1 86  Collecting  and  Curing  Ginger.  {^'L™\\v£Fm' 
"  The  difference  in  price  is  due  to  the  quality  of  the  ginger  as  well 
as  to  competition.  A  very  superior  description  is  grown  at  Seafort 
Town  in  Westmoreland  on  the  borders  of  St.  James,  and  owing  to  a 
very  keen  ginger  trade  done  in  Montego  Bay,  where  most  of  this 
commodity  is  taken,  the  Westmoreland  traders  if  desirous  to  com- 
pete, must  be  prepared  to  outbid  the  traders  from  Montego  Bay. 
<(  In  the  Pisgah  Districts  of  this  parish  a  good  quality  of  ginger  is 
cultivated,  which  has  been  known  to  fetch  54  to  58  shillings  in  Black 
River,  but  the  bulk  of  the  ginger  brought  down  to  Black  River  is  of 
an  ordinary  description,  where  there  is  little  or  no  competition, 
which  accounts  for  the  difference  in  prices  between  St.  Elizabeth  and 
Westmoreland."  S.E.Payne. 
COLLECTORATE  St.  JAMES. 
"The  process  of  removing  the  skins  of  ginger  by  means  of  boil- 
ing, is  not  known  in  this  parish  so  far  as  I  can  gather,  and  is 
regarded  as  one  calculated  to  reduce  the  spice  of  the  article,  and 
lessen  its  value  as  such. 
"  The  mode  adopted  for  removing  the  skin,  is  by  paring  with  a 
sharp,  thin,  narrow  blade  knife  (properly  called  scraping);  a  pro- 
tracted and  tedious  job.  It  is  then  dried  on  a  paved  terrace,  boarded 
platform,  or  mats  made  of  the  stalks  of  the  leaves  of  the  banana  or 
plantain  trees,  care  being  taken  all  the  time  while  drying  that  the 
ginger  does  not  get  wet,  and,  at  the  same  time,  it  is  frequently  and 
carefully  turned  over  to  avoid  mildew. 
"  I  am  afraid  the  price  obtained  between  one  parish  and  another  is 
no  criterion  of  quality,  so  long  as  the  ginger  is  not  at  all  passable ; 
all  depends  on  the  demand  of  the  trade  for  the  article  by  the 
exporting  merchant  during  the  particular  season,  to  fulfil  an  obliga- 
tion to  supply  a  certain  quantity  probably,  and  it  therefore  must 
be  procured  if  even  at  a  loss.  This  principle  descends  to  the 
smallest  shopkeeper,  who  finds  it  at  times  to  his  advantage  to  pro- 
cure as  much  ginger  to  be  placed  to  the  credit  of  his  account  with 
larger  traders  with  whom  he  may  be  dealing,  and  who  in  turn  may 
be  equally  glad  to  get  such  a  remittance  at  a  given  time  even  in 
preference  to  cash. 
"  I  have  no  doubt  that  produce  is  thus  procured  at  prices  unwar- 
ranted by  the  ruling  market's  value  abroad,  and  the  small  shop- 
keeper probably  discovers  for  the  first  time,  when  he  delivers  his 
