18 
which mistake, supposing that one has been made, "y cul in the 
dissemination of what appears to be misleading informa 
Ihave taken the first opportunity ve had since i thë receipt of 
No. 49 of the Bulletin of See: ; yon with this information, which 
I am sure you will be glad to receiv 
I am, &c. 
(Signed) CHARLES FORD. 
W. T. Thiselton Dyer, Esq., C.M.G., &c., 
Royal Gardens, Kew. 
Exrract from the Annuar Report on the BOTANICAL and Arro- 
RESTATION DEPARTMENT (Howe Kone) for the year 1890, by 
CnanLEs Forp, F.L.S., Superintendent. 
he copelasian arrived at in the article in the Kew Bulletin is that 
cory Mr. heme AIR sent from Swatow to Kew a case of pnis alleged 
Chin inge d which have turned out ipinia 
31D, Willd. This evidence, however, has, I fear, afforded nothing 
of value, except of a negative nature, towards proving the source of 
through the delta south of Canton, I saw ginger extensively cultivated 
and flowering freely in the rich alluvial lands. I obtained complete 
KA epos for the herbarium, and they were without doubt the true 
"he C hinese ginger is apparently more succulent, and the rhizomes 
are of a lace size p an the West Indian article, but there is no specific. 
distinetion | in the 
I cannot but oe at Mr. PraxrAIR, while endeavouring to render 
a useful erie, was the innocent agent of a wrong conclusion having 
been arrived at through the natives zho supplied him with the plants, 
which were sent to Kew, having brought in the wrong kind. The 
natives themselves were also pr obably innocent of any intention to 
deceive, a mistake possibly having arisen from the Chinese name of true 
different genera of plants. The rhizomes of t ginger and of 
mos Sedi Curcumas are all classed generically by the Chinese 
me “Keung.” Zingiber officinale, Linn., is “T: u 
; Alpinia Galanga, Wilid., ** Leung Keung”; and Curcuma 
eae Ci) W eung." It is obvious, when these names are 
considered ^ for Bre ‘the word “Keung” only is often used), 
is may have occurred when dealing with a native 
engaged to procure dic There is also another fact to show that the 
m 
value in the olas, Md of the source of Chinese ginger. ‘This. 
article is not preserved at Swatow (which is 200 miles in a direct line. 
P j 
pans ite is no information to show that it is exported to these places. 1 . 
lieve unen and Hong Kong are the only places where this preserve- . 
