The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1897-11-19
HUNTERS AFTER GINSENG.
The Root That Is Supposed by Chinese
DOctOrStO Have Curative Powers.


mountain sections of our own and other
states at this season of the year is pick
ing ginseng. This novel calling is just
now being followed by hundreds of
mountain residents, who are reaping no
inconsiderable harvest from their la
bors. Many almost support their fami-
lies by digging the plant, and so pre-
severing have been the ginseng diggers
of late years that the plant has become
quite rare in many sections where it
formerly fourished.
This valuable medical plant is to be
found all through the Allegheny noun
tains. 1t has a 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 it 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
two or three dollars per pound when
dried, and the green roots there sell for
about one dollar pound. The root thus
readily passes as currency in the noun
tains, and is the chief article given in
payment for many purchases made by
the mountain residents.
Ginseng digging is indeed a novel oc-
cupation. The "sang diggers," as they
are commonly called, go into the woods
armed with a small mattock and a sack,
and the search for the valuable plant
begins. Ginseng usually grows in
patches, and these spots are well known
to the mountain residents. Often hum
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
rich, black soil, and is more commonly
found on the hillsides.
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 fall is the favorite time for ginseng
hunting, it is carried on all summer.
| When patch of the root is found the
hunter loses no time in digging it. To
| leave it until fall would be to lose it,
for undoubtedly some other hunter
would find the patch and dig it.
There is always a ready market for
the article, and while many sang"
dealers visit the mountains, the noun
tain farmers usually sell to the noun
tain storekeepers. They are suspicious
| of the city dealers who come their
way, and they usually find the noun
tain 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 state alone thousands of dollars
worth of the root are dug annually, and
in other mountain states of the east
great quantities are also marketed.
Minnesota is also well-known region
of the plant.
This plant is so esteemed in China
that the right to gather it is reserved
to the emperor. 1t is supposed to pos
seSs remarkable virtues for the treat
ment of body and mind and for the pro-
longation of life. Their physicians have
written volumes about it, and they deem
it necessary in all their best prescrip-
tions. The best roots have horny APP
pearance and are yellow and semi
transparent. This condition is obtained
by putting them into steaming hot
water, brushing until clean, and then
steaming over boiling millet. The roots
that are bifurcated or divided are con-
sidered the most powerful, and it is
said that it is to this kind of root that
the plant owes 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 efficacious it is supposed
to be. The genuine roots, say the
Chinese, have offshOots to represent the
arms and the legs. The Orientals have
many legends concerning the great
medical plant, and to it they assign
many powers.
Before the discovery of the root in this
country it frequently brought its
weight in gold in Picking. In IT'S the
Jesuits began shipping the root to
China, and in 1855 it sold in this coun-
try for one dollar per pound. Over
$1,000 have been paid for a single root
in China. Besides China and the United
States, Japan and Corea produce the
valuable plant. In this country at
tempts have been made to cultivate the
root, but the attempt has not been so
successful as was expected.
The quality of the ginseng root varies
greatly, and it requires a shrewd dealer
to make a success in the ginseng bust
ness. Not infrequently the hunters re-
sort to strategy to get a good round
price for their supply. With it other
and less valuable roots are mixed, and
sometimes the dried roots are immersed
in water and then dried on the outside.
The quality of the roots also varies
greatly, according to the time of dig
ging and their size. The larger roots