400 
SPICES 
CHAP. 
seems to flower somewhat regularly, and in Jamaica it 
is common, but it is seldom that one sees the flowers in 
the Malay Peninsula. When ready for lifting it is dug 
up carefully with a fork, care being taken not to bruise 
or break it in so doing. When lifted, the hands or 
rhizomes are thrown into heaps, the roots broken off, 
and soil and any other matter adhering to them at once 
removed. This must be done quickly as, if the ginger 
dries with the roots and dirt upon it, it will not become 
white. The rhizomes are thrown immediately into a 
dish of water in Jamaica, and are then ready for peeling. 
Manures . — Ginger is a plant which requires a good 
deal of manuring, even in the best of soils, and even 
in India, where manure is comparatively seldom used 
for country crops, manure of some sort is invariably 
applied. In Malabar the manuring is done first, at the 
time of planting, the manure, cow-dung, being put into 
the holes when the sets are planted. Besides this, 
however, the beds are afterwards covered with a thick 
layer of green leaves, which protects the young plants 
from excessive dampness, which might be caused by the 
violent rainfall of the monsoon, while their decom- 
position gradually aids in supplying nutriment to the 
growing plants. The leaves for this purpose are care- 
fully selected, as those from certain trees are supposed 
to form breediug-grounds for obnoxious insects. 
In Bombay manure is first applied when the plants 
are about 1 ft. tall, and for this purpose oil-cake is used 
at the rate of 5 lbs. to each bed (the beds being 13^ ft. 
long and ^ ft. broad). This manuring is repeated twice 
more, in August and September. The first two layers 
of manure are not covered with soil, but the third one 
is covered in. 
In the Khandesh district the manure used is stated 
to be equal parts of horse, cow, and sheep-dung mixed. 
In Bengal at the time of ploughing 30 maunds (840 lbs.) 
of well-rotted dung is applied to 1 bigha (1,600 square 
yards), and later the ground is top-dressed with 10 
maunds of oil-cake. 
