The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-07-31
CONCERNING GINSENG.
Facts About an American Product
Sold in China.

Facts About an American Product
Sold in China.
From the New York Sun.
81 noticed not long ago a dispatch in
the newspapers from Corbin, KY" said
Keutuckian of pretty general infor-
ma ton, ito the effect that the Chinese
disturbances had interfered so seriously
with the business of shipping ginseng that
the sang diggers of that part of the
state had about lost their occupa ton. Pos
sibly you do not know it, but l can tell
you that China uses our entire product
of ginseng, and while you may never
have given the subject any thought the
fact remains that for more than hun
bred years we have been shipping gin
seng to the Chinese and that the Celes-
tials in that time have consumed in the
neighborhood of twenty-five millions of
dollars worth of a root that the majority
of Americans never saw and a good
many never heard of. Since 1920 we have
never shipped less than 5000 pounds year.
ly, and shipments have reached as high
as $4,000 pounds annually. These large
"
Ter history OF the trade and before the
supply began to diminish. Values have
changed accordingly also. and the 1853, III
pounds shipped in 1922 represents a value
of 1888, as against a value of $4,000
for 10000 pounds shipped in 1897. Ship
ments for 1898 amounted to about 175,000
pounds, valued at $500 900, and for 1899,
125,00O pounds, worth, say 100000 show
ing continual decrease in quantity and
ances, however. have knocked the trade
ell out of keller, and as the demand for
ginseng has ceased, dealers are not buy
ing and the sang digger is out of a JOB
Such a condition has never before occur
red in the ginseng trade, and as it can
not continue the wise dealer viii buy up
the roots at the present low prices and
realize on them later.
More or less mystery has always at
tached to the use of ginseng by the Chi
nese, and while some persons assert that
it is tonic of rare powers, the general
belief is that its use is Influenced rather
by superstition than by science. Ginseng
is supposed to be a corruption of the Chi
nese word 'jenshen, which means man.
wort, the root of the plant much resem-
bling the figure of human being. The
more nearly It resembles the human form
the more powerful 1t is considered to be,
and when of extra good quality the China
man will balance the scales with gold for
mis- Sang Physicians and chemists in
this country have made a study of gin
seng from a therapeutic standpoint, and
they have concluded that about the only
virtue the root has is the high price 1t
will bring among the heather Chinese, the
figures ranging ordinarily from IS to SIS
a pound The same being worth in this
country. from 81 rs to 80 a pound, dry.
Green sang, that is the fresh roots, are
worth only about 40 or so cents a pound
to the digger, and they are not often sold
in that shape.
"Ginseng prevails all along the eastern
sections OF the United States and Canada
but it is found now only in the remoter
parts, as the root needs sandy soil in the
deep woods. Kentucky and Tennessee fur
nish large quantities. although of an infe-
ror grade, and 1 fancy that the typical
sang digger does not exist elsewhere as
he does in these states and in West Vir-
ginia and North Carolina. Here he is al
his best, and when he can scratch around
all day in the cool shadows of the primeVal
forests and get a dollar for the sang he
digs he is perfectly content. During the
Civil War the ginseng trade was disturb
ed be reason of the mountaineers going
off TO fight, and for four years the roots
were left to grow in the Businesses of the
hills. That made nae crop for the re-
turned soldiers
Some efforts have been made in various
localities to cultivate ginseng, but so many
difficulties are encountered that not a
great deal has been done. Kentucky has
several fairly successful ginseng farmers,
and Prof Garman of the Kentucky Agri-
cultural Experiment station at Lexington
has written a bulletin on the nature and
culture of ginseng which Is an interesting
and valuable work. Kentucky has no laws
protecting the ginseng farmer, but West
Virginia has, and there is also such a
law in Canada where sang has been pro-
duced since 17l6. There is not state east
OF the Mississippi river in which some
ginseng is not produced, but the bulk of
ID comes from the less settled or noun
famous states. China raises a lot of her
own sang and some comes from Japan
and Russia, the japanese using con-
siderable quantity themselves but as far
as statistics show. the bulk of the sang
used in the Orient comes from North
America. What the results of the present
disturbances in China will be cannot be
known for some time yet, but II the for
eign dog must so, and China's ports be
closed you may soon expect to see sang
schooners headed TO the westward and
hear stirring stories of the Sang snug
glers. for John Chinaman must have his
ginseng and we've got IL TO spare for the
next few years anyway"