Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1906-07-15
GENS|NG ROOT HIGHLY
VALUED BY CH|NAMEN
America Sends Great Quantities
Of The Stuff to The Orient
Where It Is In Demand.
GURE.ALL FOR THE "CH|HKS"
Manchurian Product is Scarce and is
Worth up to $500 Pound If the
Roots are Wild and are Formed
in Peculiar Shapes-corean Supply
GuRE.ALL FOR The "cHIAKs'

With the exception Of tea. ginseng
Is the most celebrated plant in all the
orient. II may well he called the
"cure-all," as the Chinese have IL won.
dcrful faith in its curative and
strengthening properties, and IL has
been appropriately called the "cincho-
ma of China" 1t is. considered to be
sovereign cure for fevers and weak
ncsscs of all kinds, and is. indeed the
chief and most costly medicine of the
Chinese Empire.
Ginseng Is found wild In the noun.
tain forests Of Eastern Asia. from Ne
pal to Manchuria. 1t once grew in
Fu-kicn Kiang-Han and Shan-Si, hul
was supplantcd by the Manchurian
wild root.
The root is carefully hunted for By
the Manchus. who boast that the
weeds of their country are the choice
drugs of the Chinese, boast which
has much foundation in fact.
Much Bought in America.
or the thirty-seven ports in China
where the imperial maritime customs;
are established too import ginseng
Imports during 1905 were as follows:
Shanghai, 103,S02 pounds: Wuhu.
2.374; Kiu-kiang. $500: IIan-Kow
American clarified. 800; Hal Chang,
American clarified, 34.SOO; Wen Chow,
300; Chung King, American clarified,
$500! Che-Foo, SO,4OS; Canton, 1880,
and Foo Chow, 1907.
The total importations at these ports
for the last four years were: 1902.
407,O21 pounds: 1908, 4O4 900 pounds
1904, 3lS,59S pounds and 1905, 33l ,3Si
pounds. These figures however. hy
no means cover all the ginseng enter
ing China, as much of ii comes
through the native custom house,
which keep no tabulated data of OK.
ports and imports. and great quaint,
ties of it are struggled into the coun.
try, especially over the Corean bouu
Diary line. Niu,Chwang is The one
Chinese port which exports native
ginseng.
Its exports for the last four years
were, respectively, 22S,O0O, 2l5,00O
$1,000 and 10000 pounds
Worth Its Weight in Gold.
To give an accurate price for Gin
seng would be impossible. so greatly
does 1t differ with the variety of the
root offered to consumers. Some wild
roots have been known to realize their
weight in gold, while the cultivated
variety can be purchased for from Sc
cents Il pound up.
Generally speaking, the present av
erage prices are, for the best ginseng
sl2 pound for fair quality. $3.50
and for ordinary, so cents to 81. ia
pan sends. to China the cheapest gin
seng, q great deal of which is used to
adulterate the higher quality from
Corea.
In values and quality OF the root the
four principal producing countries
rank as follows: Manchuria, Corea
America and Japan. Prices often vary
in accordance with the method used
in clarifying the root. Some Chinese
provinces prefer II while. others red
dish and still others require 1t of a
yellowish tingc.
Corean Root is Reddish.
The Corean root is reddish i'm color
due, some say to the ferruginous soil
on which It grows. and. according to
others, to peculiar process of clari
flying. Most Of the Corean product
goes to Southern China by way OF
Hong Kong.
Wild ginseng. from whatever coun
try, always commands better price
than the cultivated article, chiefly BE.
cause Of Chinese superstition. which
prefers roots resembling man or some
grotesque creature to that Of the reg.
ular normal roots which cultivation
naturally tends to produce
Chinese druggists. when questioned
as to the real difference between the
Manchurian wild and the American
cultivated ginseng, root admit that
the difference in quality is mostly i'm.
aginary, although there Is real diff.