438 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 June, 1902. 
Mechanical Department.—The following work has been done during the 
month under review :—The portable engine has been thoroughly overhauled, 
the tubes expanded and brasses fitted, and all cleaned and painted. The 
Worthington pump has been removed from the garden and placed near the 
Manchester pump. It is now connected with the stationary boiler and the 
general water supply, so that, in the event of an accident to either pump, the 
supply of water can still;be kept up. Owing to the continual dry weather 
causing the creek to run very low, a deeper channel has been dug to supply 
water to the pumps. It is now necessary to pump every day so as to have 
sufficient water for the garden, horses, cattle, &. Shutters have been made 
and hung at the piggery. Some of the drays and vehicles have been repaired 
and painted. In the smithy, hinges, &c., were made for the piggery, horses 
shod, wheels tyred, and implements, drays, and wagons repaired. 
FACTS ABOUT GINSENG CULTURE. 
Since writing on the subject of the cultivation of Ginseng we have received 
a copy of the New York Tribune Farmer, from which we make a few extracts 
which may prove of interest to intending growers. 
Messrs. E. D. and M. 8. Cresley started a ginseng garden in June, 1897, 
at Tulu, New York State. They first set 500 wild roots with the tops left on. 
The tops soon died. About the 1st July they visited all the gardens then in 
Central New York, and found the people engaged in its culture very reticent, 
although they permitted them to see their gardens. They paid one man £1 for 
a few seeds and a book of instructions, but the book was never received. Then 
they learned that the top of the plant should be removed as soon as the plant 
was dug, and that it would generally grow the next year after setting, if 
properly handled, and that it might be set at any time of the year whenit could 
be found. 
On taking up in the autumn the first 500 roots which had been planted 
with the tops on, it was found that over 75 per cent. of the roots had rotted. 
Owing to this cause, and to planting too deep, the experimenters lost about 
3,000 roots. Then in 1898 they again planted a few thousand wild roots and 
planted a quantity of wild seed. They thus raised 10,000 plants from the 
seed. In 1899 they set out 2,000 plants, sowed the seed they had raised, and 
bought 2 lb. of seed, of which not 25 per cent. grew. In the autumn of that 
year they sold seed and cultivated roots, as they had raised 0,000 roots, 
40,000 of which were sold. In 1900 they set out 2,000 wild roots and about 
40,000 seedlings. They gathered 200,000 seeds, all of which were sold, except 
20,000 required for their own use. They also sold several thousand cultivated 
plants for setting. In the autumn of 1901 they set 20,000 seed and 12,000 
cultivated roots, increasing the garden to half an acre, from which they 
gathered 335,000 seeds. They now took up what had lived of the roots 
originally sown. The best roots weighed 8 oz., having taken four years 
to grow to maturity. When dried they weighed in all 57 lb., grown on 560 
square feet of ground. They sold this at 9 dollars per lb. (£1 17s. 6d). 
Singular to say, the brothers at first kept no accounts of general expenditure 
and return, but they did keep an account of one plant which gave a greater 
return of seed than the average. It yielded a first crop of 150 seeds, which 
were planted. Next year it also yielded 150 seeds, which were sold for 
83 dollars (12s. 6d.) In 1900 they gathered 152 seeds, sold for a little over 
12s. 6d. In 1901 the seeds brought 11s. 5d. Finally the root which weighed. 
4 lb. green and 1% oz. dry, was sold for 30 dollars (£6). 
For a few days they kept accounts of their latest sales last season. In the 
first eight days of July the sales of seeds and plants for setting were 800 
dollars (£160), and during nineteen days of November the sales amounted to 
2,816 dollars (£563). During the year the profits from the }-acre garden 
