VARIETIES. 
373 
opposite.  Such  articles  as  he  wished  to  limit  as  to  quantity,  he  would  put 
the  amount.  The  time  agreed  to  bring  it  in  was  about  the  first  of  De- 
cember, when  ginseng  was  brought  into  market.  When  we  came  to  sassa- 
fras bark,  the  witness  said,  he  limited  me  to  five  thousand  pounds,  and 
marked  the  price  thirteen  cents  per  pound. 
The  next  article  was  sassafras  pith  ;  in  this  article  he  didn't  limit  me 
as  to  quantity,  but  put  down  the  price  at  $3.50  per  pound.  I  remarked 
that  I  never  knew  of  its  being  used.  He  said  it  was  a  good  thing,  and 
very  scarce.  I  told  him  I  would  get  all  I  could  for  him,  and  he  didn't 
limit  me  as  to  the  amount,  but  told  me  to  get  what  I  could.  At  the  same 
time  I  requested  that  he  would  give  me  the  exclusive  right  in  that  part  of 
the  State.    This  he  agreed  to. 
I  went  home  and  told  all  my  clerks  to  make  proposals  to  the  people  for 
sassafras  pith  ;  and  on  three  proposals  the  pith  began  to  come  in,  and  long 
before  the  time,  I  had  collected  between  1700  and  1800  pounds  of  the  arti- 
cle, and  I  have  $400  or  $500  worth  at  home  now. 
He  brought  it  down  the  Big  Sandy  and  the  Ohio  to  Cincinnati,  in  two 
or  three  flatboats,  and  notified  Merrill  of  its  arrival. 
Q.  Did  Merrill  send  for  it? 
A.  Yes  ;  he  sent  down  his  drays  and  had  it  hauled  up  and  piled  before 
the  door  of  his  drug  store. 
Q.  Was  there  a  pretty  good  pile  of  it? 
A.  I  should  think  there  was  a  pile  about  as  big  as  this  room  before  the 
door.  [Laughter. J  1  told  Mr.  Merrill  I  had  more  at  home,  and  asked  if  1 
should  send  it. 
Q.  What  did  he  say  to  that? 
A.  He  said,  yes,  send  it  on,  all  except  the^?^.  He  thought  he  had 
enough  pith.  [Laughter.] 
Q.  Did  he  pay  you  for  the  pile? 
A.  No.  When  I  called  to  get  my  money  he  refused  to  pay  for  the  pith, 
but  was  willing  to  pay  for  the  other  articles. 
The  younger  Mr.  Merrill  testified  that  he  did  not  consider  the  paper  a 
contract,  and  so  told  Mr.  Patrick  at  the  time.  He  said  he  told  him  they 
only  wanted  a  little  of  the  pith. 
Wm.  S.  Merrill  was  sworn,  and  testified  that  his  son  told  him  that  Mr. 
Patrick  had  reached  the  city  with  an  unheard  of  quantity  of  sassafras 
pith  •  more  than  could  be  sold  in  all  time.  As  an  illustration,  the  witness 
said,  some  years  ago,  he  had  engaged  with  a  man  in  South  Carolina  to 
send  him  five  pounds  of  sassafras  pith,  for  which  he  would  pay  $2  50  per 
pound.  Instead  of  five,  the  man  shipped  fifty  pounds  ;  be  paid  him  for 
five  pounds,  and  wrote  to  him  that  he  would  keep  it  in  store  until  he  could 
dispose  of  it;  if  he  could  not  sell  it  by  wholesale,  he  whould  take  out  five 
pounds  as  he  needed  it,  and  pay%for  that  amount  as  it  was  taken  out  of  the 
barrel.  It  requires  many  years  to  get  through  the  fifty  pounds  in  this 
way. 
