594  Report  on  Ginger  Crops  in  Jamaica.  { 
Am  Jonr.  Pharm. 
December,  1894. 
they  get  very  fine  ginger,  it  is  at  the  expense  of  forest  land  which 
would  require  a  very  heavy  outlay  and  perhaps  a  term  of  a  hundred 
years  to  restore.  Albert  Town  was  not  so  long  ago  a  centre  for  the 
cultivation,  but  I  was  told  there  that  growers  had  already  got  as  far 
as  fourteen  miles  further  inland. 
Ginger  can  be  and  is  grown  in  many  places  year  after  year  on  the 
same  ground.  An  intelligent  cultivator  at  Borobridge  stated  that 
he  knew  of  ginger  growing  for  forty  years  in  the  same  patch. 
Seaford  Town  is  a  German  colony,  and  one  of  the  original  colon- 
ists, Somers,  an  active  old  man  of  86  years  of  age,  has  been  culti- 
vating ginger  and  arrowroot  there  since  his  youth ;  he  and  the 
other  colonists  have  been  in  the  habit  of  planting  a  small  patch  one 
year,  leaving  it  to  ratoon  as  long  as  it  was  profitable,  then  throwing 
it  up  or  growing  other  plants  until  after  a  term  of  years  they  again 
plant  the  same  patch  with  ginger.  This  is  an  irregular  rotation  of 
crops.  "  Plant  ginger,"  the  produce  of  planting,  is  of  better  quality 
than  the  ratoons,  and  the  ratoons  in  each  succeeding  year  are  infe- 
rior. When  the  ground  is  too  poor  to  grow  "  white  ginger  "  then 
"  blue  ginger,"  the  inferior  variety,  can  be  grown. 
More  depends  upon  the  curing  of  ginger,  considering  the  raising 
of  the  crop  as  a  means  of  making  a  livelihood,  than  soil.  At  Seaford 
Town  there  was  a  wet  season  about  two  years  ago,  the  people 
could  not  dry  the  ginger  in  the  sun,  it  mildewed,  there  was  con- 
sequently very  little  sale,  and  the  cultivators  suffered  some  distress. 
I  believe  from  what  I  saw  that,  as  a  rule,  careful  attention  is  given 
to  the  curing,  and  that  the  badly  cured  ginger  brought  sometimes 
to  market  is  due  to  wet  weather  rather  than  to  want  of  care. 
It  is  difficult  to  make  any  recommendations  on  the  subject,  but 
the  following  hints  may  indicate  what  points  are  worthy  of  con- 
sideration by  the  cultivators.  The  first  is  the  application  of  manure. 
There  is  a  prejudice  against  its  use,  some  maintaining  that  it  breeds 
worms,  and  there  is  a  difficulty  also  in  getting  it  in  any  quantity. 
It  is  probable  that  those  who  have  not  succeeded  with  manure  have 
used  it  improperly  by  applying  it  fresh  or  not  sufficiently  mixed 
with  soil.  As  to  obtaining  it  in  quantity,  example  should  be  taken 
from  the  Chinese  laborer  who  preserves  every  particle  of  matter 
that  can  in  any  way  be  utilized  as  manure,  not  only  cattle  manure, 
but  decaying  matter  of  any  kind,  night-soil,  etc.,  even  soapy  water 
left  after  washing  is  most  useful.   To  imitate  the  formation  of  forest 
