252 TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



tivated in ridges or raised beds and the yield is about 2,ooa 

 pounds per acre. 



In harvesting this crop the roots are washed, heated in earth- 

 enware pots, and then dried in the sun for a week or more. 

 In India, turmeric roots are used fresh in the preparation of 

 curry. Dried turmeric is used in curry powder and for color- 

 ing pickled preparations and sweet meats. Turmeric is also 

 employed to some extent as a dyestuflf. A number of other 

 species of the same genus, C. aromatica, C. caulina, C. angustp- 

 folia, and C. amada, have been used as a source of starch, 

 spice, condiment, dyestuff, cosmetics, and drugs. 



Zedoary (C zedoaria) was once quite widely used as a 

 spice but is now employed only by the natives of East Indies 

 in curry powder. The lesser galangal (Alpinia oMcinarum), 

 belonging to the same family, produces red roots. This plant 

 is cultivated only in China. It is used in Russia in medicine 

 and for flavoring beer, vinegar, and liqueurs. The greater 

 galangal (A. galanga) is cultivated in Malaya and Java. It 

 develops a very large root with a buff flesh which is used in 

 curries and native medicine. 



VANIIJA 



Vanilla is one of the few important spice plants which 

 were found indigenous in tropical America. The plant from 

 which practically all of the commercial product is obtained 

 is (Vanilla planifolia) native of Mexico and Central America. 

 The vanilla is a large, climbing orchid, with shiny, succulent 

 leaves 4 to 8 inches long, and racemes of large pale green 

 flowers. The plant was first used as a spice by the Aztecs, 

 and is now cultivated throughout the Tropics, ranging 20° 

 north and south of the Equator. Vanilla requires a hot, moist 

 climate and much humus in the soil about the roots. Trees, 

 stakes, or trellises for support are distinctly required in the 

 cultivation of this plant. Vanilla is propagated only by cut- 



