GINSENG HABITS.
A few years ago Ginseng could be found in nearly every woods and
thicket in the country. Today conditions are quite different. Ginseng
has become a scarce article. The decrease in the annual crop of the
wild root will undoubtedly be very rapid from this on. The continued
search for the root in every nook and corner in the country, coupled
with the decrease in the forest and thicket area of the country, must
in a few years exterminate the wild root entirely.
To what extent the cultivated article in the meantime can supplant
the decrease in the production of the wild root, is yet to be
demonstrated. The most important points in domesticating the root, to
my opinion, is providing shade, a necessary condition for the growth
of Ginseng, and to find a fertilizer suitable for the root to produce
a rapid growth. If these two conditions can be complied with, proper
shade and proper fertilizing, the cultivation of the root is
simplified. Now the larger wild roots are found in clay soil and not
in rich loam. It seems reasonably certain that the suitable elements
for the growth of the root is found in clay soil.
The "seng" digger often finds many roots close to the growing stalk,
which had not sent up a shoot that year. For how many years the root
may lie dormant is not known, nor is it known whether this is caused
by lack of cultivation. I have noticed that the cultivated plant did
not fail to sprout for five consecutive years. Whether it will fail
the sixth year or the tenth is yet unknown. The seed of Ginseng does
not sprout or germinate until the second year, when a slender stalk
with two or three leaves puts in an appearance. Then as the stalk
increases in size from year to year, it finally becomes quite a
sizable shrub of one main stalk, from which branch three, four, or
even more prongs; the three and four prongs being more common. A
stalk of "seng" with eight well arranged prongs, four of which were
vertically placed over four others, was found in this section
(Southern Ohio) some years ago. This was quite an oddity in the
general arrangement of the plant.
Ginseng is a plant found growing wild in the deep shaded forests and
on the hillsides thruout the United States and Canada. Less than a
score of years ago Ginseng was looked upon as a plant that could not
be cultivated, but today we find it is successfully grown in many
states. It is surprising what rapid improvements have been made in
this valuable root under cultivation. The average cultivated root now
of three or four years of age, will outweigh the average wild root of
thirty or forty years.
When my brother and I embarked in the enterprise, writes one of the
pioneers in the business, of raising Ginseng, we thought it would
take twenty years to mature a crop instead of three or four as we are
doing today. At that time we knew of no other person growing it and
from then until the present time we have continually experimented,
turning failures to success. We have worked from darkness to light,
so to speak.
In the forests of Central New York, the plant is most abundant on
hillsides sloping north and east, and in limestone soils where
basswood or butternut predominate. Like all root crops, Ginseng
delights in a light, loose soil, with a porous subsoil.
If a cultivated plant from some of our oldest grown seed and a wild
one be set side by side without shading, the cultivated one will
stand three times as long as the wild one before succumbing to
excessive sunlight. If a germinated seed from a cultivated plant were
placed side by side under our best mode of cultivation, the plant of
the cultivated seed at the end of five years, would not only be
heavier in the root but would also produce more seed.
In choosing a location for a Ginseng garden, remember the most
favorable conditions for the plant or seed bed are a rich loamy soil,
as you will notice in the home of the wild plant. You will not find
it on low, wet ground or where the Water stands any length of time,
it won't grow with wet feet; it wants well drained soil. A
first-class location is on land that slopes to the east or north, and
on ground that is level and good. Other slopes are all right, but not
as good as the first mentioned. It does not do so well under trees,
as the roots and fibers from them draw the moisture from the plant
and retard its growth.
[Illustration: Garden Grown Ginseng Plant.]
The variety of soil is so much different in the United States that it
is a hard matter to give instructions that would be correct for all
places. The best is land of a sandy loam, as I have mentioned before.
Clay land can be used and will make good gardens by mixing leaf mold,
rotten wood and leaves and some lighter soil, pulverize and work it
thru thoroughly. Pick out all sticks and stones that would interfere
with the plants.
Ginseng is a most peculiar plant. It has held a place of high esteem
among the Chinese from time immemorial. It hides away from man with
seeming intelligence. It is shy of cultivation, the seed germinating
in eighteen months as a rule, from the time of ripening and planting.
