to the soil, as in a rich friable garden loam. If cultivators will examine carefully the condition and character of the soil in which vigorous ginseng plants are growing in their native haunts they will discover that the hand cannot be thrust down to the depth of the roots; neither is the soil a pure black mould, as some beds have un fortunately been made.

The permanent beds are planted with two or three year-old seedlings, or with small wild roots gathered from the forests. The latter, when near at hand, are more cheaply obtained than cultivated seedlings, but it is reasonable to believe that seedlings grown under conditions best suited to their rapid and uniform development, and provided with many fibrous roots, will transplant with less loss and resume growth with a more rapid pace than wild roots stunted by the various disadvantages which wild plants must endure, carrying a minimum of working rootlets. Occasionally very good wild roots. can be found and of course should not be discarded.

In the permanent beds the plants are set from 4 to 6 inches apart each way, and are not again moved until ready for market. This will be in four or five years from transplanting, or six to eight years from seed. The handling of plants for transplanting is best done in September or October, although it may be performed successfully in early spring. The roots may be dibbled in or set in an opened furrow deep enough so that the last "scar," or rather the new bud for the next season's growth on the rootstock may be covered about two or three inches. There should be no cutting or trimming at the roots. After the roots are set in the permanent beds the most important consideration to success is proper shading, which must be provided before the warm days of spring arrive. To protect the roots in the ground during winter a good mulch of forest leaves (or straw) and brush is thrown over them.

ARTIFICIAL SHADING.

Many of the failures in ginseng culture have resulted from the full exposure of the beds to direct sunlight or by shading in such a manner that free circulation of air was obstructed and the plants could not thrive. Mr. Stanton began by having lath screens over the beds just a little higher than the plants in them. The effect, however, was unsatisfactory and it was necessary to remove the screens whenever the beds required any work. His present arrangement, which he regards as the most successful manner of shading beds of ginseng in garden culture is illustrated in Fig. 8. It consists of a flat roof of lath screens raised high enough above ground to admit of easy walking underneath. It is much like a screen house built by florists and gardeners in which they summer potted plants which cannot endure the full sunlight.

Mr. Stanton's ginseng houses are constructed so that the entire roof can be removed at the approach of winter with its snow, and stored until spring. Only the supporting frame work remains standing. The uprights are 8 feet long, of 2x4 inch stuff, planted 2 feet in the ground, and stand 6 feet apart in rows which are 8 feet apart, admitting between them a bed of 3 feet wide on either side of a 15inch walk. At the top these uprights are held in place by cross pieces of 1x3 inch stuff running in two directions. On these cross pieces the screens of lath rest and are made fast to prevent their being disturbed by severe winds. Ordinary plaster lath may be used for the screens, leaving five-eighth inch space between the lath. The sides of the enclosure are also of screens to the height of three feet, thus leaving the upper half of all the sides open, whereby the free circulation of air may take place. According to Geo. V. Nash, a ginseng grower of Somerset, Ky., Mr. J. W. Sears, planted permauent beds in a "rich north hillside, well timbered," and "in the spring frames are placed over them on which a lot of brush is thrown," thus providing a cheap shading, though less perfect.

The height of the brush above the plants is an important item, but is not stated.

TREATMENT OF THE BEDS.

The beds, when planted and shaded, require but little attention, aside from the weeding during summer, and being on the lookout for the enemies of the plant. Snails and some insects attack the young plants to some extent. Some roots are injured by worms. Field mice or ground moles have been suspected of eating off the young roots of seedlings in forest beds, and some evidence of a fungous disease causing a decay of maturing roots has attracted some attention. Experience has been too brief to determine whether these anroyances will be constant or prove to be only incidental.

In the month of September the seed crop is harvested and stored, and at the approach of heavy snows the shading screens are stored for winter. What use might be profitably made with fertilizers has not been made a matter of experiment in this country, except to employ well rotted horse manure instead of leaf-mould in the preparation of permanent beds.

THE CULTIVATED ROOT.

Six

Under cultivation the roots of ginseng develop more fibrous roots, which serve to mature the tap roots in the fewest possible years. to eight years from seed will make the choicest roots, or four to five years from two or three year old seedlings transplanted. Mr. Stanton marketed his first roots in 1893, and sold the crop of 16 pounds to T. A. Bronson, of New York, at $4.00 per pound, or 50 cents per

pound more than the wild root was sold for at that time, and received in reply from Mr. Bronson that he would like 1,000 pounds of such rcots. These roots, 241 in number, averaged in weight, when fresh, 31⁄2 ounces, and the largest of them weighed 6 ounces. Such roots are rarely found now among the collection of wild root. In 1895, Mr. Stanton received $5.50 per pound for his cultivated root.

Valuable pioneer work can be done to establish a strain of ginseng that will be noted for its large fleshy roots developed in the minimum of time. The seed from the largest and best roots should be kept separate from the general crop and sown where they could receive special care and treatment, and when the plants reach maturity repeat the careful selection of seed and thus continue through several generations or until a distinct strain of plants is established. The history of the cultivated carrot and other fleshy rooted vegetables of cultivation indicates that a similar selection has been going on, though less persistently, to bring about the great differences between the cultivated and native forms.

PREPARATION OF THE ROOT.

After the roots are carefully taken out of the ground they should be washed clean with water and a broom or brush. No previous trimning of rootlets or rootstocks is necessary, for after drying the small roots are broken off in the handling and the rootstock serves to indicate the age and possesses the same qualities as the root. In fact, mutilated roots, or such as have been cut or sliced to hasten drying, are rated inferior to whole roots. When the roots are thoroughly cleansed, they are dried by laying them out loosely over a tray or trays and exposed to the sun, or subjected to a moderate artificial heat. There is danger of scalding or burning them and this should be avoided. The quicker the drying is effected, the better will be the appearance of the root. It requires ordinarily about one month. to be completely dried, and during this process the root loses about two-thirds its weight, three pounds of fresh root making one pound of dried root. It is said that roots gathered in the summer lose three-fourths of their original weight in drying, although in several trials with roots gathered on July 3, 1897, the shrinkage was just about two-thirds. The cultivated root does not shrink so much. Three native roots collected July 3 were weighed at intervals during the process of drying, which was conducted in the sun, and gave the following figures, the weights being in grammes: