Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1888-01-23

TO Caucasl0ns-A strange Article OF
TraHic "A Priests Discovery - The
American Plant.
One of the mysteries in the world OF
commerce is ginseng. If you speak to an
ordinary man about ginseng, he will ask
you what you mean. IL you tell him that
ginseng is an article of commerce in which
q traffic of about 81, 600, 900 year is done
by Americans, he will stare at you. If
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 that it is
o vast humbug, and that it is q very or
dinary root of an American shrub, almost
without particle of any but imaginary
value, he will concede that it is a strange
article for traffic. Finally, when he
learns that the populace of a vast nation,
high and low, consider it a cureall, and
that it enters into every medicine for
every ai1ment 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 yalua-
BILE.
WHAT is 1T GOOD FOR.
Physicians and authorities of the civil
ized world give the assurance that in
medicinal properties the root is almost
inert, at the most contains to a very mild
extent tonic properties. None but the
singular and rice eating Celestial can feel
any effects from the use of it; but among
the Cinnamon of this country there is
almost no consumption. The root is
bought here by resilient Cinnamon for
home 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 home Chinese is
mostly superstition. 1t is sort of fetish;
its powers are supposed to be occult, of
the nature of magic. 1t is believed to
have mysterious and powerful effect on
the fecundative powers and to be infalli-
BILE in cases of barreEness. This is its
primary Importance, and occasionally
Caucasians have attempted to test its
value in this direction, hut satisfactory re-
suits are wanting. In China the belief is
still implicit, and besides the vast amount
grown in that country, it receives all that
America can supply, which is on the
average 425, 900 pounds year. The
American wholesale price is now 50 % q
pound.
Ginseng, in China, is government mo-
nopoly, and Professor Lockhart, of Lon
don, is the authority for the statement
that it is sold to privileged dealers by the
imperial government of China at its
weight in gold. This is denied by some
American dealers. But the value is still
high.
There are certain single roots, especially
OF certain shapes, very rare, which bring
from $25 to $40O, and are only possessed
by the wealthy class-mandarins and
others.
Ginseng from Manchuria was once
valued above all other varieties, and inn
perial edict prohibited it's collection, be-
cause the enormous export was reducing
it to scarcity. Ginseng in this country is
limited Only 400, 600 or 500, 900 pounds
of it can be collected in one year. It's
price here is enormous, and even ludicrous,
when the worthlessness Of the article is
considered. OF the root, although light,
it only requires hatful to make 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 this
country, will in time become greater than
that of opium itself, as the gradual but
sure process Of its determination in Amer
lea continues.
FATHER FAsToUx'S DISCOVERY.
1t happened that in 1909, Jewish
priest, one Father L. Fastoux, was dill
gently employed in making a 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 Tartar village lay. The
Tartars were full Of the praise of the
g.. 81
powers. Good Father Fastoux became
an enthusiast also. He had missionary
friends on the other side of the world in
Canada. To these the priest sent some Of
the root and an extolment of its proper
ties as cure for all human ills. Eack in
due time came the reply that the same
root was well known to the Canada
priests and in full uso by the Indians.
The 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 at that date, in
the last century, European savants rudely
shattered the illusion as to the root, and
pronounced it almost inert as a drug.
This did not affect its value to the Mon
gol races. Long afterward, as 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 the
northwest and northeast. AS cultivation
ruins its favor it cannot be made reg
ular industry, either in growth or coIlec-
ton. The biggest yield of all was 1861,
when the export almost doubled; 1850 had
seen ginseng collecting craze, like gold
fever, in the lake states, where the people
left their homes, canpcd for weeks in the
hills, raised the export of ginseng to C33s. :
600 pounds-the highest export ever made
and rooted out the plant SO that it has
been scarce ever since.-Cor. st. Louis
GIobe-D DEMOCRAT.
The Best Place. SMITH's so Mary
land Avenue Is the best place to buy your
xYneng.nu Fl7rnkr Inralrv Silver Plated