GIXGEE. 97 



manner in almost every village, but so little care is bestowed upon 

 the culture and drying that the minimum price is obtained in the 

 local bazaars. Generallv speaking, the roots when taken up 

 receive but a superticial washing, are then smeared with fresh cow- 

 dung and hung in baskets or spread in trays among the rafters of 

 the native huts, the ever-ascending smoke doing the rest. The 

 result is that the turn-out presents a most uninviting aspect, dirty, 

 shrivelled, and, despite the almost constant smoke, the dried tubers 

 are almost invariably riddled with the bamboo-borer insect. If 

 on being dug out, the tubers are thoroughly well scrubbed in water 

 with a hard brush until every earthy particle is removed, and then 

 steeped for a night in a solution of lime water (one ounce of 

 unslaked lime to the gallon), and then well rinsed in clean water 

 and dried slowly in a brick oven at a temperature of 140*^ to 160^ 

 F., it will command a price closely approximating the best Jamaica 

 ginger ; this was ascertained some years ago in the case of some 

 samples so treated on one of the Sylhet plantations. Though 

 ginger may be had as stock from almost any village, the best is 

 procurable from the bazaars frequented by the hill tribes under 

 the foot of the hills." 



The marked difference between the Chinese preserved ginger 

 and that from the West Indies has been the subject of enquiry by 

 the authorities at Kew, as to whether both articles are really the 

 product of the true ginger plant {Zingiber officinale). An 

 interesting account of the investigation is given in the " Kew 

 Bulletin " for January, 1891, p. 5. Mr. AVatson of Kew, appears to 

 have been the first to suggest that the Chinese ginger plant is 

 probably a species of Alpinict, and possibly identical with the Siam 

 ginger plant which was described by Sir J. Hooker in the Botanical 

 Magazine (t. 6,946), in 1887. Mr. J. G. Baker, in working up the 

 ScitaminecB for the " Flora of British India," arrived at the 

 conclusion that it is not distinct from the Aljnnia Galanga, 

 Willd. 



As reg;ards the so-called " Siam Ginger," Mr. Watson of Kew, 

 writing to the ' Gardeners' Chronicle,' July 31, 1886, says : — 

 " Amongst the collection of fruits, etc., shown by the Siam com- 

 mission at the International Health Exhibition, held at South 

 Kensington in 1884, were some roots labelled ' Ginger.' These 

 were obtained for the Kew Museum, but one of them being alive 

 was planted to grow, and it is now bearing stems five feet high, 



H 



