Ginseng

“ All the attention Ginseng needs after planting is to keep the weeds out of the beds. Never work the soil after planting or you will disturb the roots. It is a wild plant and we must follow nature as near as possible.
Ginseng can be profitably grown on small plots if it is cared for properly. There are three things influencing its growth. They are soil, shade and treatment. In its wild state the plant is found growing in rich leaf mold of a shady wood. So in cultivation one must conform to many of the same conditions in which the plant is found growing wild. ”

“ With the single exception of ginseng, the hundred of plants whose roots are used for medical purposes, America is the main market and user. Ginseng is used mainly by the Chinese. The thickly inhabited Chinese Empire is where the American ginseng is principally used. To what uses it is put may be briefly stated, as a superstitious beverage. The roots with certain shapes are carried about the person for charms. The roots resembling the human form being the most valuable. ”

“ We have at present, writes a grower, in our Ginseng patch about 3,500 plants and will this year get quite a lot of excellent seed. Our Ginseng garden is on a flat or bench on a north hillside near the top, that was never cleared. The soil is a sandy loam and in exposure and quality naturally adapted to the growth of this plant. The natural growth of timber is walnut, both black and white, oak, red bud, dogwood, sugar, maple, lin, poplar and some other varieties. ”

“ Intelligent Chinese resent the imputation of superstition to their people. But the fact remains that the Ginseng roots are valued according to the peculiarity of their shapes. The word Ginseng is composed of two Chinese words which mean man and plant, and the more nearly shaped like a man the roots are, the more they are valued. A root which is bifurcated and otherwise shaped like a man, may be sold as high as $10.00 an ounce ”

“ I believe most any one that lives where Ginseng will grow could make up a small bed or two in their garden and by planting large roots and shading it properly, could make it a nice picture. Then if they could sell their seed at a good price might make it profitable, but when it comes down to growing Ginseng for market I believe the only place that one could make a success would be in the forest or in new ground that still has woods earth in it and then have it properly shaded. ”

“ Now, it is my opinion the growers must return to the forest and spare no labor to see that the roots placed on the market are in accordance with the particular notions of the consumer. Ginseng growers may then hope to establish a better price and ready market for their root.
The color required by the Chinese, so far as my experiments go, come from certain qualities of soil. The yellow color in demand comes to those roots growing in soil rich in iron. The particular aromatic flavor comes from those growing in clay loam and abundant leaf mold of the forest. ”

“ According to the Chinaman, Ginseng is the best and most potent of cordials, of stimulants, of tonics, of stomachics, cardiacs, febrifuges, and, above all, will best renovate and reinvigorate failing forces. It fills the heart with hilarity while its occasional use will, it is said, add a decade of years to the ordinary human life. Can all these millions of Orientals, all those many generations of men, who have boiled Ginseng in silver kettles and have praised heaven for its many benefits, have been totally deceived? ”

“ Soils and fertilizers have a marked influence on products where taste and flavor is important, as with tobacco, coffee, tea, certain fruits, etc. This is true of Ginseng in a very marked degree. To preserve the flavor which marks the best grade of Ginseng, by which the Chinese judge it, it is essential that the soil in the beds should be as near like the original native forest as possible. Woods earth and leaf mold should be used in liberal quantities. Hardwood ashes and some little bone meal may be added, but other fertilizers are best avoided to be on the safe side. ”

“ This time by skilled and competent men who quickly learned that the plant would thrive only under its native forest conditions, ample shade, and a loose, mellow soil, rich in humus, or decayed vegetable matter. As has since been shown by the success of the growers. Ginseng is easily grown, and responds readily to proper care and attention. Under right conditions the cultivated roots are much larger and finer, and grow more quickly than the wild ones. ”

“ Which canker could not fret.”
(See also Carnation) .
GINSENG.—The Chinese consider the far-famed Ginseng (Panax quinquefolia) the most valuable production of nature. It is their specific for all disorders of the lungs or of the stomach, curing asthma, strengthening the eyesight, renewing a worn-out constitution, delaying the approach of old age, and acting as a counterpoison. The Dutch naturalists thus described the Ginseng:—“Its name is taken from its shape, because its represents a man (in Chinese Gin) striding with his legs. It is a larger and stronger species of our Mandrake. ”

“ All the American people use sugar in one form or another, but how many could tell a person seeking for reliable information concerning the planting of the cane or sugar beet, of the character of the soil necessary, of its cultivation and irrigation, the process of refining, packing and marketing, etc. Comparatively few, indeed, and so it is with the Koreans on the cultivation of Ginseng. They all use it, but, like the Chinese, not one in several thousand ever saw a Ginseng plant growing. ”

“ Ginseng is a plant found growing wild in the deep shaded forests and on the hillsides thruout the United States and Canada. Less than a score of years ago Ginseng was looked upon as a plant that could not be cultivated, but today we find it is successfully grown in many states. It is surprising what rapid improvements have been made in this valuable root under cultivation. The average cultivated root now of three or four years of age, will outweigh the average wild root of thirty or forty years. ”

“ According to our pharmacopoeia, the medicinal value of ginseng is almost nothing, but there is a great market for it in China, where it is worshipped as a sort of fetish, and is acclaimed as a panacea for sexual impotency, nervousness, vomiting and dyspepsia. The more nearly the root approximates the human torso, the more valuable it is to the Chinese. Thus one root in a six hundred-pound bale may be worth many times the entire remainder of the bale, and when ten dollars a pound is the price, one can realize the extreme value of such a piece. ”

“ The Ginseng gardens are scattered over considerable territory, most of which is surrounded by a high stone wall about twenty or twenty-five miles in circumference, similar to the great wall of China, and which many years ago was the site of one of the ancient capitals of Korea.
Part of the growers make a specialty of raising one-year-old plants, to supply those who have sufficient means to wait four years more for the roots to mature. Generally, speaking, the grower that produces the commercial root raises but little if any one-year roots. ”

