PHILIPPINE TERPENES AND ESSENTIAL OILS, IV. 259 



OIL OF ZINGIBER OFFICINALE liOSC. 



The ginger plant is found in all parts of the Philippines, being culti- 

 vated by the natives in small patches for use as a condiment for food. 

 It is not grown on a large scale and, so far as I can discover, ginger has 

 never been exported. I made two experiments on the distillation of 

 native ginger roots. In the first one, 50 kilos of the chopped roots 

 gave only 25 grams of oil. For the second,. 132 kilos were purchased in 

 the market at Malabon at 22 centavos, (11 cents United States currency) 

 per kilo and immediately distilled. There were obtained 95 grams (0.072 

 per cent) of a light yellow oil, having the odor of ginger and also a 

 strong smell, much like that of orange-peel oil. This oil had the follow- 



ing properties : Specific gravity ^r^ 0.8850 ; refractive index, X -=r- 



30° 

 1.4830; optical rotation, A -y- 5.°9; saponification number, 14. 



It is easily and completely soluble in two or more volumes of 90 per 

 cent alcohol. 



It is seen that oil from the Philippine ginger differs quite markedly 

 in its properties from that distilled from the Jamaica or African varieties 

 and resembles some Japanese oils examined by Schimmel and Company * 

 in its ready solubility in 90 per cent alcohol, and its negative optical 

 rotation. 



As there have been many inquiries at the laboratory with regard to 

 the planting of ginger and its utilization, I also present the following- 

 data on this subject. 



Zimmermann ° publishes in classified form the results of the observations and 

 experience up to the present day on the cultivation and preparation of ginger. 

 The mother-plant of ginger, which is indigenous to tropical Asia and is cultivated 

 in numerous countries of the Tropics, is, as is well known, Zingiber officinale 

 Rose. The rhizomes of this plant contain, according to their derivation, different 

 quantities of essential oil ; whereas African ginger yields 2 to 3 per cent, Jamaica 

 ginger only yields 1.075 per cent essential oil. With regard to the fertility of 

 the soil, the requirements of ginger are fairly high : it must not be too firm, and 

 not swampy. A sandy loam which is also chalky is the most favorable for its 

 cultivation. Ginger is grown exclusively from pieces of rhizomes,, which are 

 kept in dry places and which, shortly before sowing, are cut up in bits from 2.8 

 to 5 centimeters in length, and each piece must have at least one bud. The fields 

 are laid out in the same manner as a potato field, most suitably with ridges 

 of 30 centimeters and furrows of about 68 centimeters in width. The pieces of 



4 Semi-annual Report. October (1893). 46; Gildemeister & Hoffman. Die 

 Aetherischen Oele (1899), 406. 



5 Communications from the Biologico-Agricultural Institute, Amani. Reprint 

 from the Usurnbara Post (1904), No. 28. 



