The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1897-10-31
HUNTERS AFTER GINSENG.
The Root That Is Supposed By Chinese Doctors
to Have Great Curative Powers.

From the PHsbufg Dispatch.
One of the most peculiar and interest
ing occupations of the residents of the
mountain sections of our own and other
states at this season of the year Is
picking ginseng. This novel calling is
just now being followed by hundreds of
mountain reside nts who are reaping
no inconsiderable harvest from Their
labors. Many almost support their
families by digging the plant. and 50 per-
savering have been he ginseng diggers
of late yea that the plant has become
quite rare in many sections where it
formerly fcurished.
This valuable medicinal plant is to be
found all through the Allegheny noun
tains. 1t has fleshy root and stalk
from four to nine inches high, which
bears near the top three petiolate leaves
of five small leaflets, and on the end of
the stalk some Insignificant white bios
SONS. The root is much used in medi-
cine in this country, but it is chiefly of
value as an article of export to China,
in which country 1T is supposed to pos
sess remarkable virtues for the treat
ment of nearly all diseases. It's value
at the little mountain store is usually
50 OF SO per pound when dried, and the
green roots there sell for about 81 a
pound. The root thus readily passes
as currency in the mountains, and is
the chief article given in payment for
many purchases made by the mountain
residents.
Ginseng digging is indeed novel oc-
cupation. The sang diggers,'' as they
are commonly called, go into the woods
armed with a small mattoek and a sack
and the search for the valuable plant
begins. Ginseng usually grows in
patches, and these spots are we'll known
to the mountain residents. Often mum
dreds of pounds of the root are taken
from one patch, and the occupation is a
very profitable one. The women as we'll
as the men hunt ginseng, and the stalk
is well known to all the mountain lads
and lassies. Ginseng grows in q rich,
black soil, and is more commonly found
on the hillsides than in the lowlands.
Few are the mountain residents who
do not devote some of their time to
hunting this valuable plant, and in the
mountain farmhouses there are now
many hundred pounds of the article
laid away waiting the market. While
the fan is the fayorte time for ginseng
hunting, it is carried on all summer.
When a patch of the root is found the
hunter loses no time in digging it. To
leave it until fail would be to lose it,
would find the patch and dig it.
There is always ready market for
the article, and while many sang
dealers vfsl the mountains the noun
tain farmers usually ssll to the noun
tain storekeepers. They are suspicious
of the city dealers who come their way,
and they usually find the mountain
storekeeper ready to give as good
price as they can obtain elsewhere.
They trade ginseng for their store sup
plies boots, and clothing material. IN
our own state alone thousands. of dol
lars worth of the root are dug annual
ly, and in other mountain states OF the
east great quantities are also marketed
Minnesota Is also we'll known region
of the plant
This plant is so esteemed in China that
the right to gather it is reserved to the
emperor. lit is supposed to posE;ss re
npaIr,laa BILE virtues for ths treatment OF
body and mind and for the prolCngation
of life. Their physicians have written
volumes about it, and they deem it nee
essary in all theiir best prescriptions.
The best roots ffave horny appear
ance and ara yellow and semi-transpa-
rent This co:roition is obtained by put
ting them irIto SCANNING hot water,
brushing until cl5an, and then rteamlng
over boiling milfet. The roots that are
bi-ftIrcated or divided are consid cred the
most powerful, and it rs said that to
this kind of root that The plant clws
its name. jim Chen means like a man,
and the American Indian name means
the same. The nearer the root resembles
the human form the more sffacaoioUs
DIT is supposed to be. THE genuine roots,
say the Chinese, have offshoo'ts to rep
resent the arms and aegSs. The Oris ntas
have marry legsndss concerning THE great
medical plant, and to Ill they assign
many powers.
Before the discovery of the root in
this country 1t frequently brought its
weight in gold IN Pekin. In IT'S THE
Jes,pIts began shipping the root to CHI
ma and i'm 1855 it sold in this country
for 81 per pound over a thousand
dollars have b:en paid for "a single root
In China. Besides China and the United
States, japan and Korea produce the
valuable plant In this coursfy att
tempts have been made to cultivate the
root, butt the attempt has not BEEN so
SUCCESSFUL as was expected.
The quality OF the gensing root varies
greatly and 1t requires "a shrewd dealer
to make a success in the gsnSing bust
ness. Not infrequently the hunters re-
sort to strategy 10 gt-a- good round
price for their supply. With 1T other and
less valuable roots are mixed, and some
times the dil1sd roots are immersed in
water and then dried on the outside. The
quality of th= roots Also varies grea tly,
according TO the time of digging and
their size. The larger roots are consid-
cred the BEST and command the hig hest
prices.
In the mountain sections of our state
ginseng hunting has been followed <.om
thps time of the earliest settlement. Like
hunting, trapping, berry picking, bark
peeling, shtngle making and other call
ings of the mountain residents, ginseng
hnrnIting has it's season, and just now
hundreds of mountain residents are
securing itIhe mountain woodlands in
quest of the valuable plant.
These mountain residents are indeed
most pramitive peop.e. They live much
within themselves, ard seldom get fur
tfer from their mou'nitain homes than
the little village at the foot of the range.
TO them the great outside world is un-
known, and in the quiefnesS of their
mountain homes they five their humble