GINGER. 105 



branching, flat, and of a whitish colour; their breadth 

 about three parts of an inch. There are two varieties, 

 which depend upon the mode employed in preparing them. 

 When the root-stalk or rhizome is about a year old, it is 

 dug up, scalded with boiling water, and then dried j so pre- 

 pared, it is called black ginger. If, in addition to this pro- 

 cess, it is also carefully scraped, so as to remove the wrinkled 

 epidermis, it then receives the name of v;hite ginger, which 

 often in this country undergoes the still further process of 

 bleaching with chloride of lime. 



Although it is fully understood that the mere mode of 

 preparation leads to the above distinction into two sorts, it 

 is thought that there also exist two sorts of the ginger- 

 plant, one yielding darker-coloured races than the other. 

 Thus the East Indian Ginger, though unscraped and un- 

 bleached, is called White Ginger, because its wrinkled epi- 

 dermis is as light-coloured as the African ginger is when 

 carefully scraped. This opinion is supported by the testi- 

 mony of Dr. Wright and other botanists of eminence. 

 The varieties recognized in commerce are — 

 White varieties: — Jamaica White Ginger, Barbadoes 

 Ginger, African Ginger, East Indian Ginger, and Telli- 

 cherrv Ginger. 



