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"tea-oil" cake, but all, unfortunately, without effect. Most of these things were sufficient to destroy the larvae when they could be reached, but the larva had a habit of secluding themselves under the creeping rhizomes and leaves of grass so that the liquids could not touch them. Hand-picking of larvæ, an extremely tedious operation, was resorted to by day, and by night large numbers of moths were caught in lamps which I had made for the purpose.
Chinese Ginger.
7. Since 1887 various references have been made in my Annual Reports to this plant, there having been some doubt in England as to the identity of the plant which yields Chinese ginger. In my Report for 1890 I endeavoured to demonstrate that the ginger used for preserving in Canton and Hongkong is obtained from the true ginger plant Zingiber officinale, Linn., and not from Alpinia Galanga, Willd., as had been erroneously supposed to be its source.
8. In reference to this subject, the Kew Bulletin for January, 1892, contained letters from Pro- fessor PERCY GROOM and myself, which I reproduce here, together with the observations of the editor of the Bulletin, from which it will be seen that the question is considered as set at rest, there being no longer any doubt that the true ginger plant, Zingiber officinale, Linn., is the source of the article used for preserving.
BY THE EDITOR OF Kew Bulletin.
In the Kew Bulletin for January, 1891, p. 5, there was discussed in some detail the origin of the preserved ginger received from China. From specimens of living plants received at Kew from Mr. G. M. H. PLAYFAIR, Her Majesty's Consul at Swatow, in 1878, it was concluded that the plant yielding Chinese ginger was something different from the ordinary ginger plant (Zingiber officinale). The prominence given to the subject in the Bulletin has led to further investigation, and the fact would appear now to be established that Chinese ginger, in spite of the superficial difference in the appearance of the large flat finger like masses' as compared with West Indian and other commercial ginger, is undoubtedly produced by Zingiber officinale. The plants received from Mr. PLAYFAIR have been shown to belong to Alpinia Galanga, Willd.
It is probable that none of the preserved ginger received in this country is derived from the latter plant. Mr. PLAYFAIR evidently took some trouble in the matter, and he forwarded plants given him at Swatow as Chinese ginger. It is clear, however, that in some way a mistake was made in the selec tion of the plant desired, for which Mr. PLAYFAIR himself was only indirectly responsible. The further identification of the Chinese ginger of commerce is carefully discussed in the following papers and correspondence:--
Superintendent, Botanical Department, Hongkong, to Royal Gardens, Kew.
BOTANIC GARDENS, HONGKONG, April 9th, 1891.
MY DEAR SIR,-I was much interested in reading the article on Chinese ginger in the January number of the Kew Bulletin, but, with all due deference to the workers in the subject, I am afraid that the conclusion arrived at is erroneous. I have not seen anything which to me is evidence that Alpinia Galanga, Willd., is a source of Chinese preserved ginger. I have never entertained any doubt that Zingiber officinale, Linn., supplied the material solely used in the manufacture of preserved ginger at Canton. It may be that the appearance of the rhizomes is different from ordinary ginger as grown in the West Indies, but I am inclined to ascribe any difference between the two to the result of culti- vation, and not to generic or specific distinctions. I believe that Chinese ginger is much more succulent than West Indian ginger, so much, as I have been informed by a gentleman here who has interested himself for some years in ginger, that it is impossible to dry the rhizomes sufficiently to render them fit for export in the usual commercial form, or, if it had been otherwise, dried ginger would have been exported from China long ago. The ginger used for preserving is, I believe, chiefly grown in the rich alluvial lands of the Canton delta, but the same plant when grown in mountainous districts, as I myself have seen, is much smaller, and is capable of being dried for local use, the Chinese ascribing much more valuable properties to it as a drug when grown in such local- ities.
I feel compelled to dismiss Alpinia Galanga, Willd., or any other Alpinia altogether from my mind as a source of preserved ginger, and I am inclined to think that Mr. PLAYFAIR when, in 1878, he sent to England a case of roots of Alpinia Galanga, Willd., as the source of preserved ginger, was deceived by the natives who supplied the plants.
From my somewhat extended experience with Chinese in various parts of the neighbouring Empire, as well as in Hongkong, I know how little reliance is to be placed on information supplied by the ordinary Chinaman in regard to plants. I would not withhold due acknowledgment of the usefulness of the natives in helping us to get at true information, but their aid should be regarded as