The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1897-04-01
RAISING GINSENG.
The Precious Root for Which the
Chinese Have a Secret Use.
Successful Cultivation Of a Crop
by an Illinois BotaniSt.

crop the like OF which Is not TO be
found elsewhere in Illinois, at only
two or three other places in this
country, and in but two of the coun-
tries of the entire globe. Nowhere in
all of Europe is ginseng grown, al
though the government of Russia
spent the fortune of q prince in an un-
successful attempt to introduce its
cultivation into that dominion. 1t is
more rare than gold, and seed in the
open market is worth So an ounce.
The value of the annual crop of roots
to be gathered from an acre of ground
at maturity is something more than
$1,000.
Mr.. Page, who is one of the old
residents of Dixon, has always been a
botanist in his way, and he was first
led to think that ginseng might be sue
cessfully raised in the neighborhood
by the accidental discovery, made
some years since, that in early times
it had Enthusiastically been indigenous
to the Rock River valley. 1t is not
to be found there now, however. 1t
is chief characteristic of the plant
that it is decidedly aboriginal in its
habits, invariably dying out before the
advance of civilization. The entire
worlds supply at present comes from
this country, it being found in its
natural state at a few places in North
Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and
from Korea, where it is cultivated.
Its market is in China, where the use to
which it is put is carefully guarded
secret, although it is generally sup
posed that it is a necessary ingredient
. in the preparation of opium. 1t is
yone of the constant fears OF the Chi
nese government that at some future
day, not far distant, the supply may
become exhausted.
In the spring of 1894 Mr.. Page pro-
cured some of the seed and sowed it
at his place. Up to the time of the
fiual freeze-up last fall, not q single
sprout has shown above the ground,
but this is not considered discourag-
ing, as it always takes it from IS
months to two years to germinate.
Deciding then to study the plant in
its native haunts, Mr.. Page, in Octo-
ber, 1894, went to North Carolina,
and there, in Allegheny county. he re-
mained for two years, making his
home in the midst of the curious peo-
pie made known to the world by
Amelie Rives in her novel, "Tanis, the
Sang Digger" " The plant is COLO
quially known there as sang" Last
spring Mr.. Page dug up such roots as
he could find in the woods and trans
planted them. In June he took them up
again and started home, driving over
land the entire distance in hopes that
the life out of doors won Id benefit his
shattered health-as it did. The
plants were altogether kept boxed up
for period of three mouths, go that
many died, yet 900 were still in good
condition when he reached Dixon, and
these were at once set out in shady
places bv the side of the barn and
along the fences and they have since
done we'll. A certain amount of shade
is first requisite to the successful
cultivation of ginseng. 1t is expected
that the first crop OF the valuable root
will be ready to be harvested for the
market in the summer of 1898, and
from that time on its annual value
should increase rapidly.
''You can easily understand, said
Mr.. Page, ''that with .he seed selling
at SO an ounce it is easy to put up
hundreds of dollars into small piece
of land The plants bear some seed
at two years old. On an average each
bright red berry has only two seeds,
which will produce only two roots. l
plant one berry in place. 1t takes
about 6, 900, 900 berries to plant one
acre. The plant is low and looks
somewhat like the sarsaparilla shrub.
1t has three leaves, and their shining
underside sometimes causes amateur
'seng diggers to mistake the squaw
plant for it. The seed is small, fiat
and the color of buckwheat. A year
ling root is not as large around as a
pipestem and is soft and compact,
looking, as taken from the ground, not
unlike the root of young horse rad
ish. The present market vslus Of the