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COMMERCIAL VARIETIES OP GINGER. 133 
ral the prices have ranged fron 425. to 655. per cwt. Re- 
cently, however, samples of an improved quality have been 
received which fetched from 655. to 1305. per cwt. 
This sort of Malabar ginger is imported in chests, casks, 
or bags. It is a scraped sort, and occurs in fine large 
branching races, having much of the character of Jamaica 
ginger, but having more of a brownish or reddish tint exter- 
nally, and being very apt to be wormy. In flavor it resem- 
bles the Jamaica sort. 
It is said to be grown at or near Calicut, and to be pro- 
duced by the Jamaica plant transplanted to the Malabar 
coast ; but how true this statement may be I know not. 
4. Bengal Ginger {radix zingiberis Bengalensis.) Two 
kinds of ginger are brought to us from Bengal — the coated 
or old sort, and the nncoated or new sort. 
a. Coated Bengal Ginger; common Bengal ginger; 
old sort of Bengal ginger. This is imported in bags. It is 
an unscraped dark colored ginger. The races are some- 
what larger and plumper, and rather less liable to be wormy, 
than the coated Malabar ginger. 
The coat (epidermis) is greyish yellow, shrivelled and 
cracked down the face of the races, exposing the body of 
the root, which is much darker colored (greyish black) than 
the coat itself; so that the races are remarkable for their 
bi-colored character. To the ctit it is more or less hard 
(flinty in the language of the dealers,) and presents a 
darker color than the other sorts. Of all the gingers now 
met with in commerce, it most deserves the name of black- 
ginger. It is darker colored than the coated Malabar gin- 
ger, and is otherwise so peculiar that dealers can never con- 
found the two. Both sorts usually fetch about the same 
price. 
/3. Uncoated Bengal Ginger ; scraped Bengal ginger ; 
new sort of Bengal ginger ; Calicut sort of Bengal ginger \ — 
Soon after the uncoated or new sort of Malabar ginger 
came into the market, the Bengal growers, finding that 
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