Vernac. name.—Chitta Afu (Hausa, Dalziel).—Ginger.
Cultivated in Tropical Asia, East and West Indies, West Africa, etc.
A well-known spice, a preserve and largely used by mineral water manufacturers. The commercial forms are known by their country of origin, as “Jamaica,” “Sierra Leone,” “Japanese,” etc. and further as “coated,” “scraped,” “bleached” or “unbleached.” Preserved ginger is the tender growing parts of the rhizome peeled and preserved in syrup, and “Chinese Green Ginger” is specially grown for this purpose, cultivated in the Delta of the Canton river. Although cultivated in many parts of West Africa, including Northern Nigeria, Sierra Leone, French Guinea, French Sudan and Dahomey (Chevalier, Bull. Soc. Nat. d’Accl. France, 1912, p. 317) it is only from Sierra Leone that the product appears to be a regular export, from whence in 1914, 1213 tons value £15,639 and in 1915, 567 tons value £8,091 were shipped. In 1915 the average price was 24s. per cwt. (Col. Rep. Ann. No. 888, 1916, p. 9). In 1896 the botanical Department at Victoria in the Cameroons shipped 270 kilos value £5 (Kew Bull. 1896, p. 177). It is reported as being extensively propagated in Nyasaland Protectorate 1908, where there were 2000 strong plants derived from 2 small plants received from Kew in 1901 (Chem. & Druggist, Oct. 10th, 1908, p. 583) and in 1914 a sample from Natal was considered of good quality and valued at about £20 per ton (Col. Rep. Ann. No. 882, 1916, p. 20).
The plant is propagated by pieces of the growing or budding ends of the rhizomes, planted in well-drained rich light soil 2–3 in. below the surface, about a foot apart, the field for the best crops being planted annually. When pieces are left in at the time of gathering—“ratoon ginger”—the crop deteriorates.
The botanical description and list of illustrations (pp. 664–665) and the rest of the cultivation paragraph and reading list (p. 666) are not transcribed.