260 BACON. 



tuber are placed on the ridges in holes about 7 to 10 centimeters deep, and 25 

 to 30 centimeters apart, which are well filled up with earth so that the tubers 

 lying in the holes do not decay. 



The harvest commences when the parts which are above the ground are 

 withering, which is usually the case after nine to eleven months; the tubers 

 are then removed from the soil. The further treatment always begins with 

 cutting off the roots from the carefully washed tubers. From that point the 

 treatment varies, according as it is desired to prepare either dried or preserved 

 ginger. In the dried ginger a distinction is again made between peeled or white, 

 and unpeeled or black ginger. 



In preparing peeled ginger, only the thinnest possible skin may be removed, 

 as the aromatic constituents are present in the portion close below the epidermis. 

 After peeling, the tubers are immediately placed again in clean water in which 

 they are left overnight, and are then again dried. As in the case of peeled 

 ginger, great value is attached to a bright and, as much as possible to a white 

 color. Chemical agents (chloride of lime, plaster of Paris) have been tried to 

 improve the color of the ginger tubers but it is strongly advised not to do this. 



The unpeeled ginger, after having been carefully cleaned, is immediately dried. 



The preparation of preserved ginger takes place as follows : The washed, boiled, 

 and peeled tubers are placed in earthenware vessels, and a boiling solution of 

 sugar (1 kilo sugar to 2 liters water) is immediately poured over them. After 

 twenty-four hours this solution is drained off, heated and poured back into the 

 vessel. This is repeated after two days. The ginger can then be taken out of 

 the solution of sugar, and dried or sent away directly in jars. 



The yield from a ginger field amounts to about 1,100 to 1,700 kilos per 

 hectare, but it is said that, exceptionally, 2,200 kilos per hectare have been 

 gathered. At the price of ginger a considerable profit per acre might be expected, 

 but the cultivation requires much manual labor which makes it too expensive to 

 giow ginger on plantations ; moreover, the ginger plants very greatly exhaust 

 the soil, so that repeated cultivation on the same soil is only possible with a 

 considerable amount of fertilization. 



The dried root is valued at 20 to 30 shillings per hundredweight on the London 

 market, and London brokers say that ginger root must be quite dry in order to 

 be saleable on that market. 



Spice ginger is the ground rootstock. Preserved ginger root is prepared by 

 boiling the roots in water and curing with sugar. Much of this commodity 

 comes from Canton. Extract of Jamaica ginger is made by extracting the ground 

 roots with strong alcohol. The residue left in the production of the extract of 

 Jamaica ginger or of ginger ale is termed exhausted ginger and is used as an 

 adulterant in ground spice. 



It appears that certain .kinds of ginger are more suitable for distilla- 

 tion than others. Schimmel and Company distill only the African variety, 

 imported from Liberia, as it contains from two to three times as much 

 oil as Jamaica ginger. 



Recent quotations in the United States are : Jamaica unbleached ginger 

 root, 12 to 15 cents pe.r pound; Jamaica bleached, 16 to 17. 



Under the Payne Bill tariff, unmanufactured ginger is placed on the 

 free list. 



