BIRDS AND ALL NATURE. ILLUSTRATED BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY. VOL. V. FEBRUARY, 1899. NO. 2 CONTENTS. Page GINGER. 49 SAP ACTION. 54 EMERSON AND THE WOODPECKER STORY. 56 THE CRAB-EATING OPOSSUM. 59 WASHINGTON AND LINCOLN. 60 THE GEOGRAPHIC TURTLE. 62 NOSES. 65 THE WHITE IBIS. 71 THE HELPLESS. 72 FEBRUARY. 73 THE IRIS. 74 THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 74 THE PEACOCK. 77 OWLS. 78 THE DUCK MOLE. 80 THE HIBERNATION OF ANIMALS. 84 THE CAPE MAY WARBLER. 86 SNOWFLAKES. 89 A TIMELY WARNING. 89 A WINDOW STUDY. 90 FIVE LITTLE WOODMEN. 91 THE COCOA-NUT. 95 THE BLACK WALNUT AND BUTTERNUT. 96 THE EDIBLE PINE. 96 GINGER. _Zingiber officinale Roscoe._ DR. ALBERT SCHNEIDER, Northwestern University School of Pharmacy. "And ginger shall be hot i' the mouth, too." --_Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, II., 3._ The well-known spice ginger is the underground stem (_rhizome_) of an herbaceous reed-like plant known as _Zingiber officinale_. The rhizome is perennial, but the leaf and flower-bearing stems are annual. The stems are from three to six feet high. The leaves of the upper part of the stem are sword-shaped; the lower leaves are rudimentary and sheath-like. The flowers occur in the form of conical spikes borne upon the apex of stems which bear only sheath-like leaves. The ginger plant is said to be a native of southern Asia, although it is now rarely found growing wild. It is very extensively cultivated in the tropical countries of both hemispheres, particularly in southern China, India, Africa, and Jamaica. The word ginger is said to have been derived from the Greek "Zingiber," which again was derived from the Arabian "Zindschabil," which means the "root from India." It is further stated that the word was derived from Gingi, a country west of Pondecheri where the plant is said to grow wild.