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customs of the country. The most that is ever done is to plough in the 

 weeds and cover the ground with banana trash. . . . 



An all-important feature is the rapid impoverishment of the soil that 

 follows the ginger culture. One planter told me that only ferns would 

 grow on the soil after exhaustion by this crop. There is thus a con- 

 stant demand for virgin soil to secure the best-paying crops. This is 

 attained by sending valuable timber up in smoke, as one authority 

 tersely expressed ifc. " Dried-up streams, general barrenness, in fact a 

 wilderness marks the progress of ginger culture." 



An examination of the exhausted soil revealed the fact that it was 

 deficient in organic matter, lime, phosphoric acid and soda. Attempts 

 made, at my suggestion, to supply these deficiencies by the use of mar- 

 ket fertilisers of various kinds were not productive of any favourable 

 results Stable manure alone resulted in a failure, as likewise did the 

 use of a bat guano found in the island. The use of a marl, especially 

 when mixed with stable manure, was a partial success. 



The solution of the problem of reclaiming land exhausted by the gin- 

 ger and other crops, and the prevention of the further wasteful des- 

 truction of valuable soil, is in Ginger Land one of great moment. 

 There is in this fair island thousands upon thousands of acres of aban- 

 doned land, lying within easy reach of roads and ports ; much of it has 

 been abandoned because the soil has been exhausted by ginger or coffee. 

 If by suitable tillage and manures it can be reclaimed, great benefits to 

 the inhabitants will follow. 



Gringer, as we know it, is the root -stock of the plant. The root pro- 

 per or root fibres are about ^ inch long, not very numerous, dying off as 

 the rhizome advances and leaving a slight scar. As regularly-shaped 

 hands, with more or less straight fingers, command the higher price in 

 markets, experiments were made to secure a regular- shaped growth. 

 The fact was developed that a sprout starts from the parent eye, and 

 from this stem, in turn, lateral shoots or branches develop in pairs. 

 These side branches again develop in pairs, these pairs generally 

 alternating to opposite sides. It was found that if the soil 

 was well worked and pulverized before planting, the growth was 

 straighter than when planted in hard soil. Some difference was noted 

 also m the condition of the parent plant ; if this was well developed and 

 vigorous, the resultant root-stock was of a better type than where the 

 parent was small, knarly and crooked. 



GrATHERING THE GiNGER CrOP. 



Ratoon ginger is gathered from March to December, but planted 

 ginger is not ready for digging until December or January, and from 

 then until March is the " ginger season." 



Ginger is known to be ready for harvest when the stalk withers. 

 This begins shortly after the bloom departs. The rhizomes are twisted 

 out of the ground with a fork. In this operation, every bruise or in- 

 jury to the hands is detrimental to the market value. There is quite a 

 knack in doing this, and it takes long practice to become expert. 



The hands are thrown in heaps, the fibrous roots are broken off. and 

 the soil and adherent matter removed. This must be done quickly 

 after removal from the earth, for, should the ginger be dried with the 

 soil and roots still adhering, the product would not be white, and, if it 



