PEPPER, GINGER 



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they are trained up the trunks of such trees as the mango 

 or cashew-nut. In three years' time they begin to bear fruit, 

 and they go on bearing for twelve years ; then they are cut 

 down and fresh ones planted. 



SOURCES OF SUPPLY. Although Malabar pepper is the most 

 famous and is considered the best, we import most from 

 the Malay Peninsula, though Bombay, Ceylon, and Kenya 

 Colony also send us considerable supplies. Of our tota 

 imports more than half come from 

 countries within the empire. 



GINGER (Zingiber Officinale). 

 The ginger which we buy in shops is 

 the rhizome, or underground stem of 

 the plant called Zingiber officinale. 

 When a new plantation is made, 

 pieces of these rhizomes are planted 

 in the earth, and from each joint 

 two different kinds of stems spring 

 up. First the leaf -stalk sprouts and 

 grows to a height of two or three 

 feet, and then the flower-stalk 

 shoots up. It does not grow so tall 

 as the leaf -stalk, rarely attaining 

 more than a foot in height. 



The flowers come out from between the scales of a little cone ; 

 their corolla is orange-yellow ; they are small and soon wither. 

 When the leaves and flowers are faded, the rhizomes are con- 

 sidered ready for harvesting and they are dug up. They are 

 full of joints and knots and are very solid and tough ; outside 

 they are brown, but inside pale yellow. When all the earth has 

 been removed, they are well washed, and the little roots are 

 cut away, after which they are thoroughly dried in the sun. 



CULTIVATION. Ginger requires a hot climate and a rich soil, 

 and a good supply of moisture. It is considered to be a native 

 of tropical Asia, whence it was from early times exported to 

 Europe. In the spice trade of the Middle Ages it stood next 



PEPPER BERRIES 



