415 



proved by tlie statements of Eumpliius (" Herb. Amb.," lib. 8, cap, 

 xix., p. 156), that there are two varieties of the plant, the white 

 and the red. Moreover Dr. "Wright (" Lond. Med. Journal," 

 vol. viii.) says that two sorts are cultivated in Jamaica, viz., 

 the white and the black ; and, he adds, " black ginger has the most 

 numerous and largest roots." 



The rhizome, called in commerce ginger root, occurs in llattish= 

 branched or lobed palmate pieces, called races^ which do not ex- 

 ceed four inches in length. Several varieties, distinguished by 

 their color and place of growth, are met with. The finest is that 

 brought from Jamaica. A great part of that found in the shops 

 has been washed in whiting and water, under the pretence of pre- 

 serving it from insects. 



The dark colored kinds are frequently bleached with chloride of 

 lime. Barbados ginger is in shorter flatter races, of a darker 

 color, and covered with a corrugated epidermis. African ginger 

 is in smallish races, which have been partially scraped, and are 

 pale colored. East India ginger is un scraped ; its races are dark 

 ash colored externally, and are larger than those of the African 

 ginger. Tellichery ginger is in large plump races, with a re- 

 markable reddish tint externally, 



Jamaica black ginger is not frequently found in the shops. The 

 Malabar dark ginger is in uriscraped short pieces, which have a 

 horny appearance internally, and are of a dirty brown color both 

 internally and externally. 



Ginger is imported in bags weighing about a hundred-weight. 



The Malabar ginger exported from Calicut is the produce of 

 the district of Shernaad, situated in the south of CaKcut ; a place 

 chiefly inhabited by Moplas, who look upon the ginger cultivation 

 as a most valuable and profitable trade, which in fact it is. The 

 soil of Shernaad is so very luxuriant, and so well suited for the 

 cultivation of ginger, that it is reckoned the best, and in fact 

 the only place in Malabar where ginger grows and thrives to 

 perfection. Gravelly grounds are considered unfit ; the same may 

 be said of swampy ones, and whilst the former check the growth 

 of the ginger, the latter tend in a great measure to rot the root ; 

 thus the only suitable kind of soil is that which, being red earth, is 

 yet free from gravel, and the sod good and heavy. The cultivation 

 generally commences about the middle of May, after the ground 

 has undergone a thorough process of ploughing, harrowing, &c. 



At the commencement of the monsoons, beds of ten or twelve 

 feet long by three or four feet wide are formed, and in these beds 

 small holes are dug at three-fourths to one foot apart, which are 

 filled with manure. The roots, hitherto carefully buried under 

 sheds, are dug out, the good ones picked from those which are 

 affected by the moisture, or any other concomitant of a half- 

 year's exclusion from the atmosphere, and the process of clipping 

 them into suitable sizes for planting performed by cutting the 

 ginger into pieces of an inch and a half to two inches long. These 

 are then buried in the holes, which have been previously manured. 



