Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 September 1902 — $18,000 FROM ONE-THIRD ACRE. [ARTICLE]

$18,000 FROM ONE-THIRD ACRE.

The Remarkable Crop of a Michigan Ginseng Farmer. To raise a crop valued at SIB,OOO on one-third of an acre of land is not a common occurrence in Michigan, hut that is what a farmer near Niles has done with hardly more work than the average man will put into the cultivation of an acre of berries. The man is George F. Langworthy of Weaver, a village near Niles. Ginseng is the stuff he has grown. It is six years since Mr. I.angworthy began this work and he now has 50,000 plants on his third of an acre. His annual income from them is far greater than from all other crops on his farm combined, in spite of the fact that his only market is 1?0OO miles away and the ultimate destination of his crop 10,000. For ginseng has no value iu America, save as it" is bought for export into China, where the natives use it for medIclne in every disease from paralysis to paresis. Ginseng grows principally from seed. The part of the plant of commercial importance is the root, which is composed of two parts, the root stulk and the root proper. The. former is slender, seldom one-fourth of an Inch in diameter, and is marked by a number of scars, each representing a year in the life of the plant. As many ns sixty-five of these have been found on a single root stalk. The size and value of the root do not increase with age, however. The root shrinks considerably in drying, losing about two-thirds of its weight. As soon as the fibrous matter is brittle the roots are trimmed uud returned to the dryer to be finished. When thoroughly dry they are carefully packed In boxes to keep them free from dust and vermin, and are shipped to a New York wholesaler, who in turn sells them to the Chinese. The roots bring at their last transfer from $lB to S2O a pound. The amount-shipped from the United States averages more than 300,000 pouuds annually.