July, 1912.] 



27 



Edible Products, 



a sandy loam, and in India the ginger 

 produced on the compact black soils is 

 said to be inferior to that grown on the 

 lighter sandy loams. The amount of 

 sand should probably be not more than 

 30 per cent., and of clay not above 20 

 per cent. 



In Jamaica the primitive plan of clear- 

 ing forest lands by fire was largely 

 followed, and on this cleared land ginger 

 was grown until the soil became exhaus- 

 ted, when it was abandoned and a new 

 piece of land put into cultivation. This 

 wasteful method resulted in the produc- 

 tion of large tracts of exhausted land, 

 which could only be brought under culti- 

 vation once more after considerable 

 expenditure on chemical manures. In 

 order to avoid this wasteful method of 

 using land, experiments were carried out 

 by the Jamaica Agricultural Society 

 with a view to ascertaining the most 

 suitable manures for ginger. A mixture 

 composed of marl, with 10 per cent, each 

 of soluble phosphates, ammonia, and 

 potash salts, applied at the rate of one 

 ton per acre, gave the best results. On 

 worn-out land a yield equivalent to 2,960 

 lb. of ginger per acre was obtained with 

 this manure, whilst on the unmanured, 

 exhausted land the plants hardly grew, 

 and gave no return. 



In Cochin (India) manuring is regularly 

 practised, the manures generally em- 

 ployed being oil-cake and dung. In 

 Bengal old and well-decayed cow-dung 

 is applied at the time of the first plough- 

 ing, and during growth the ground is 

 top-dressed with musfcard-cake and 

 castor-cake. The principal constituents 

 removed from the soil by ginger are 

 stated to be lime, phosphoric acid and 

 soda, and it is the replacement of these 

 constituents which should be aimed at. 



Cultivation. 

 Two methods of cultivation are adop- 

 ted. That by which the best ginger is 

 obtained consists in planting in March 

 or April (in Jamaica) portions of selected 

 rhizomes from the previous year's crop, 

 care being taken that each portion of 

 rhizome planted contains an "eye 



(embryo stem), These portions of rhi- 

 zome are placed a few inches below the 

 surface of the prepared soil and about 

 one foot apart, the process being much 

 the same as that observed in planting 

 potatoes. It is advisable to thoroughly 

 clear the land of weeds before planting 

 the rhizomes, as the removal of weeds 

 becomes difficult later on when the 

 ginger plants have developed. Unless 

 the rainfall is good it is necessary to 

 resort to irrigation, as the plants require 

 a good supply of water. The ginger pro- 

 duced in the foregoing way is known as 

 "plant ginger." 



" Ratoon ginger" is obtained by leav- 

 ing in the soil from year to year a portion 

 of a rhizome containing an " eye," This 

 " eye " developes in the normal way, 

 giving rise to a supply of rhizomes in the 

 succeeding season. " Ratoon ginger " is 

 smaller and contains more fibre than 

 " plant ginger," and the product obtain- 

 ed by this means is said to deteriorate 

 steadily from year to year. 



The foregoing relates mainly to the 

 cultivation of ginger as followed in 

 Jamaica. The plan adopted in Cochin 

 (India) differs from it but little. In the 

 latter country the land is ploughed two 

 or three times before the rhizomes are 

 planted, and these are usually placed 

 about nine inches to one foot apart. The 

 field is then covered over with the leaves 

 of trees or other green manure to keep the 

 soil moist, and over the leaves organic 

 manure is spread to a depth of about 

 half an inch. At the end of the rainy 

 season it is necessary to resort to irriga- 

 tion. During the first three months of 

 the dry season the field is weeded about 

 three times. 



Collection and Preparation of 

 the Rhizomes. 



"Ratcon ginger" matures early, and 

 in Jamaica is harvested from March to 

 December, but " plant ginger" is not 

 ready for digging until December or 

 January,the rhizomes being gathered as 

 they ripen from then until March. The 

 rhizomes are known to be ready for dig- 

 igng when the stalks wither, this taking 



