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COMMERCIAL VARIETIES OP GINGER. 
Although the color of ginger is an important consideration 
in determining the commercial value of this root, it is diffi- 
cult to describe in words the different colors which charac- 
terise the various commercial sorts of ginger. The terms 
tvhi/e and black ginger formerly in use, merely mean that 
some sorts are paler or whiter, others darker or blacker ; 
but absolutely white or black ginger is of course unknown. 
But the different sorts of ginger pass almost insensibly from 
the one into the other, so that it is impossible to refer them 
absolutely to the pale or dark sorts. Mr. Faber tells me 
that, were lie to classify them according to their external 
color, it would be thus: — 
Grey or Dark. Intermediate. Bright Yellow or Pale. 
Old Bengal. Barbadoes. Jamaica. 
New Bengal. Old Malabar. New Malabar. 
African. 
The internal color of ginger and its softness or hardness, 
as observed by cutting it, is another important character* 
The brighter and paler the color, and the softer the texture, 
the more highly is ginger valued. Ginger which is dark 
and hard, or flinty to the cut, is of inferior value. A trans- 
verse section of the larger and more perfect pieces shows an 
outer, horny, resinous-looking zone, surrounding a farina- 
ceous centre, which has a speckled appearance from the 
cut extremities of the fibres and cuts. 
Varieties. — Several varieties of ginger are met with in 
English commerce. These we" may conveniently ar- 
range according to the countries producing them, in three 
classes: 1st, West Indian ; 2dly, East Indian ; 3dly, African. 
1. West Indian Gingers. 
This division of gingers includes two sorts, Jamaica and 
Barbadoes, which may be taken as the types of all other 
sorts of ginger. Unlike the East Indian kinds, they are 
rarely wormy. 
1. Jamaica Ginger [radix zingiberis Jamaicensis.) — 
