The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1893-11-16
THE GINSENG ROOT.
A Chinese Cure-all Obtained in
New York Mountains.
Many People Gain a Livelihood
By Gathering the Plant.

Travellers in the mountain regions
o. the river counties in this State are
mueh Interested in a people who fol-
low queer industry to gain liveli-
hood. Everywhere through the Cat
skill and Showangunk Mountains these
people can be found from early morn
till it is too dark to see, armed with
basket and sharp garden trowel.
They are the ginseng root diggers,
and they are seeking for the bulbous
aromatic root, so that it may be ex-
ported to China, where it is supposed
to possess magic powers OF curing all
the ills which flesh is heir to-
Ginseng grows wild in all the noun
famous regions of this country east of
the Mississippi River, but nowhere so
plenteously as in the Catskills, where,
from April till November, q large num-
Der OF people gain their livelihood in
searching for it and digging the root
1t is not used i'll this country to any
appreciable extent as q medicine.
Some people chew it here, but there
IS no reason to suppose its efficacy to
cure disease is other than purely i'm
aginary, as it contains absolutely no
curative properties.
Yet this root, absolutely worthless
from a medical standpoint, brings a
high price. The wholesale price runs
from - up to "a pound, the large,
fat roots which the Chinese consider
the best, bringing the highest figure.
Ginseng is the root of a perennial
plant, formerly called Panex quinque-
folium, but now placed in the genus
Aralia. The feshy root, much the
shape of the mandrake and of creamy
yellow color when dry, runs from four
to nine inches in length and throws
out simple stem about foot high.
This stem bears at the top three long
petioled leaves, each of which has five
divisions, and a small umbel of incon-
spicuous greenish-w h-whiteblossoms, which
are succeeded by small, red berry-like
fruit. When it is in fruit il is considered
the best, yet the ginseng diggers gather
it from the time its stem first appears
until it disappears in the fall. 1t is
slightly aromatic in flavor, and chew
ers claim that it stimulates them. Out
side of the very small quantity used
by the Chinese in this country little
is used by clairvoyants, but rarely, if
ever, by reputable practicing physi-
clans.
Large quantities of ginseng are now
reaching the market, being purchased
mainly by the Chinese merchants in
Mott ST., who forward the panacea to
their afflicted kindred in the Celestial
Kingdom, There it is burned as in
cense before idols, ground into meal,
baked with their meats, mixed with
their rice, stepped as tea, and taken IN
various other ways.
As an industry among the noun
taineers in Ulster, Sullivan, Greene
and Delaware Counties, in this State,
it has been a most important one for
many years, and has in many cases
kept the wolf from the door. Many
of them earn all through the season as
high as two, and often four dollars a
day on an average digging the root.
Sometimes they have a lucky day and
find enough to make several pounds
when cured.
The root when dried is sold to To-
cal druggists and spectators, who-have
a regular market for it in New York
City. New York News.