XIII 



GINGER 393 



CULTIVATION 



Qlimate^ The [area] in which ginger can be and has 

 been successfully cultivated is perhaps larger than that 

 occupied by any other spiCS"; Although there are a good 

 many regions in which it might be grown, but which 

 have as yet not produced any quantities. In India, 

 both in the low country and up to an elevation of 4,000 

 to 5,000 ft. in the Himalayas, in the wet regions of the 

 Malay Peninsula and the Malay Archipelago, in China 

 round Canton, in Fiji and North Australia, in West 

 Africa and as far south as Natal, and in the West Indies 

 and Central America, it thrives and is cultivated suc- 

 cessfully. 



It does best, perhaps, where there is a resting period | 

 of dry weather, but samples grown in the rain -forest 

 region of Malaya, where there is no dry season, would be \ 

 difficult to beat anywhere. 



It requires a tropical or sub-tropical region, where 

 the temperature is high for at least part of the year, 

 but it thrives at Canton, where the winter temperature 

 is very low. Brilliant sunshine is necessary for it, as weBH 

 as a heavy rainfall. In the ginger region of Jamaica 

 the mean annual rainfall is given by Kilmer as 88 in., 

 while that of the Malay Peninsula is about 98. 



f Soils. -ThaJbeat soil for ginger is a light, free, sandy 

 Jbajiul Stiff clays or coarse sands are quite unsuitable 

 for its cultivation. In the Straits Settlements, where 

 the soil mostly consists of a stiff yellow clay, deficient 

 in lime, phosphorus, and potash, the Chinese grow it 

 successfully by thoroughly digging the soil over and 

 working the manure, chiefly cow-dung, into the soil 

 till it is thoroughly broken up and pulverised. With- 

 out such improvement the plant fails to grow or to 

 produce good rhizomes. The ginger soil of Jamaica is~7 

 thus described by Kilmer : " The underlying soil of this / 

 district consists of white and yellow limestone, with / 

 trappean formations. This is covered, in some of the I 

 nooks or valleys, with a pulverulent mould or loam 1 



