358 Report oF THB HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. 
should be dug in the fall, the smaller roots (less than two ounces) being 
replanted to increase in size. Great care must be taken in digging not to 
break the roots, for whole roots command a higher price than broken ones. 
As fast as they are dug shake off all loose earth and place the roots at 
once in water so that the earth remaining may not dry on them, Wash 
with a stiff brush or broom and plenty of water. For drying, Kains 
recommends a home-made drying oven made in the following manner: 
“Get a box large enough to cover the kitchen stove and deep enough to 
hold six or seven sliding shelves. Remove the bottom entirely. Make a 
hole in the top; take off one side and make a hinged door to fit in its place; 
make a number of shelves with bottoms of wire netting of about one- 
fourth inch mesh. In filling the shelves for the first time put the larger 
roots on the top shelves and the smaller upon the bottom ones, the lowest 
of which should be at least six inches above the top of the stove. Put 
the box upon the stove, but raised about half an inch above it, so as to 
prevent its bottom edges from becomjng scorched and to insure a current 
of air through the shelves of roots. A few stout nails left projecting will 
accomplish this end.” Use with a slow fire. ‘“‘ The roots upon the lowest 
shelf will ordinarily dry first. Take them out, fill the shelf with fresh 
roots and put in the dryer at the top after moving all the other trays down 
one notch toward the bottom.” Rub off all the small fibrous roots when 
dried sufliciently to be brittle and return the large roots to dryer. These 
trimmings are frequently sold to local drug stores for people who chew 
ginseng. ‘‘ When the roots have become dry as a bone and are perfectly 
cool, put them in paper sacks or clean boxes to await shipment.” 
4th. Sale of the roots: In some parts of the State there are buyers 
already on the ground, but generally it is necessary to ship to some whole- 
sale house. Write to Wm. Wisenhauer & Co., 378-880 West Broadway, 
New York; Samuel Wells & Co., Cincinnati, Ohio; Felt Butler Co., 83 
Spring street, New York. Ginseng now brings from $2.50 to $6 or $7 a 
pound, depending on the quality. The price is rising each year. 
Considerable literature has been published from time to time on the 
subject of ginseng. Besides the prospectuses of those selling the plants, 
at least two books and three bulletins have been published. These are as 
follows: ‘‘ Ginseng,” by Maurice G. Kains, Orange Judd & Co., publishers. 
A book on ginseng, title unknown, by M. G. Harrison, Redford, Mo. The 
Pennsylvania State Department of Agriculture has issued a bulletin (No. 
27) on this subject. The United States Department of Agriculture has 
published a, bulletin on “American Ginseng.” (Botanical division No. 16.) 
The Ixentucky Experiment Station of Lexington, Ky., has issued a bul- 
letin (78) “ Ginseng, Its Nature and Culture.” The cheapest and perhaps 
the best way to obtain information on this subject is from those who 
have experimented in growing it, if there be any in your locality. Most 
of the parties who sell roots and seeds issue printed directions which are 
included with sales. 
