the 
market in China is said to be very fluctuating. 
A Native Calla, 
Almost every one knows what is popularly 
called the “ Calla Lily,” or “ Lily'' of the Nile,” 
one of our most popular and easily cultivated 
house plants. It was formerly called Calla 
JEthiopica, but for botanical reasons it is now 
put in a different genus, and is properly Richar- 
dia, though it popularly retains its old name of 
Calla, which is an ancient name the meaning 
of which is not known. There is to be found 
in the bogs and swamps of the colder parts of 
the country a native species —Calla palustris — 
which, if not a very showy plant, is an inter¬ 
esting one. It shows much more plainly than 
the cultivated Calla does that what popularly 
passes for a flower is not a flower at all, but 
only an appendage to the flower cluster. The 
engraving shows our native species (which is 
also found in Europe) about halt the natural 
size. Here it is plainly seen that the flowers 
are crowded together upon a short stem or 
spadix. The flowers at the lower part of the 
cluster are perfect, while the upper ones are 
the under side; but in the African one it is 
white and petal-like on both sides. Our native 
Calla bears a cluster of red berries, each of 
which contains a few seeds. It can probably 
be cultivated in ordinary garden soil, but our 
only attempt, having been made in an unusually 
dry season, failed. It makes an excellent plant 
for an aquarian, being quite at home when its 
roots are submerged. 
- 4- .. ■,.;—«»- 
Marketing Produce—Asparagus—Straw¬ 
berries. 
BY J. R. HELFRICH. 
[But few not familiar with the ways of city 
markets are aware how much what seem to be 
trifles have to do with the sale of produce. A 
grower may take every pains in raising ins crop, 
but if he sends his articles to market in a care¬ 
less manner his returns will' be less than those 
of one who takes less pains in cultivating, and 
devotes more to preparing for market. There 
is nothing connected with market-gardening of 
more importance than the proper packing for 
transportation, and we are sure that this arti* 
cle, and others that may follow, prepared by 
Mr. J. R. Helfrich, 92 Barclay St., one of our 
most experienced commission merchants, will 
be of interest and value to many readers.— Ed.] 
