India ginger is quite similar to African and is known in commerce as Calcutta (not shown in illustration), from the city of export and is largely used for flavoring. It also is superior for ginger snaps, ginger beer, and ginger wine. The African and Barbadoes differ from the India by the epidermis being less shriveled. They are not so hard or dark, and are sometimes scraped and bleached and made white by the chemical process of chloride of lime, a process which impairs the quality of the product but increases its market value. The bleaching and coating with gypsum or carbonate of lime is a process often applied to old and inferior roots to make them salable by making them more attractive to the eye. The Jamaica is the best ginger and is always told by its pale, bright-yellow color. The real marrow or white ginger (Zingiber album) is obtained from the scraped Jamaica ginger, which is free from resin and will give up properties to water very readily, a fact which makes it very valuable for medicinal use. China preserved ginger has a more agreeable aromatic flavor than that of the West Indies, and the celebrated Canton preserved excels all other preserved ginger. The syrup waters drawn off are used for cool drinks. Canton exported for the first quarter of the year 1905 650 piculs of preserved ginger of 133 pounds each. When the tubers are intended for sugar-pressed ginger, they are dug in early spring, while green, to obtain that which is young, tender, and full of juice. The soft, succulent, perennial rhizomes at such times rarely exceed five to six inches in length and are known as green ginger. They are buried in another place for a month and are then dried in the sunshine for one day, after which they are fit for green ginger. [Illustration: CANTON, CHINA] [Illustration: MANDEVILLE, JAMAICA]