The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1859-06-23
GssssnS.

CTS Of the country. Some treat the subject
seriously Others exercise their wit upon it,
while one fellow, we notice, ventilates the
brilliant, and rather natural idea, that the
ginseng excitement is a mere take-of, or
burlesque, upon the Pixies Peak gold fever.
II there Was no more ginseng in Minnesota
than gold at Pixies Peak, this proposition
would be ,olerably witty.
Few persons who have not travelled this
season over any portion OF the belt OF
heavily iimbered land, which runs through
the State in south-westerly direction, from
st. Cloud on the Mississippi. to its western
boundary, are aware Of the excitement pre-
yailing on the subject OF ginseng. 10 all the
towns, in this district of country. there are
agents Of eastern dealers, paying gold
for the article, and erecting drying houses
to cure It. Men, women and children, are
reaping an unexpected and golden harvest
the ginseng .diggers not taking Glencoe
We have heard of one instance, where .
farmer in Rice County, at the commence
ment Of the present season, found himself the
occupant Of 40 improved farm, but upon
which in more prosperous times, he had Dor
rowed money by mortgag;ng it. His debt
amounted to 500, and be had no resources
to meet it, and save his farm from foreclo-
sure. At this time, the ginseng fever broke
out, and our farmer, more in despair than in
the hope OF being able to liquidate the debt
BY such means, commenced digging the root
He was astounded at bis success, and being
joined by his wife and two sons, mere lads
in the labor, in less than two months he and
his assistants have been a. lie to dig and sell
. suficiency Of the article to remove the in
cumbrance upon the farm. This may be an
exceptional case, as regards the results
achieved, but there can be no doubt that
much suffering has been prevented by the
discovery OF the article, and thousands OF
dollars distributed among a needy class Of
our population located in the Big Woods
by the purchasers Of it.
1t is difficult to find any correct estimate
Of the value Of the years crop Of sang, as
the Yankees render the root. We have
heard it estimated variously at from half q
million to a million of dollars. One gen.
tleman informs US that at least 800 900 in
gold has been paid ont at Faribault by east
ern purchasers. II this is correct, the gin.
seng expectation from Mipeesota during the
present season will amount to over million
Of dollars. We acknowledge with shame,
that in common with our contemporaries
We got off poor jokes on this subject, when
the news came that the capital city Of st.
Peter was convulsed by the discovery Of
diggipgs. Ginseng is no joke, but il it is,
it is a good one, these hard times.
We believe in the neighborhood Of the
diggings, ten cents per pound is paid for
ginseng. 10 its clarified or cured state it
is worth seventy.fve cents per pound in
New York, bat as it bikes three pounds Of
the fresh root to produce one of the cured,
the dealers only make about one hundred
per cent on the article, and out OF this sum
they pay for curing and transportation to
the eastern market.
We find in late number Of the Boston
Courier, a communication relating the meth
Cd by which ginseng was first brought to
the notice Of Americans. Some sixty years
ago, General ZABISA Curtis, OF Windsor,
Vermont, father Of the late Hon. EDWARD
Curtis, of New York. in reading work on
China, was struck with the description and
plates Of rare and precious plant, gathered
at great expense in Chinese Tartary, and
commanding high price all over the EN-.
pire He thought he had seen the same 10
the forests Of Vermont, lie procuredkamples
Of the root from China, both in its crude
state and as prepared for the market.
lie found. On comparison, that the plants
were the same. Their identity may have
been known TO bo,anist, before. but it was
new TO him. BY a series of experiments he
acquired the art Of preparing it after the
Chinese fashion for the market, which he
called crystalizing." 1t was then deep
straw or amber color, somewhat translucent.
He collected Ginseng IRON Vermont, north
ern New York and Canada, gradually in
creasing his business, till he sent forty thou
sand dollars worth from Boston in q single
year. To keep up the price bis agents in
China never exposed but . small quantity
for sale at . time. His profits were large.
One Of his workmeu, for valuable consid.
GRAFTON, disclosed bis secret of crystaliz
inn D,hars vent inta the hrs,na-. L..