Cultures of hairy root induced from ginseng(Panax C.A. Meyer) transformed with Agrobacterium rhizogenes (strain A4, ATCC 15834) were established and morphologically two different hairy root strains (HB1, HB2) were obtained. To determine the optimum growth rate, the hairy root (HB2) was cultured in various liquid medium supplemented with or without plant growth hormone. The growth rate of hairy root cultured on MS medium was 1.3-3.1 times higher than those cultured on other media, and the optimum sucrose concentration and pH were 3-6%, 5.5-6.5, respectively. Also, the growth rate of hairy root was increased when 0.02 M ammonium nitrate, 1.2 mM potassium phosphate (monobasic) and 0.5 mg/l IBA were supplied to liquid medium. The saponin patterns and contents of hairy root (HB2) were determined by TLC and HPLC. The crude saponin contents were 4.67% and the total saponin contents were 1.0%, on dry weight basis.