Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
February,  1898.  j 
In  the  Land  of  Ginger. 
69 
less  proportion  of  powder,  is  less  pungent,  and  therefore  less  valu- 
able commercially.1 
There  is  also  a  division  into  "  plant  "  and  "  ratoon "  ginger. 
Plant  ginger  is  ginger  that  is  planted  each  season  ;  ratoon  ginger  is 
really  a  product  of  laziness.  It  is  a  return  crop,  secured  by  leaving 
a  part  of  the  "  hand  "  containing  a  bud  in  the  ground  when  the 
crop  is  harvested.  Ratoon  ginger  is  much  smaller  in  size  of  hands 
than  the  planted,  and  loses  each  year  in  flavor,  each  successive 
crop  being  less  and  less  in  amount. 
GINGER  PLANTING. 
Ginger  is  planted  in  March  and  April.  The  planting  process  con- 
sists in  burying  the  divided  fingers,  each  division  containing  an  "eye" 
or  embryo,  in  trenches  or  holes  a  few  inches  below  the  surface  and 
about  a  foot  apart,  similar  to  the  process  of  planting  potatoes.  The 
small  grower  simply  digs  a  hole  in  a  convenient  spot.  The  thrifty 
planter  first  burns  over  his  plot,  to  destroy  weeds  and  insects,  then 
ploughs  and  lays  the  plot  out  into  beds  and  trenches. 
The  growing  plant  needs  plenty  of  sun,  and  the  weeds  and  bushes 
must  be  kept  down.  This  latter  is  a  perplexing  problem,  unless  the 
weeds  have  been  destroyed  before  the  ginger  has  been  planted.  If 
the  weeds  are  pulled  or  the  ground  disturbed  while  the  plant  is 
growing,  water  is  apt  to  settle  around  the  roots,  and  this  rots  them. 
The  average  Jamaica  planter  is  not  given  to  work,  and  he  generally 
lets  the  weeds  and  ginger  solve  the  question  by  fighting  it  out  for 
themselves. 
The  reed-like  ginger  plant,  with  its  leafy  stems,  grows  sometimes 
to  a  height  of  5  feet ;  its  cone-topped  flowering  stems  reach  from 
6  to  12  inches,  and,  in  a  well-cleaned  field,  make  a  pretty  show 
when  in  their  September  bloom. 
On  wet  soil  and  during  very  rainy  seasons  the  root  is  subject  to 
what  is  termed  "  black  rotten."  This  is  a  rotting  induced  by 
warm,  soggy  soil.  The  root  swells  in  spots,  fills  with  water,  turns 
black,  and  emits  an  offensive  odor.  In  this  condition  it  is  attacked 
by  insects  and  worms,  which  has  given  rise  to  the  belief  among  the 
planters  that  the  rotting  is  caused  by  a  so-called  ginger  worm. 
(It  is  possibly  a  fungus  disease.) 
1 1  found  some  shippers  in  Jamaica  ports  who  were  exporting  the  uudried 
"  blue"  ginger  to  supply  the  demand  for  green  ginger  as  used  in  pickling  and 
preserving. 
