PREFACE. 
Mr. W. E. Safford, assistant botanist in the Department of Agri- 
culture, for several years availed himself of the opportunity afforded 
him asa lieutenant in the United States Navy to study and observe 
the useful plants of the Tropics. In addition to cruises in other parts 
of the world he visited, in 1886, 1887, 1894, and 1899, Upolu and 
Tutuila of the Samoan group, and Oahu of the Hawaiian group; and 
from August, 1899, to August, 1900, he acted as assistant governor of 
the island of Guam. This paper has been prepared by Mr. Safford 
through the recent elaboration of notes and observations made in those 
years. While presented under the title *‘ The Useful Plants of Guam,” 
it includes some reference, however brief, to every plant known to 
oceur on that island, particular note being made of those which have 
been described from Guam by various writers as species new to sci- 
ence. It discusses the principal plants used for food, tiber, oil, starch, 
sugar, and forage in the Pacific tropical islands recently acquired by 
the United States, and gives their common names not only in Guam 
but in the Philippine Islands, Samoa, Hawaii, and Porto Rico. The 
method of cultivating and propagating the more important species is 
treated in considerable detail, as is the preparation of their derivative 
products, such as arrowroot, copra, and cacao. The publication will 
be useful to the rapidly increasing number of American travelers and 
officers who wish to have in language of as little technicality as possi- 
ble information about the economic plants of the world; and while the 
author does not lay claim to more than a report on the island of Guam, 
much of the information he gives is applicable throughout the Tropics. 
Besides consulting the original narratives of travelers, Mr. Safford 
took advantage of his exceptional opportunities to study the archives 
of Guam, and his account of the discovery, early history, and explo- 
rations of the island, together with its climate, ethnology, and eco- 
nomic conditions, will afford the most comprehensive and authentic 
picture of Guam thus far published. 
The technical names of the plants have been critically scrutinized 
by Mr. W. F. Wight, also assistant botanist in the Department of 
3 
