Edible Products, 



128 



[August, 19U9 



country the land is ploughed two or three 

 times before the rhizomes are planted, 

 and these are usually placed about 9 

 inches apart in parallel furrows 15 inches 

 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 irrigation. During the first 

 three months of the dry season the field 

 is weeded about three times. 



Collection and Preparation op the 

 Rhizomes.—" 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. The 

 rhizomes are known to be ready for dig- 

 ging when the stalk withers, this taking 

 place shortly after the disappearance 

 of the flowers. The plant flowers in 

 September in Jamaica. The rhizomes 

 are twisted out of the ground with a 

 fork. In performing this operation 

 great care is necessary, as any injury 

 inflicted on the rhizomes depreciates 

 their market value. Considerable ex- 

 perience is necessary in order to lift gin- 

 ger rhizomes properly. 



The " hands " (complete rhizomes and 

 adherent fibrous roots) are piled in 

 heaps, the fibrous roots are broken 

 off, and the soil and dirt removed im- 

 mediately, as otherwise it is difficult 

 to get the finised ginger white. The 

 roots should not be allowed to lie in heaps 

 long as they are liable to ferment. The 

 usual plan is, as soon as the roots and 

 excess of soil have been removed, to 

 throw the ginger into water to be ready 

 for " peeling or scraping." This is done 

 by means of a special knife consisting 

 merely of a narrow straight blade rivet- 

 ed to a wooden handle. The operation 

 of peeling is a very delicate one, the ob- 

 ject being to remove the skin without 

 destroying the cells immediately below 

 it, since these cells contain much of the 

 oil upon which the aroma of the best 

 qualities of ginger depends. As fast as 

 the roots are peeled they are thrown 

 into water, and washed, and the more 

 carefully the washing is done the whiter 

 will be the resulting product. As a rule 

 the peeled "hands" are allowed to re- 

 main in water overnight. Some planters 

 in Jamaica add a small proportion of 

 lime juice to the wash- water at this 

 stage. After washing, the peeled rhi- 

 zomes are placed in a " barbecue," which 

 consists merely of a piece of levelled 

 ground covered with cement, on which 

 the ginger is placed to dry in the sun. 

 Where a "barbecue" is not available a 



"mat," consisting of sticks driven into 

 the ground across which are laid boards, 

 palms or banana leaves on which the 

 ginger is exposed until it is dry, is used. 

 Careful planters put their ginger out 

 daily at sunrise and take it in each night 

 at sundown ; conducted in the latter 

 way the operation of drying takes from 

 six to eight days. 



The finished ginger is graded accord- 

 ing to size and colour of the "hands," 

 the best grades consisting of the large 

 plump " hands " free from traces of mil- 

 dew, and the poorestthe shrivelled dark- 

 coloured "hands." As a rule the crop 

 is divided into four or five grades. The 

 best " hands " obtained in Jamaica weigh 

 as much as eight ounces, four ounces 

 being an average Weight. 



Unpeeled ginger is merely freed from 

 its rootlets and excess of soil and then 

 thoroughly washed in water and finally 

 dried in the sun. Much of the Cochin 

 ginger is placed on the market in an un- 

 peeled condition, but the best grades are 

 peeled in the same fashion as in Jamaica 

 and fetch similar prices in the United 

 Kingdom. 



Soil and Manure. 



Comparatively little attention has been 

 paid to the nature of the soil best suited 

 to ginger cultivation, and to the kind 

 of manure which should be employed to 

 fertilise soils exhausted by ginger crops. 

 In Jamaica the primitive plan of clear- 

 ing forest lands by fire has been largely 

 followed, and on this cleared land ginger 

 is grown until the soil becomes exhaust- 

 ed, when it is abandoned and a new 

 piece of land put into cultivation. This 

 wasteful method has resulted in the pro- 

 duction of large tracts of exhausted 

 land which are no longer under culti- 

 vation in the Colony, and the reclam- 

 ation of which is still an unsolved pro- 

 blem. (See Kilmer, "Bulletin, Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, Jamaica," 1898, 

 V., p. 241.) 



In Cochin, on the other hand, manur- 

 ing is regularly practised, the manures 

 generally employed being oil-cake or 

 dung. The principal constituents re- 

 moved from the soil by ginger are stated 

 to be lime, phosphoric acid and soda, 

 and it is the replacement of these consti- 

 tuents which should be aimed at. The 

 soil should be readily permeable by 

 water, as if this collects about the rhi- 

 zome, the latter is apt to rot. The best 

 varieties of Jamaica ginger are grown 

 on a sandy loam, and in India the ginger 

 produced on the compact black soils is 

 said to be poorer than that grown on 

 the lighter sandy soils. 



