Ginseng (Panax quinquefolium) is a fleshy-rooted herbaceous plant native to this country and formerly of frequent occurrence in shady, well-drained situations in hardwood forests from Maine to Minnesota and southward to the mountains of Georgia and the Carolinas. It has long been valued by the Chinese for medicinal use, though rarely credited with curative properties by natives of other countries. When placed under cultural conditions, ginseng should be shielded from direct sunlight by the shade of trees or by lath sheds. The soil should be fairly light and well fertilized with woods earth, rotted leaves, or fine raw bone meal, the latter applied at the rate of 1 pound to each square yard. Seed should be planted in the spring as early as the soil can be worked to advantage, placed 6 inches apart each way in the permanent beds or 2 by 6 inches in seed beds, and the seedlings transplanted to stand 6 to 8 inches apart when 2 years old. Only cracked or partially germinated seed should be used.

Ginseng needs little cultivation, but the beds should at all times be kept free from weeds and grass and the surface of the soil slightly stirred whenever it shows signs of caking. A winter mulch over the crowns is usually essential, but it should not be applied until freezing weather is imminent and should be removed in the spring before the first shoots come through the soil.

The roots do not reach marketable size until about the fifth or sixth year from seed. When dug they should be carefully washed or shaken free from all adhering soil, but not scraped. Curing is best; effected in a well-ventilated room heated to about 90° F. Nearly a month is required to properly cure the larger roots, and great care must be taken in order to prevent molding or souring. Overheating must also be avoided. When well cured the roots should be stored in a dry, airy place until ready for sale. A market may be found with the wholesale drug dealers, some of whom make a specialty of buying ginseng root for export.

The price of cultivated ginseng roots, as quoted in wholesale drug lists, ranges from $1.50 to $8 a pound, according to quality and freedom from disease.

Further details respecting the culture of ginseng are given in a Farmers' Bulletin now in press, entitled "Ginseng Culture," and in Farmers' Bulletin 736, entitled "Ginseng Diseases and Their Control."