, 1888-01-13
THE GINSENG TRADE.
A SUPERSTITION WHICH COSTS A
MiLLION DOLLARS YEARLY.

A Universal Chinese Medicine of 10 Value
to Cnucasians-A Strango Article Il
Traffic A Priests Discovery Tn"
American Plant.
One of the mysteries in the world If
commerce is ginseng. Ii you speak 10 IN
ordinary man about ginseng, he will ask
you what you mean. Ii you tell him that
ginseng is an article of in which
u traffic Of about 81, 600, 900 n year is done
by Americans, he will stare at you. II
you tell him that it has been in certain
places of the world worth its weight in
gold, he will probably stare harder. If,
in addition to this, you tell him tina it Ia
n vast humbug, and that it is q very or.
Ginary root of TN American shrub, almost
without u particle of any but imaginary
value, he Will concede that 1t is n strange
article Tor traffic. Finally, when he
learns that the populace of u vast nation,
high and low, consider it a curcall, nnd
that it enters into every medicine for
every ailment in that nation, he will only
understand the matter when he learns
that it is the eccentric Chinese to whom
this in reality unimportant root is valun-
BILE.
WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR.
Physicians and authorities Of the civil
lied world give the assurance that In
medicinal properties the root is almost
inert, ut the most contains to n very mild
extent tonic properties. Mono but the
singular and rico eating Celestial can feel
my effects from the use of it.; but among
the Cinnamon OF this country there is
almost no consumption. Tho root is
bought hero by resident Cinnamon for
horne export. They do not use it them
selves, however, and inquiry from these
Celestial worthless has seldom brought out
any satisfactory statements as to what
ginseng is good for.
The belief among the homo Chinese Is
mostly superstition. 1t ia sort CT fetish;
itS powers arc supposed to be occult, OF
the mature of ElaGic. 1t is believed to
have n mysterious and powerful effect on
the powers Il to be infnlll-
bic In cases of b~arrenness. This IL it's
primary Importance, nrd occasionally
CQucasians have attempted to test its
value in this direction, but satisfactory re-
suits are wanting. In China the belief is
still implicit, and besides tho vast amount
grown in that country, it receives MI that
America can supply, which Is on tho
average 100000 pounds II yCar. The
American wholesale price is now GEES u
pound.
Ginseng, in China, is n government mo-
nopoly, and Professor LockLGrt, OF Lon
don, is the authority for tho statement
thai it is sold to privileged dealers by tic
imperial government OF china ut its
weight in gold. This III Genicd b. some
American dealers. But the value is still
high.
There are certain single roots, especially
of certain shapes, very rare, which bring
from $50 to $500, and are only possessed
by the wealthy clnss-mandarins and
others.
Ginseng from MnnGhuria was once
valued above all other varieties, and inn
perial edict prohibited its collection, be-
cause the enormous export was reducing
it to scarcity. Ginseng in this country is
limited. Only ACC, 900 or 5C0, 900 pounds
of it car be collected in one year. Its
price here is enormous, and even ludicrous,
when the worthlessness of the article is
considered. OF the root, although light,
it only requires IL hatful to make n pound.
And yet the wholesale price here is slowly,
but always steadily, rising, and the ridic-
ulous fact is before us that the price of
this futile drug, used by nobody in his
country, will In time become greater than
that Of opium itself, rs the gradual Lut
sure process of its determination in Amer
lea continues.
FATHER ~FASTOUX's DISCOVERY.
1t happened that in 1909, q Jewish
priest, one Father +. FnstouX, was dill
gently employed in making II map of Tar
tary. During this labor he saw the plant
growing in its mystic land, four leagues
away from the kingdom of Corea, in the
spot where II Tartar village lay. The
Tartars were full of the praise of the
fabulous ginseng and its wonderful
powers. Good Father Fastoux became
an enthusiast also. lie had missionary
friends on the other side of the world in
mad To these the priest sent some of
the root and an eXtolment of its proper
ties MS n cure for all human ills. Back in
due time came the reply hat the same
root was well known to the Canada
priests and in full use by the Indians.
Tho American ginseng perhaps differs
slightly from the Chinese, for there are
five or six varieties of the root, but it pos
sesses all the external attributes of the
celestial variety.
The ginseng was sent at that time to
Europe, and was then first introduced to
the civilized world; even Mt thai date, in
the last centary, European savants rudcly
shattered the illusion as to the root, and
pronounced it almost inert as n drug.
This did not affect its value to the Mon
gol races. Long afterward, us it was dis
covered over the regions of North Amer
lea, the idea of its export arose. 1t grows
about the wild lands and farms of tho
northwest and northeast. AS cultivation
ruins its flavor 1t cannot be mnde Il reg
ular industry, either in growth or collcc-
ton. The biggest yield of all was 1851,
when the export almost doubled; 1860 had
seen n ginseng collecting craze, like q gold
fever, in the Il states, where the people
left their homes, campcd for weeks in the
hill, I~iaCl tac export Of ginseng to C33.-
00O ounda-thc highest export ever made
and rooted out the plant SO that it has
been scarce ever sincC,-COr. St. IOuis
Globe-DemOcrht