“ They succeeded in their attempt, and found the same Ginseng wild and abundant in several parts of North-America, both in French and English plantations, in plain parts of the woods. It is fond of shade, and of a deep rich mould, and of land which is neither wet nor high. It is not every where very common, for sometimes one may search the woods for the space of several miles without finding a single plant of it; but in those spots where it grows it is always found in great abundance. ”

“ Ginseng needs a deep, rich soil, and being a plant accustomed to the shade of forest trees, will require shade, which can be supplied by the erection of lath sheds over the beds. A heavy mulch of leaves or similar well rotted vegetable material should be applied to the beds in autumn.
If roots are planted, they are set in rows about 8 inches apart and 8 inches apart in the row. In this way a marketable product will be obtained sooner than if grown from seed. The seed is sown in spring or autumn in drills 6 inches apart and about 2 inches apart in the row. ”

“ While the palmy days of digging were on, it was a novel occupation and the "seng diggers," as they are commonly called, go into the woods armed with a small mattock and sack, and the search for the valuable plant begins. Ginseng usually grows in patches and these spots are well known to the mountain residents. Often scores of pounds of root are taken from one patch, and the occupation is a very profitable one. The women as well as the men hunt Ginseng, and the stalk is well known to all mountain lads and lassies. ”

“ The Ginseng root had become the tiny naked body of a woman—a little ivory-white creature, struggling to escape between the hands that had created it—dark, powerful, masterly hands, opening leisurely now, and releasing the living being they had fashioned. ”

“ In choosing a location for a Ginseng garden, remember the most favorable conditions for the plant or seed bed are a rich loamy soil, as you will notice in the home of the wild plant. You will not find it on low, wet ground or where the Water stands any length of time, it won't grow with wet feet; it wants well drained soil. A first-class location is on land that slopes to the east or north, and on ground that is level and good. ”

“ The root from southern sections sells at from fifty cents to one dollar per pound less.
Ginseng in the wild or natural state grows largely in beech, sugar and poplar forests and prefers a damp soil. The appearance of Ginseng when young resembles somewhat newly sprouted beans; the plant only grows a few inches the first year. In the fall the stem dies and in the spring the stalk grows up again. The height of the full grown stalk is from eighteen to twenty inches, altho they sometimes grow higher. The berries and seed are crimson (scarlet) color when ripe in the fall. ”

“ Stem.—Four to eight inches high. Leaves.—Three in a whorl, divided into from three to five leaflets. Flowers.—White, in an umbel. Fruit.—Yellowish, berry-like. Root.—A globular tuber.
The tiny white flowers of the dwarf ginseng are so closely clustered as to make “one feathery ball of bloom,” to quote Mr. Hamilton Gibson. This little plant resembles its larger relative, the true ginseng. It blossoms in our rich open woods early in spring, and hides its small round tuber so deep in the earth that it requires no little care to uproot it without breaking the slender stem. ”

“ The root of the wild plant is preferred to that of cultivated ginseng, and the older the plant the better is the quality of the root considered to be. Great care is taken in the preparation of the drug. The account given by Kaempfer of the preparation of nindsin, the root of Sium ninsi, in Korea, will give a good idea of the preparation of ginseng, ninsi being a similar drug of supposed weaker virtue, obtained from a different plant, and often confounded with ginseng. ”

“ Some time prior to 1907, or since cultivated Ginseng has been upon the market, its value has been from $1.00 to $2.00 per pound less than the wild and not in as active demand, even at that difference, as the wild. Today the value is much nearer equal. At first those engaged in the cultivation of Ginseng made the soil too rich by fertilizing and growth of the roots was so rapid that they did not contain the peculiar scent or odor of the genuine or wild. Of late years growers have learned to provide their plants with soil and surroundings as near like nature as possible. ”

“ The largest garden in this country, so far as known, is that of the Consolidated Ginseng Company of New York State. Here about ten acres are under shade, all devoted to the growing of Ginseng. The crop is certainly a special one, to be successfully grown only by those who can bring to their work an abundance of time and intelligent effort. For those who are willing to run the risks of loss from diseases and who can afford to wait for returns on their investment, this crop offers relatively large profits. ”

“ We have it also from Corea and Northern Japan. The Jesuit fathers identified the plant in Canada and the Atlantic States, brought it in the Chinese name by which we know it, and established the trade in it, which was for many years most profitable. The exportation of ginseng to China probably has not yet entirely ceased. Whether the Northeastern Asiatic and the Atlantic American ginsengs are exactly of the same species or not is somewhat uncertain, but they are hardly if at all distinguishable. ”

“ Every one with any experience in such matters knows that if radishes or turnips are planted in rich, old soil that has been highly fertilized they will grow large and will be strong, hot, pithy and unpalatable. If planted in rich, new soil, they will be firm, crisp, juicy and sweet. This fact holds good with Ginseng.
If planted in old ground that is highly fertilized, the roots will grow large, but the flavor is altogether different from that of the wild root, and no doubt specimens of large sizes are spongy and unpalatable to the Celestials compared to that of the wild root. ”

“ Hydrangea (Hydrangea Arborescens)
Oregon Grape (Berberis Aquifolium)
INTRODUCTION
When the price of Ginseng advanced some years ago hundreds engaged in the business who knew little or nothing of farming, plant raising and horticulture. That they largely failed is not to be wondered at. Later many began in a small way and succeeded. Many of these were farmers and gardeners. Others were men who had hunted, trapped and gathered "seng" from boyhood. They therefore knew something of the peculiarities of Ginseng. ”