ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 27, 1994                   TAG: 9407270084
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE                                LENGTH: Short

THIEVES TAKE CROP FROM GINSENG FIELD

While Jesse Woodson, 80, was in Baltimore taking care of his late wife's affairs, thieves uprooted the $42,000 ginseng crop he was hoping to sell for funeral expenses.

Ginseng root sells for about $21 a root, said Sgt. John White of the Albemarle County Police Department. White said someone apparently took the roots from Woodson's 2,000 plants between July 15 and 17 when he was in Baltimore. Woodson's wife died July 5 of cancer.

Woodson says he was left with $15,000 in funeral and medical expenses.

Ginseng takes seven years to mature. Woodson said he became a ginseng farmer four years ago when his cousin gave him 3-year-old herbs. ``It would take two men two days to cut all that,'' Woodson said. ``But they were professionals at it. ... They cut the stalk and put it back in the ground so you wouldn't notice the root was gone for a week.'' 


 by CNB