9 
with specimens of the roots (properly rhizomes) forwarded to the 
Director of Kew sitet for a study of them to be made there, where 
they can be compared with other kinds, or with specimens of the same 
The specimens which I procured were, without doubt, Zingiber 
officinale, the species commonly in cultivation in other parts of the 
world. 
It is, however, possible that some other plant, which is not a true 
ginger, may be used in making the celebrated Canton preserv 
but all the information which I have yet obtained points to the species 
Zingiber officinale as the only kind which the Chinese use for this 
purpose. 
The ginger cultivated on the Lo-Fau Mountains has a wide reputa- 
tion amongst the Chinese as being of unusual efficacy in medicine; 
this superior quality may, however, be derived merely from peculiarity 
of soil or climate, which communicate to the plant exceptional pro- 
perties. 
Dr. H. А. Atrorp NrionuoLrs, F.L.S., to ROYAL GARDENS, Kew. 
Extract. 
Dominica, West Indies, 
Mx prar Mr. Morr July 5, 1890 
I HAVE succeeded in Е: the Chinese Ginger at Saint 
Aroment, and I send you a botanical specimen (taken from a shoot aly 
41 feet high) by this be You will be enabled бой t his specimen to 
ч арш, the plant, and I hope I: may be first in the field. I was 
€ first to get the Yoruba indigo to flower, but foolishly I did not send 
speci other specimens of Chinese Ginger 
Sowers pressing, and you can have hem if m wish. 
(Signed) UH A. ALFORD NICHOLLS. 
SUPERINTENDENT, BOTANICAL AND AFFORESTATION DEPARTMENT, 
Hone Kone, to Котлт, GARDENS, Kew. 
баай 
DEAR Tel Hong Kong, July 10, 1890. 
* Chinese esce ” enm you had at Kew, and sent to 
write about this when the fruit has “matured, when I will write fally 
on thè subject. Dr. Trimen fornei me that it would not fruit in 
Ceylon. 
Yours, &с. 
W. T. Thiselton Dyer, Esq., C.M.G. (Signed) CHARLES Fonp. 
