ve feet long
by three or four feet wide are formed, and in these beds small holes
are dug at three-fourths to one foot apart, which are filled with
manure. The roots, hitherto carefully buried under sheds, are dug out,
the good ones picked from those which are affected by the moisture, or
any other concomitant of a half-year's exclusion from the atmosphere,
and the process of clipping them into suitable sizes for planting
performed by cutting the ginger into pieces of an inch and a half to
two inches long. These are then buried in the holes, which have been
previously manured, and the whole of the beds are then covered with a
good thick layer of green leaves, which, whilst they serve as manure,
also contribute to keep the beds from unnecessary dampness, which
might otherwise be occasioned by the heavy falls of rain during the
months of June and July. Rain is essentially requisite for the growth
of the ginger; it is also however necessary, that the beds be
constantly kept from inundation, which, if not carefully attended to,
the crop is entirely ruined; great precaution is therefore taken in
forming drains between the beds, and letting water out, thus
preventing a superfluity. On account of the great tendency some kinds
of leaves have to breed worms and insects, strict care is observed in
the choosing of them, and none but the particular kinds used in
manuring ginger are taken in, lest the wrong ones might fetch in
worms, which, if once in the beds, no remedy can be resorted to
successfully to destroy them; thus they in a very short time ruin the
crop. Worms bred from the leaves laid on the soil, though highly
destructive, are not so pernicious to ginger cultivation as those
which proceed from the effect of the soil. The former kind, whilst
they destroy the beds in which they once appear, do not spread
themselves to the other beds, be they ever so close, but the latter
kind must of _course_ be found in almost all the beds, as they do not
proceed from accidental causes, but from the nature of the soil. In
cases like these, the whole crop is oftentimes ruined, and the
cultivators are thereby subjected to heavy losses.

Ginger is extensively diffused throughout the Indian isles, it being
especially indigenous to the East, and of pretty general use among the
natives, who neglect the finer spices. The great and smaller varieties
are cultivated, and the sub-varieties distinguished by their brown or
white colors. There is no p