The cultivation of this root is nearly similar to that of potatoes.
The land is first well cleansed from weeds; it is then dug into
trenches similar to those which gardeners, make for celery; and the
plants are set in these trenches in March or April. They flower
about September and in January or February; when the stalks are
withered, the roots are in a proper state to be dug up.--These are
prepared for use in two ways. When intended for what is called
_white ginger_, they are picked, scraped, separately washed, and
afterwards dried with great care by exposure in the sun. For _black
ginger_, they are picked, cleansed, immersed in boiling water and
dried. This process is much less laborious and expensive than the
other; consequently the price of the article is not so great. By
boiling, the ginger loses a portion of its essential oil, and its
black colour is owing to this.
The use of ginger, both in medicine, and as a spice, are numerous
and well known. In the West Indies, it is frequently eaten fresh
in sallads, and with other food, and the roots when dug up young,
namely, at the end of three or four months after they have been
planted, are preserved in syrup, and exported as a sweet meat to
nearly all parts of the world. The ginger brought from the East
Indies is much stronger than that coming from Jamaica.