Mrs. Porter
learned from the United States Pharmacopaeia and from various other
sources that the drug was used mostly by the Chinese, and with a
wholly mistaken idea of its properties. The strongest thing any
medical work will say for ginseng is that it is "~a very mild and
soothing drug." It seems that the Chinese buy and use it in
enormous quantities, in the belief that it is a remedy for almost
every disease to which humanity is heir; that it will prolong life,
and that it is a wonderful stimulant. Ancient medical works make
this statement, laying special emphasis upon its stimulating
qualities. The drug does none of these things. Instead of being a
stimulant, it comes closer to a sedative. This investigation set
the author on the search for other herbs that now are or might be
grown as an occupation. Then came the idea of a man who should grow
these drugs professionally, and of the sick girl healed by them.
"I could have gone to work and started a drug farm myself," remarks
Mrs. Porter, "with exactly the same profit and success as the
Harvester. I wrote primarily to state that to my personal
knowledge, clean, loving men still exist in this world, and that no
man is forced to endure the grind of city life if he wills
otherwise. Any one who likes, with even such simple means as herbs
he can dig from fence corners, may start a drug farm that in a
short time will yield him delightful work and independence. _I_
wrote the book as _I_ thought it should be written, to prove my
points and establish my contentions.
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