Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1894-08-14


 highly questionabIe whether fhe root would have any commercial value in this country All that European and American therapeutics are willing to concede is that it may possibly have some value as mild stomachic From colonial times the gathering and pre- pairing of the root for market has i formed an important industry in eer- tain parts of America. It is found in Canada and thence as far south as Georgia, fiourishinQ only in the cool woods of hiily countries. The method of gathering is a process of extermina- tion, for the root is dug as soon as the shoots appear above ground in the ear ly spring, and the plant has no oppor- tunity to grow, much less to mature and bear seeds So complete has this work of eXtermination threatened to become in some sections that govern mental regulation of the gathering ap- pears to be needed In North Carolina there is an unwritten law, more or less regarded, prohibiting the digging of the root until the plant has reached maturity In Canada stringent laws on the subject have been passed. The young root, containing more of the juices, is heavier and more salable, and therefore the temptation to evade laws, written or unwritten, for the pressrva- tion of the plant is too great to be gem orally resisted. As a result New York state, which formerly furnished the best ginseng. now supplies only mod. crate quantity of fine root, while ths most prized grade comes from Canada. The ginseng industry in the United States is of considerably less impof- tanee than it was few years ago, when the annual exportations to China averaged a half million pounds. The average now is about three hundred thousand pounds.
 The American ginseng is rated as third quality by the Chinese, who place the product of their own country frst and the Corean ginseng second. Japan also produces a variety of the root which is of inferior quality to any of the others, and is chiefly used in China for purposes of adulteration. The best Chinese ginseng comes from the pro- vince of ManBhuria, the seat of govern ment of the Chinese empire, and is raised and gathered under imperial protection. This grade ranges in price from S4o to- S20o per pound and can be | used only by the wealthy The Corean root costs only S15 to S35 per pound, and the average cost of the American gin- seng is S3 per pound, some particularly fine roots occasionally selling for Ss per pound. The Japanese is worth from $1 to & per pound. Stories have beep told of fabulous prices paid for pieces of the root bearing striking re- semblapee to the human form, as it is upon this fancied likeness that the 1 Chinese faith in it's miraculous powers i is believed to be pinned. It has been 1 said that several thousand dollars have l been paid for a root in which the head, body, arms and legs were well defined, l but as the root seldom has more than 1 two eXtremities we must accept this statement, with all others of similar i character, with good deal of allow anee. There are, however, well au- tbenticated instances of the payment of as high as 5000 to S400. in China, for old roots resembling the body of man with head and legs, and supposed to be one or two centuries old.
 In China ginseng is hawked about the streets by peddlers, much after the manner of sellers of vegetables on this side of the world, while in every apoth- ecary's shop it is conspicuously dis played, it being the main financial re- liance of the Mongolian purveyor of drugs. Not to be able to place before the guests cup of an infusion of gin- seng, indicates poverty of humili- ating degree, and Chinese families are exceedingly careful to keep supply on hand, for the benefit of callers, even though they have to practice rigid economy in other directions.
 Many years ago the profits on Ameri- can ginseng were so great as to pro- duce an oversupply that nearly put an end to the traffic. In some of the lake states, in 1860, the gathering of ginseng for the Chinese market became regu- lar mania, people leaving their homes and camping out for weeks in the hills of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, in search of the root, Their operations were prosecuted with such vigor as to almost exterminate the species in that part of the country.-Popular Science News.