400 SPICES 



CHAP. 



seems to flower somewhat regularly, and in Jamaica it 

 is common, but it is seldom that one sees the flowers in 

 the Malay Peninsula. When ready for lifting it is dug 

 up carefully with a fork, care being taken not to bruise 

 or break it in so doing. When lifted, the hands or 

 rhizomes are thrown into heaps, the roots broken off, 

 and soil and any other matter adhering to them at once 

 removed. This must be done quickly as, if the ginger 

 dries with the roots and dirt upon it, it will not become 

 white. The rhizomes are thrown immediately into a 

 dish of water in Jamaica, and are then ready for peeling. 



Manures. Ginger is a plant which requires a good 

 deal of manuring, even in the best of soils, and even 

 in India, where manure is comparatively seldom used 

 for country crops, manure of some sort is invariably 

 applied. In Malabar the manuring is done first, at the 

 time of planting, the manure, cow-dung, being put into 

 the holes when the sets are planted. Besides this, 

 however, the beds are afterwards covered with a thick 

 layer of green leaves, which protects the young plants 

 from excessive dampness, which might be caused by the 

 violent rainfall of the monsoon, while their decom- 

 position gradually aids in supplying nutriment to the 

 growing plants. The leaves for this purpose are care- 

 fully selected, as those from certain trees are supposed 

 to form breeding-grounds for obnoxious insects. 



In Bombay manure is first applied when the plants 

 are about 1 ft. tall, and for this purpose oil -cake is used 

 at the rate of 5 Ibs. to each bed (the beds being 13^ ft. 

 long and ^ ft. broad). This manuring is repeated twice 

 more, in August and September. The first two layers 

 of manure are not covered with soil, but the third one 

 is covered in. 



In the Khandesh district the manure used is stated 

 to be equal parts of horse, cow, and sheep-dung mixed. 

 In Bengal at the time of ploughing 30 maunds (840 Ibs.) 

 of well-rotted dung is applied to 1 bigha (1,600 square 

 yards), and later the ground is top-dressed with 10 

 maunds of oil-cake. 



