f Rumphius ("Herb. Amb.," lib. 8, cap. xix., p. 156), that
there are two varieties of the plant, the white and the red. Moreover
Dr. Wright ("Lond. Med. Journal," vol. viii.) says that two sorts are
cultivated in Jamaica, viz., the white and the black; and, he adds,
"black ginger has the most numerous and largest roots."

The rhizome, called in commerce ginger root, occurs in
flattish-branched or lobed palmate pieces, called _races_, which do
not exceed four inches in length. Several varieties, distinguished by
their color and place of growth, are met with. The finest is that
brought from Jamaica. A great part of that found in the shops has been
washed in whiting and water, under the pretence of preserving it from
insects.

The dark colored kinds are frequently bleached with chloride of lime.
Barbados ginger is in shorter flatter races, of a darker color, and
covered with a corrugated epidermis. African ginger is in smallish
races, which have been partially scraped, and are pale colored. East
India ginger is unscraped; its races are dark ash colored externally,
and are larger than those of the African ginger. Tellichery ginger is
in large plump races, with a remarkable reddish tint externally.

Jamaica black ginger is not frequently found in the shops. The Malabar
dark ginger is in unscraped short pieces, which have a horny
appearance internally, and are of a dirty brown color both internally
and externally.

Ginger is imported in bags weighing about a hundred-weight.

The Malabar ginger exported from Calicut is the produce of the
district of Shernaad, situated in the south of Calicut; a place
chiefly inhabited by Moplas, who look upon the ginger cultivation as a
most valuable and profitable trade, which in fact it is. The soil of
Shernaad is so very luxuriant, and so well suited for the cultivation
of ginger, that it is reckoned the best, and in fact the only place in
Malabar where ginger grows and thrives to perfection. Gravelly grounds
are considered unfit; the same may be said of swampy ones, and whilst
the former check the growth of the ginger, the latter tend in a great
measure to rot the root; thus the only suitable kind of soil is that
which, being red earth, is yet free from gravel, and the sod good and
heavy. The cultivation generally commences about the middle of May,
after the ground has undergone a thorough process of ploughing,
harrowing, &c.

At the commencement of the monsoons, beds of ten or twel