196 



TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



CHAP. 



in size according to the soil, climate, and care in cultivation^ 

 but sometimes they are very large and weigh considerably 

 over half a pound. 



The hands, having been raised from the ground, are 

 divested of the fibrous roots and cleared of all adhering 

 mould and dirt. They are then plunged for some minutes 

 in boiling water so as to destroy their vitality, and after- 

 wards dried in the sun — when they become the ginger of 

 commerce. 



Another method of preparation is as follows : — the larger 

 and better hands, instead of being scalded, are carefully 

 scraped with a knife until the whole of the dark outer skin 

 is removed, and then they are dried in the sun. The pro- 

 duce prepared in this way is known by the names of 

 " scraped," " uncoated," and "white" ginger, in contra-dis- 

 tinction to the " unscraped," " coated," and " black " ginger 

 — which are the terms applied to the spice prepared by 



Bleaching, scalding and drying. The darker kinds are sometimes im- 

 proved in appearance by bleaching, which is effected by ex- 

 posing the spice to the fumes of chloride of lime or burning 



Returns. sulphur. The returns from an acre of land vary consider- 



Preparation 

 of the 

 ginger. 



Scraping. 



The two 

 kinds of 

 ginger. 



crops ought to be 4,ooolbs. and upwards. Ginger may be 

 shipped in barrels or bags, the bags commonly used holding 

 about a hundredweight of the spice. 



Habitat. 



Description 

 of the spice. 



Cardamoms. Elettaria Cardamomum. 



Cardamoms are the produce of a ginger-like plant growing 

 wild in the moist mountain forests of Southern India, Ceylon 

 and Java. Unlike ginger, however, the part of the plant 

 yielding the spice, is the fruit, which consists of triangular, 

 three-celled and three-valved leathery capsules, of a yellow- 

 ish straw colour, enclosing many angular seeds — which have 

 an aromatic odour and a pungent, spicy flavour. Up to now 

 all the cardamoms of commerce come from the East Indies, 



