208 GINGER CLOVE. 



in chests and bundles from China and other places in the East. Vast 

 quantities are brought to Canton from near Kwei Lin Too, the city of 

 Cassia trees* A particular kind is said to be so much esteemed by 

 the Chinese as to command $10 a pound, there. Another fine kind is 

 met with, for which $100 is paid per catty (1 \ lb.). These do not get 

 abroad. The best is cut in the 3d or 4th moon, and the 2d sort in the 

 6th or 7th moon, and the buds in the 8th or 9t.h. Malabar cassia lignea 

 is much inferior, and cinnamon is exported for it. Cassia buds 

 resemble cloves, but are inferior in odor and flavor to cinnamon. 75,- 

 000 pounds are imported into G. Britain annually, and in 1830, 837,- 

 586 Ibs. of cassia were imported; but in 1840, 64,000 pounds only. 

 Cassia contains the same substances as cinnamon, and its effects are 

 similar. The oil of cassia, spirits and tincture, are used medicinally. 



GINGER, Zingabar officinal, a native plant of Asia and of S. America, 

 or early introduced by the Spanish. It is largely imported from thence, 

 as well as from the W. Indies. That from the latter is superior to 

 the E. Indian. The roots, and as a dried preserve, are the forms in 

 which it is imported. It is an annual with a perennial root. As im- 

 ported it is black or white ; but this difference depends on the mode of 

 preparation. The tuberous roots are taken up when the stalks wither, 

 and, for the black ginger, they are scalded in boiling water, and dried 

 in the sun ; but for the white, the best roots are taken, though not 

 scalded, but cleanly scraped and carefully dried. This is the best, and 

 bears the highest price. The root is dug young for preserves, washed 

 in cold water, and peeled; then repeatedly washed, and put into jars 

 and covered with weak syrap of sugar, which is replaced in a day or 

 two by a stronger, and again replaced. The syrup is afterwards fer- 

 mented into a cooling drink. It is cultivated in a similar manner to 

 the potato. The properties of ginger will be spoken of under the head 

 of medicinal plants. 



CLOVE, caryophyllatus arromaticus, C.12, O.I. This is a celebrated 

 tree 15 to 30 feet high, a native of the Molucca Islands, where the na- 

 tives have made its fruit an article of profitable traffic from very early 

 periods. 300 years ago Europeans were ignorant of its locality, although 

 they have used it for 2000 years. Cloves were brought as merchandize 

 from Persia, Arabia, and Egypt, to the Mediterranean ports, where 

 they were purchased by the Venetians and Genoese. But, in 1511 the 

 place of production was discovered by the Portuguese, who, soon af- 

 terwards, were driven from the Moluccas by the Dutch, who monopo- 

 lized the trade. They are said to have destroyed the trees on all but 

 one island ; and then the natives were compelled to cultivate 125 trees 

 on each of 4000 parcels of land ; so that on this small island (Am- 

 boyna) there were 500,000 clove trees, each averaging annually 2 Ibs. 

 of cloves, and the whole more than a million Ibs. But it has lately 

 been cultivated on other islands, and even in the W. Indies. 



TV .. ^io V t-o a resembles the bay tree ; it is very beautiful, with 



