298 ' QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ocr., 1898, 
Ginger can be and is grown in many places year after year on the same 
ground. When the soil becomes too poor to grow “ white ginger,” the “blue 
ginger” (the inferior variety) can be grown. 
More depends on the curing of ginger than on the soil. Regularly shaped 
“hands” command the highest price in the market. 
GATHERING THE CROP. 
The ratoon ginger is gathered (in Queensland) from October to J uly, but 
planted ginger is not ready for digging until July or August, and from then 
till October is the “ ginger season.” 
Ginger is known to be ready for harvest when the stalk withers. This 
begins shortly after the bloom departs. The rhizomes are twisted out of the 
ground with a fork. In this operation every bruise or injury to the hands js 
detrimental to market value. 
+ The hands are thrown in heaps, the fibrous roots are broken off, and the 
soil and adherent matter removed. This must be done quickly after removal 
from the earth, for, should the ginger be dried with the soil and roots still 
adhering, the product would not be white ; and if it lies in heaps before drying, 
it will mould. The custom is to throw it immediately into a dish of water ; it 
‘is then ready for the uncoating or peeling operation. This is done by hand. 
PEELING GINGER. 
Ginger-peeling is an art. The ginger-knife is simply a narrow-edged 
blade riveted to a handle. In large operations the expert peels between the 
fingers of the “hands.” Examination of a transverse section of ginger wil] 
show the importance of the operation. There is an outer striated skin, under 
which there are numerous layers of very thin-walled cork cells. These layers 
- contain numerous oil cells, the oil cells being most numerous at the bud points, 
The oil contained in these cells, in specimens fresh from the ground, is almost 
colourless, very pungent, and exceedingly aromatic. It becomes yellow very 
quickly on exposure to the air, and even upon drying without removing the 
epidermis its delicate aroma is found to be fleeting. On drying the ginger 
the contents of these cells appear as a yellow, pitchy mass. (It has been 
stated that this colouring matter is identical with that of Curcuma.) As this 
cork layer is the seat of the greatest amount of oil and resin cells, it wil] 
readily be seen that the deeper the peeling, so much the more of these 
substances will be carried away with the epidermis, and more cells opened from 
which these principles may exude.* 
As fast as peeled, the roots are thrown into water and washed. The 
purer the water, and the more freely it is used, the whiter will be the product. 
Generally a very little water washes a great deal of ginger. The hands are 
peeled during the day, and allowed to remain in the water overnight. This 
water acquires a slimy feeling, and, if concentrated, becomes:mucilaginous and 
acquires a warm and aromatic taste. The natives claim that this process 
soaks out the “fire and poison”’ from yery hot ginger. I placed some pieces 
in a stream of running water for twelve hours, and succeeded in making them 
several shades lighter in colour. The sample proved to be less pungent to the 
taste, and it is quite possible the force of the water carried away some portion 
of the aromatic principles. A few planters use limejuice in the wash water, 
This gives a whiter root, having some solvent action on the colouring matter ; 
but, as the limejuice contains saccharine and pectose matter, it prevents 
drying, and mildew follows. In another experiment I supplied the natives with 
citric acid, vinegar, and acetic acid. They all worked fairly well, citric acid 
being the best whitening agent, but it was reported that the process was 
expensive and troublesome. 
*The Jamaica Agricultural Society has advertised in the United States and in England the 
desirability of a machine or apparatus to be used in removing the coating from ginger ; experi- 
ments along the line are now being made:—Kd. Q..A.J; 
