28 



is kept full of boiling water ; the picked ginger, being divided 

 into small parcels, is laid in baskets, and plunged alternately 

 in the water, where it is suffered to stay for the space of 10 or 

 15 minutes. It is then spread on a platform for drying, but 

 care is taken during the process to change the water so soon as 

 it becomes much impregnated with the juices of the roots. The 

 white sort differs but little from the black roots ; the white is 

 never scalded, but, instead of this process, they are picked, 

 scraped, and washed one at a time, and then dried ; all which 

 requires too much pains and time for any real advantage to be 

 gained in the properties, though being made more agreeable to 

 the eye, the price of the white is much higher in the market. 

 When the root is intended for a sugar-preserve, it is dug while 

 tender and full of juice — the stems at this time rarely exceed 5 

 or 6 inches in height ; the root is carefully picked, washed, and 

 afterwards scalded, till it is sufficiently tender ; it is then put 

 into cold water, peeled and scraped gradually. This operation 

 may last three or four days, during which it is commonly kept 

 in water, which is frequently changed, as well for cleanliness 

 as to extract more of its native acrimony. After this prepara- 

 tion it is laid in unglazed jars and covered with a thin syrup, 

 which in two or three days is shifted and a richer put in 

 This is sometimes removed for a third or a fourth, but more 

 than three are seldom requisite. The shifted syrups are not 

 lost, for in Jamaica they are diluted with water and fermented 

 into a pleasant liquor, called ' cool drink,' with some mixture of 

 the 'Chaw-stick' (Gouania dominigensia) , Lignum vitee 

 (Guiacum officinale), and sugar." 



In the Agricultural News of Barbados I find the following : — 



"Mr. A.J. Jordan, the Agricultural Instructor in Mont- 

 serrat, has supplied the following information with regard to 

 an experiment in Ginger cultivation in that island : — The plot 

 at the Grove Experiment Station, which had an area of one- 

 fifth of an acre, was reaped on March 3rd, and gave a yield of 

 rhieomes (roots) at the rate of 14,307 lb. per acre. The land 

 was spaded and the sets planted in April, 1903. After planting 

 a mulch of three tons of pen manure was applied. Six weed- 

 ings were given — two in May, one in June, two in July, and one 

 in September. The total cost was as follows : — 



Spading land ... 



Planting 



Spreading manure 



Eight tons of pen manure 



Weeding 



Digging, weighing, storing 



Total 



10 



6 



7 







2 



1* 











10 







10 











8 



10 







14 



4 



12 



2 



si 



