113 



Our experiments tend to show that the soil in Trinidad is 

 eminently suited for the growth of this plant, and also that the 

 succulent character of the rhizome, so much valued for manufacturing 

 the preserved " Chinese Ginger," can be produced at will by the 

 application of suitable manure in sufficient quantities. 



It is a cultivation that gives quick returns, and the preparation 

 of the product is very simple and easily learnt ; the chief difficulty 

 being to get the rhizomes dry without becoming mildewed. A most 

 suitable place for such a purpose would be the drying floor of a 

 " cacao house" especially those which have appliances for drying 

 in wet weather. 



The highest price of Jamaica ginger as given in the Pxxblic 

 Ledger Market Reports for 1895 is £5 per cwt. ; while for the cor- 

 responding month of the preceding year the price was £o 10/- per 

 cwt., and the minimum price for the lowest qualities for the same 

 periods was £2 14/- for 1895, and £3 1/- for 1894. 



It is a cultivation suitable for small settlers with families, as the 

 labour of children can be very economically employed in the prepara- 

 tion of the produce. In Trinidad there exists large areas of virgin 

 lands which are well adapted for the production of ginger of first-rate 

 quality, but besides these areas, there is plenty of land available near 

 to villages or townships on which good crops of ginger could be 

 profitably raised. 



Ginger is said to produce crops of 2,000 lbs. to the acre, but if 

 all land could be cultivated as garden plots, much heavier crops than 

 this might reasonably be expected. 



165.-FIBRE FROM THE " GRU-GRU," OR "GROO-GROO" 



PALM. — Acrocomia schrocarpa. 



At the Indian and Colonial Exhibition there was exhibited a 

 fibre said to be prepared from the leaves of the above palm, and on 

 which the experts reported very favourably as follows : — " this fibre 



" IS DISTINGUISHED FROM ALL OTHERS OF ITS CLASS BY ITS REMARKABLE FINE- 

 " NESS AND GREAT STRENGTH, ON WHICH ACCOUNT IT COULD BE USED FOR A 



" VARIETY OF PURPOSES." The fibre was sent from the Island of St. 

 Vincent. 



Wishing to know more of the matter, I wrote Mr. Powell who is 

 in charge of the Botanic Gardens in that Island, and he reports as 

 follows as to the way in which it is prepared : — " The pasture boys 

 turn back a portion (about 3 or 4 inches) of the point of the leaf or 



