CUTIVATION OF GINSENG.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 661, 10 February 1909, Page 6

CUTIVATION OF GINSENG.

The Root In Reins' Raiaed frith Considerable Success In Central Wisconsin. "Ginseng is being cleared out, of central Wisconsin rapidly,” said G. S. • Banks, of Newcastle, reports the Washington Star, "but the Indians around Horicon lake still manage to find enough' of it each season to get on a good drunk with the proceeds, I have never beenable to learn just what is done with the root, although I know it is shipped to China, where it is used for many purposes. What disease it is supposed to cure is a mystery to me. The root when it is dried is shaped something like a small carrot. It is not the same as the Chinese ginseng I have been told, but it makes a satisfactory substitute now that the real article is all gone. At one time the woods around Newcastle were full of it, and it sold for about a dollar a pound. As the producers gradually came to realize the men to whfrsvthey were selling It were making an enormous profit, they raised their prices about a thousand per cent and then kept it going up. The demand has never lessened any, but it is probable that there will> be no ginseng growing wild In Wisconsin after a few years. Some people are raising it in cultivated fields and making good profit, although the plant requires a great (Ida! of care. What is obtained near our town is mostly sold to Chicago firms, their? representatives taking a trip up the state at the proper seasons of the year.” >'