66 
In  the  Land  of  Ginger. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Ptiarm. 
I    February,  1898. 
view,  dark  purple  mountains,  rent  by  fissures,  jutting  into  the  blue 
heavens.  The  shores  are  covered  with  lively  green  down  to  the 
water's  edge ;  here  and  there  a  white  spot,  completely  embowered 
in  foliage,  marks  the  plantations  and  settlements.  Columbus 
formed  a  relief  map  of  this  island  for  his  queen  by  crumpling  a 
piece  of  paper  in  his  hand.  The  landscape  of  Ginger  Land  is  truly 
crumpled  but  picturesque,  and  the  ginger  plant  grows  luxuriantly 
on  the  steep  sides  of  its  crumpled  elevations,  from  2000  feet  up  to 
the  lofty  summits  of  the  blue  mountain  range.  In  gorges,  in  roman- 
tic glens,  sinks,  cockpits,  valleys,  through  the  ages  there  has  been 
deposited  a  rich,  humus  soil,  this  is  drained  by  innumerable  streams, 
along  the  banks  of  which,  among  everblooming  tropic  flowers, 
ginger  finds  a  congenial  habitat. 
One  of  the  essential  requirements  for  the  growth  of  this  plant  is 
sunshine — Old  Sol  is  here  young,  bright  and  active. 
Another  requisite  for  growth — moisture — is  also  here  in  plenty.  In 
some  portions,  281  inches,  or  23  feet,  is  recorded  as  an  annual  down- 
pour. In  the  "  ginger  district,"  88  inches,  or  over  7  feet,  has  been  the 
mean  annual  rainfall  for  the  last  twenty  years.  (In  a  report  made  by 
one  of  my  correspondents  in  this  district,  October,  1897,  47  inches, 
or  nearly  4  feet,  of  rainfall  were  recorded  in  sixteen  days.)  While 
ginger  grows  at  suitable  elevations  all  over  the  island,  it  is  mainly 
produced  in  the  central  western  portion,  along  the  borders  of  the 
parishes  of  Westmoreland,  St.  Elizabeth,  Manchester,  Clarenden, 
Trelawney  and  St.  James.  The  underlying  soil  of  this  district  con- 
sists of  white  and  yellow  limestone,  with  trappean  formation ;  this 
is  covered  in  some  of  the  nooks  or  valleys  with  a  pulverent  mould 
or  loam  deposit  several  feet  in  depth.  The  plant  grows  luxuriantly 
in  such  soil,  but  apparently  will  not  thrive  in  marshy  soil,  nor  where 
there  is  present  more  than  10  to  20  per  cent,  of  clay  or  30  per  cent, 
of  sand.  The  government  returns  for  the  whole  island  give  only 
about  250  acres  of  land  devoted  to  ginger.  This  amount  of  acreage 
would  not  yield  the  crop  harvested.  But  the  real  cultivation  is  not 
in  acres,  many  cultivators  having  beds  varying  from  6  feet  square 
up  to  the  size  of  a  building  lot.  A  few  cultivate  from  one  to  six 
acres.  Large  plots  are  very  rare.  For  the  most  part,  it  is  put  in 
the  ground  in  any  convenient  spot,  alongside  pineapples,  yams, 
cocoa,  cassava  or  other  plants,  often  in  the  midst  of  a  dense  growth 
of  bush  or  weeds. 
