53°  Trade  in  Ginger  and  its  Economic  Uses.  {Xm^Z'Srm 
water,  which  probably  injures  much  of  the  fragrant  pungency, 
whereas  in  Jamaica  they  use  simply  plain  water. 
In  order  to  dry  ginger  into  what  is  called  "  sonth  "  in  India,  that 
is  to  enable  it  to  keep,  the  fresh  roots  are  put  into  a  basket,  which  is 
suspended  by  a  rope,  and  then  two  men,  one  on  each  side,  pull  it  to 
and  fro  between  them  by  a  cord  attached,  and  thus  shake  the 
roots  in  the  basket ;  this  process  is  carried  on  for  two  hours 
every  day  for  three  days.  After  this  the  roots  are  dried  in  the  sun 
for  eight  days,  and  again  shaken  in  the  basket ;  the  object  of  the 
shaking  being  to  take  off  the  outer  scales  and  skin  of  the  roots. 
Two  days  further  drying  completes  the  process,  and  the  ginger  sells 
at  about  a  rupee,  or  2  shillings,  for  6  or  8  pounds.  The  value  of  the 
East  Indian  ginger  exported  went  on  increasing  from  about  £63,000 
(44,457  cwts.),  in  1 88 1,  to  over  £199,000  (133,280  cwts.)  in  1887  ; 
but  in  the  last  three  years  it  has  retrograded,  having  fallen  to 
£70,398  (6 [,774  cwt.)  in  the  financial  year  ending  March,  1890. 
There  are,  of  course,  fluctuations  in  the  export,  but  the  general 
increase  of  production  has  been  very  great  in  the  last  twenty  years, 
the  shipments  having  more  than  trebled.  In  1871  England  only 
received  from  the  East  Indies  13,014  cwts.,  valued  at  £28,200  ;  last 
year  53,498  cwts.  were  received. 
Passing  now  to  the  West  Indian  production  the  crop  in  Jamaica 
varies,  sometimes  over  320  acres  are  under  ginger,  in  other  years 
only  1  30  acres. 
In  1738  so  widely  was  the  culture  of  this  root  diffused  in  Jamaica?, 
that  over  21,000  cwts.  were  shipped.  In  1832,  this  quantity  was 
again  reached,  but  of  late  years  the  exports  have  been  much  smaller. 
In  1875  and  1876  there  was  a  large  export,  averaging  13,400  cwts. 
Since  then  the  exports  and  value  have  fluctuated  from  5,932  cwts. 
and  £11,952  in  1882,  to  7,945  cwts.  and  £22,246  in  t88o,  and  to 
12,313  cwts.  and  £20,169  in  1885. 
The  sets  used  for  planting  are  the  small  knots  or  fingers  broken  off 
the  original  root,  as  not  worth  the  scraping  or  keeping.  It  throws 
out  a  pedicle  or  foot-stalk  in  the  course  of  the  second  or  third  week. 
From  my  experience  as  a  planter  in  Jamaica,  the  crop  is  got  in  in 
December  and  January,  when  the  stalks  begin  to  v/ither.  The 
average  yield  may  be  taken  to  be  from  1,500  to  2,000  lbs.  per  acre, 
but  sometimes  a  much  heavier  crop  is  obtained. 
The  third  producing  district  for  ginger  is  the  West  African  coastr 