If the seeds become dry they lose, to a certain extent, their
germinating power.
The young plant is very weak and of remarkably slow growth. It
thrives only in virgin soil, and is very choice in its selection of a
place to grow. Remove the soil to another place or cultivate it in
any way and it loses its charm for producing this most fastidious
plant.
It has a record upon which it keeps its age, or years of its growth,
for it passes a great many years in the ground, dormant. I have
counted the age upon the record stem of small roots and found their
age to be from 30 to 60 years. No plant with which I am acquainted
grows as slowly as Ginseng.
A great many superstitious notions are held by the people, generally,
in regard to Ginseng. I think it is these natural peculiarities of
the plant, together with the fancied resemblance of the root to man,
and, also probably its aromatic odor that gives it its charm and
value. Destroy it from the earth and the Materia Medica of
civilization would lose nothing.
I notice that the cultivated root is not so high in price by some two
dollars as the wild root. If the root is grown in natural environment
and by natural cultivation, i. e., just let it grow, no Chinaman can
tell it from the wild root.
We have at present, writes a grower, in our Ginseng patch about 3,500
plants and will this year get quite a lot of excellent seed. Our
Ginseng garden is on a flat or bench on a north hillside near the
top, that was never cleared. The soil is a sandy loam and in exposure
and quality naturally adapted to the growth of this plant. The
natural growth of timber is walnut, both black and white, oak, red
bud, dogwood, sugar, maple, lin, poplar and some other varieties.
We cultivate by letting the leaves from the trees drop down upon the
bed in the fall as a mulch and then in the early spring we burn the
leaves off the bed. Our plants seem to like this treatment very well.
They are of that good Ginseng color which all Ginseng diggers
recognize as indicative of good sized, healthy roots.
[Illustration: Northern Ginseng Plant in Bloom--June.]
I have had much experience in hunting the wild Ginseng roots, says
another, and have been a close observer of its habits, conditions,
etc. High shade is best with about one-half sun. The root is found
mostly where there is good ventilation and drainage. A sandy porous
loam produces best roots. Plants in dense shade fail to produce seed
in proportion to the density of the shade. In high one-half shade
they produce heavy crops of seed. Coarse leaves that hold water will
cause disease in rainy seasons. No leaves or mulch make stalks too
low and stunted.
Ginseng is very wise and knows its own age. This age the plant shows
in two ways. First, by the style of the foliage which changes each
year until it is four years old. Second, the age can be determined by
counting the scars on the neck of the bud-stem. Each year the stalk
which carries the leaves and berries, goes down, leaving a scar on
the neck or perennial root from which it grew. A new bud forms
opposite and a little above the old one each year. Counting these
stalk scars will give the age of the plant.
I have seen some very old roots and have been told that roots with
fifty scars have been dug. The leaf on a seedling is formed of three
small parts on a stem, growing directly out of a perennial root and
during the first year it remains that shape. The second year the stem
forks at the top and each fork bears two leaves, each being formed of
five parts. The third year the stem forks three ways and bears three
leaves, each formed of five parts, much like the Virginia creeper.
Now the plant begins to show signs of bearing seed and a small
button-shaped cluster of green berries can be seen growing in the
forks of the stalk at the base of the leaf stem. The fourth year the
perennial stalk grows as large around as an ordinary lead pencil and
from one foot to twenty inches high. It branches four ways, and has
four beautiful five-pointed leaves, with a large well-formed cluster
of berries in the center. After the middle of June a pale green
blossom forms on the top of each berry. The berries grow as large as
a cherry pit and contain two or three flat hard seeds. In September
they turn a beautiful red and are very attractive to birds and
squirrels. They may be gathered each day as they ripen and should be
planted directly in a bed, or put in a box of damp, clean sand and
safely stored. If put directly in the ground they will sprout the
first year, which advantage would be lost if stored dry.
A word to trappers about wild roots. When you find a plant gather the
seed, and unless you want to plant them in your garden, bury them in
the berry about an inch or inch and a half deep in some good, rich,
shady place, one berry in each spot. Thus you will have plants to dig
in later years, you and those who come after you. Look for it in the
autumn after it has had time to mature its berries. Do not take up
the little plants which have not yet become seed bearers.