The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-07-31
ABOUT GINSENG.
Facts Concerning m American Pro-
duct Sold old. in c I ID
TRADE observation-disclosures
Six Hundred Thousand Dollars
Worth Of Root FfWAmericans
Ever Heard Of Sent oatsBy Us Last.
Year-"sang. Dlggersn Live in the
Mountains 81 West Virginia.

Mountains Of West Virginia:
New York Sun: ~ NOTICED not long
ago a dispatch In the newspapers from
Corbin, Ky" aaid q Kentucklan Of pref
ty general information. ITO the effect
that the Chinese. disturbances had in
tcrfcred SO seriously with the business
OF shipping ginseng that, the sang dig
gers Of that part OF, the state had
about lost thel; occupation. Possibly
you do not know 1t, but i can tell you
that China uses our entire product OF
ginseng. and while YOU may never have
given the subject any ,thohk ht, the fact
remains that for more thansa hundred
years, we have been shipping ginseng
TO the Chinese and that the Celestials
in that time have consumed In the
neghborhood OF twenty-five millions of
dollars worth OF root that the ma jor-j
ity OF Americans never saw and good
many never heard Of. Since 1920 we
have never shipped less, than 10000
pounds yearly, and shipments have
reached as high as $4,000 pounds an.
nually. These large shipments, how
ever.3occurred III the earlier history OF
the trade and before. the supply began,
to diminish. Values have Changed ac-
cordingly, also. and the 75s,1l7 pounds
shipped in 1922 representsSa value of
s313,Oi3. as against u value, Of $40, 900 for
10000 pounds shipped inadSo7. Ship
men,s for 1898 amounted to about 49, 900
pounds, valued at 100000, and for 1899,
$4,000 pounds, worth. say 100000.
showing continual decrease in guam,
tlty and increase in price. The Chinese
disturbances, however. haYs knocked
the trade all out of keller, sand as the
demand for, ginseng has sesased, deal
ers are not buying and the sang digger
is out OF Job. Such n condition has
never before occurred Iifghe ginseng
trade, and as 1t cannot continue the
wise dealer will buy up the roots at the
present low. prices and realize on them
later.
Tonic Of Rare Powers.
More or .iess mystery ? Has always
attached to, the use of ginseng by the
Chinese. and willie some persons assert
thatiit is a tonic OF rare powers. the
general belief is that its1use Is intlu-
enced rather by superstition than by
science. Ginseng is supposed to be
corruption of tie Chinese word Jen-
shen. which means manKQ. the root
of the plant much resembling the fig
ure of human being. The more near
ly 1t resembles the human form the
more powerful 1t is considered to be.
and when of extra good quality the
Ch!naman will balance the scales with
gold for his sang 9hSsttians and
chemists in this country have made a
/ study of ginseng from therapeutic
standpoint. and they have concluded
that about the only virtue the root has
is the; high pric. 1t viii bring among
the heather Chinese. the figures rang
Ing ordinarily from IS to s25 pound.
The same being worth in this country
from 81 Is to SO so a pound, dry. Green
sang that is the fresh roots. are
worth only about forty or,fifty cents n
pound to the digger, and they are not
often sold In that shape. =1h
Ginseng prevails all along the
eastern sections OF the United States
and Canada, but It is found now only
in the remoter parts, as theeroot needs
Il sandy soil In the deep woods Ken
lucky and Tennessee furnish large
quantities. though of an Inferior grade,
and I fancy that the typical bsang dig
ger does not exist elscwhefdlAs he does
in these states and In West Virginia
and North Carolina. Here-he is at
his best, and when he can scratch
around all day in the cool tshadows OF
the primeval forests and get a dollar
for the sang he digs he IS perfectly
content.
Disturbed During the Civil War.
During the Civil war the ginseng
trade was disturbed by reason OF the
mountalneers going Off to fight, and for
four years the roots ware left to grow
in the businesses OF the hills. Tha.
made u fine crop for the returned SOL
dIcr.
Some efforts have been made In var
ious localities to cultivate ginseng. but
so many difficulties arr. encountered
that not stea. deal has BEEN done.
Kentucky has seyarn' fa,.ly.4lccass.ul
ginseng farmers, aud Pfcf.- Ghrmnn. OF
the Kentucky Agricultural lExperiment
station at Lexington, has written a
bulletin on the nature and culture OF
ginseng which Is IN Interesting and
valuable work. Kentucky has no laws
protecting the ginseng farmer. but
West Virginia has. aud there is also
such law In Canada where sang has
been produced Fince l7l6 There is not
4 state east Of thu Mississippi river IN
Which some TEinseng Is not produced,
but the bulk Of II comes from the less
settled or mountainous states. China
raises 4 lot Of her own .sa1g. and
some comes from Japan and, Russia, the
JananPac ua!ng considerable guam
tity 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 dis