VI PREFACE 



disasters and their causes, the great revolution that is being 

 effected by western influences, and other general principles 

 underlying the whole subject, in whatever country it may be 

 carried on. Under each product, also, I have tried to suggest 

 promising lines for improvement. 



No attempt has been made to write a book for the practical 

 man to use in connection with his actual field work. The effort 

 has been to produce a work that may be helpful and thought- 

 stimulating for the student, the administrator, or the traveller. 

 Those who read it must kindly remember, therefore, that it is 

 a pioneer and strictly elementary work, capable of vast improve- 

 ment after the subject has been properly discussed. 



Agriculture in the tropics is wider and more varied in range 

 than in the north, and we cannot doubt that there will be more 

 and more rapid progress, and that the cooler countries will -come 

 to depend more and more upon the warmer zones for their 

 supplies of food and other things. The white powers now 

 control the bulk of the tropics, and are rapidly opening up 

 Africa and south-eastern Asia. It is consequently of great 

 importance that the peoples of the north should understand the 

 general position with regard to agriculture there, and be able 

 to direct matters to the best advantage, both of themselves and 

 of the governed peoples. 



The tropics cover so enormous an area that it is obvious 

 that I can only write of much of it from reading, though the 

 general principles set forth will apply to all countries. My own 

 experience is mainly confined to Asia, in Ceylon, India, Java, 

 and the Federated Malay States. On the agriculture of the 

 last named I have written a comprehensive report, which often 

 forms the basis of the present work, and I am much indebted 

 to the Government of that dependency for allowing the use of 

 it. I have also visited the American tropics, but have not been 

 in tropical Africa, though the heads (to be) of many African 

 departments of agriculture have come to Ceylon for part of 

 their training. 



It is a pleasure also to acknowledge the kindly encourage- 

 ment and help of many friends, among whom I would specially 



