The plant is a native of Asia, but also found growing wild in Mexico and East Africa. It is a reed-like biennial plant, not unlike the iris or flag in appearance. The leaves are long, similar to those of maize, growing alternate on a stem 3 to 4 ft. high. The flowers are borne on a separate stem, 6 to 12 in. high; they are yellow or blue, according to the quality of the soil in which they have been grown. The plant which produces the yellow flower and best ginger is grown on rich, deep, virgin soil; the other comes from poorer ground. Ginger is propagated by pieces of the rhizome being planted in March. The flowers appear about September, after they have withered and seeded. The roots are dug up about January. When left too long in the ground, the rhizomes become very fibrous, if taken up too soon they are tender and succulent, so much so that they cannot be made sufficiently dry to render them fit for export in the usual commercial form. They are therefore preserved in sugar. The rhizomes, besides being classed as “yellow” or “blue,” are also divided into “plant,” (being the rhizomes from plants of the same season’s growth), and “ratoon” which are rhizomes left in the ground from the previous harvest. Ginger is known in commerce in two distinct forms, termed respectively as coated or uncoated ginger,--as having or wanting the epidermis. For the coated ginger, the races of hands, after being dug up, are thoroly washed to free them from all the adhering earth. They are then laid on a canvas or cement floor, outdoors, to dry by the heat of the sun. At night they are taken indoors. It takes from 6 to 8 days to thoroly dry them. They are then ready for shipment. In damp weather they are artificially dried by an evaporator. In this form ginger presents a brown, more or less wrinkled or straited, surface, and when broken up shows a dark brownish fracture, hard, and sometimes horney and resinous. For the uncoated ginger the fresh-dug rhizomes, after being washed, are soaked in water for some time and then peeled or scraped--a most delicate operation requiring the hand of an expert. Owing to the peculiar formation of the races, no machine has yet been invented that will do the work satisfactorily. The outer rind or skin is deftly taken off by means of a common knife, so as not to injure the inner root, as a loss of the pungent volatile oil, to which ginger owes its value, would follow and thus impair its commercial worth. After being peeled the races are soaked in water over night. In the morning they are again washed, cleaned and weighed, and then dried in the same manner as coated ginger.