* * * * *

    ——­The Indian nut alone
    Is clothing, meat and trencher, drink and can,
    Boat, cable, sail, and needle, all in one.”

“The addition (it has been well observed) of even a single flower, or an ornamental shrub, to those which we already possess, is not to be regarded as a matter below the care of industry and science.  The more we extend our researches into the productions of nature, the more are our minds elevated by contemplating the variety as well as the exceeding beauty and excellence of the works of the Creator.”

The mode of arrangement of the various subjects treated of involved some consideration; two or three plans were open for adoption. 1st.  To describe the several products in the order of their agricultural importance or commercial value. 2nd.  An alphabetical reference, in the style of a Dictionary or Encyclopaedia; and 3rd.  Classifying them under subdivisions, according to their particular or chief uses.  The last seemed to me the most desirable and efficient mode, although open to some objections, from the variety of uses to which different parts of many plants were applied.  Some, as cotton, indigo, sugar, coffee, tea, &c., would readily fall into their proper division, but others, as the coco-nut, plantain, &c., from the variety of their products, would come under several heads.  I have, however, endeavoured to meet this difficulty by placing each plant or tree under the section to which its most valuable production seemed naturally to refer it.

There are very many plants and substances which have been passed over altogether, it being impossible, within the limits of a moderate sized volume, to bring under notice even a tithe of the valuable grasses, timber trees, cabinet woods, fruits, &c.; and I have confined myself in a great measure to those which either already are, or might easily be rendered, articles of commerce, of some importance.  I have shown their present value by quoting the current prices, and brought down, as far as possible, the statistics of each article to the close of last year, thus rendering the work valuable by commercial references which could not be found collectively elsewhere.

There are some articles of commerce which could not properly be treated of in a work intended as a guide on agriculture and husbandry, for the tropical planter and cultivator, who purposes devoting his attention to the raising of useful crops and plants on his estate.  The forests and jungles of the tropics abound in products of an useful character, the luxurious and spontaneous growth of nature, such as ebony, sandal wood, &c.; but these must be sought for by a different class of settlers; and the mahogany cutter of Honduras, the teak-feller of India, the gatherer of elastic gums, can scarcely be ranked with the cultivators of the soil.

I had originally intended to confine my remarks to staples of tropical growth, but I have been induced to depart from my prescribed plan by the importance of some of the commercial products of temperate regions, such as maple and beet-root sugar, wheat, the grain crops, and potatoes.