The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1902-10-01
Grow Ginseng-Big Money in It.

was held in Tully, n. Y, meet
ing of the ginseng growers Of
New York State. To the average
person this news item is puz-
zling, yet on closer inquiry there
is brought to light the culture Of
a wild root which has been used
by the Chinese for centuries, and
for choice specimens Of which
they often pay price equivalent
to its weight in gold. The gov
ernment reports show that this
important article Of commerce
has grown scarcer year by year,
and is now, in its wild state,
nearly exhausted.
One could hardly expect the
people who gather the roots in
the voods-the "sang diggers"-
to take advantage Of the money
making opportunities which the
cultivation of the plant would
afford, for they are a shiftless,
roaving people, wholly incapa-
bic of keeping up with the march
of modern progress. In the
early history of the trade efforts
were made to cultivate the plant,
but without exception these at
tempts failed.
Some fifteen years ago a few
young men, who were laughed
at for wasting their time, again
tried it's cultivation, and by
careful study Of it's requirements
succeeded in establishing the
fact that it could be made a GER
tain and exceedingly profitable
crop. The price of the root has
advanced steadily for thirty
years, and this has caused the
native diggers to harvest even
the young plants before they
could bear seeds and have there
by taken away all hope Of in
crease or even the possibility Of
replenishment. Practically the
only seeds and roots to be had
now are from the gardens OF the
pioneer growers.
The land needed for it's culture
is so small that even a couple OF
square rods of garden space can
be made to pay hundreds of
dollars annually. A half acre of
ginseng will yield larger profit
than many 200 acre farms.
SMALL FARMS.
The ginseng gardener has the
advantage of the ordinary far
mer in many ways; there is no
heavy interest on the money in
vested in land, no larger barns
needed to store the crop, no out
lay for horses, stock, tools, or
hired help, and a woman can as
easily do the work required for
half an acre as can a man. One
gardener in Cortland county, n.
Y, has been banking 5000 a
year regularly for the past four
years, and that alone from the
sale of seeds raised on less than
one-third of an acre.
There are in this county alone
about seventy-fve gardens un-
der cultivation, and tits not ex-
aggerating to say that most of
the owners are to-day worth
thousands of dollars, many of
whom, five years ago, were not
worth $500. United States Con-
sui Johnson is quoted as saying
that S2O,OOO,O00 worth of ginseng
could be marketed each year in
China if America could supply
that amount of roots,
In 1858 there we're exported
100000 pounds, while in 1900
there were exported less than
10000, the price in that time
having advanced steadily from
50 cents per pound in 1858 to an
average of Sc per pound in 1900,
while to-day the price varies
from 81 to $40 per pound, ac-
cording to the grade.
If the average housewife rea-
lized that from a ground space
in her own dooryard 10 or 12 feet
wide by 20 feet long she could
realize $3.50 to 5000 each year,
with no more attention than is
required for a flower bed, it is
reasonable to suppose that gin
seng would become one of the
most widely cultivated crops in
America. 1t seems like a tale
from the "Arabian Nights" to
say that an investment of S25
will increase yearly in value,
until at the end of eight years
it will have a total value of over
S10,O00; yet statistics prove that
even these figures have been ex-
ceeded by the growers who have
gardens under cultivation to-
day.
THE OUTLOOK.
Those who have studied the
conditions governing the use of
the plant in China are of the
opinion that enough ginseng
cannot be produced in the next
fifty years to cause the price to
fall. AS a matter Of fact, the
known sources from which the
GINSENG can be gathered for eX-