XIII 
GINGER 
393 
CULTIVATION 
Climate . — The area in which ginger can be and has 
been successfully cultivated is perhaps larger than that 
occupied by any other spice ; although there are a good 
many regions in which it might be grown, but which 
have as yet not produced any quantities. In India, 
both in the low country and up to an elevation of 4,000 
to 5,000 ft. in the Himalayas, in the wet regions of the 
Malay Peninsula and the Malay Archipelago, in China 
round Canton, in Fiji and North Australia, in West 
Africa and as far south as Natal, and in the West Indies 
and Central America, it thrives and is cultivated suc- 
cessfully. 
It does best, perhaps, where there is a resting period 
of dry weather, but samples grown in the rain -forest 
region of Malaya, where there is no dry season, would be 
difficult to beat anywhere. 
It requires a tropical or sub-tropical region, where 
the temperature is high for at least part of the year, 
but it thrives at Canton, where the winter temperature 
is very low. Brilliant sunshine is necessary for it, as well 
as a heavy rainfall. In the ginger region of Jamaica 
the mean annual rainfall is given by Kilmer as 88 in., 
while that of the Malay Peninsula is about 98. 
Soils . — The best soil for ginger is a light, free, sandy 
loam. Stiff clays or coarse sands are quite unsuitable 
for its cultivation. In the Straits Settlements, where 
the soil mostly consists of a stiff yellow clay, deficient 
in lime, phosphorus, and potash, the Chinese grow it 
successfully by thoroughly digging the soil over and 
working the manure, chiefly cow-dung, into the soil 
till it is thoroughly broken up and pulverised. With- 
out such improvement the plant fails to grow or to 
produce good rhizomes. The ginger soil of Jamaica is 
thus described by Kilmer : “ The underlying soil of this 
district consists of white and yellow limestone, with 
trappean formations. This is covered, in some of the 
nooks or valleys, with a pulverulent mould or loam 
