viii PREFACE 



of the West Indian press, and the adoption of the text- 

 book by the governments of other colonies than 

 Jamaica, indicate that it has supplied a distinct want. 



The success that has attended the book so far is due 

 probably to the fact that it is not a mere compilation, 

 but the record of experience that has been gained by 

 study, observation, and experimental cultivations. 



Twelve years ago, when the author had to direct his 

 attention to tropical agriculture, there was no practical 

 book that he could turn to for help in all the difficulties 

 that were constantly cropping up in his path. Know- 

 ing, therefore, the obstacles that usually beset the inex- 

 perienced planter, who is not content to follow the old 

 grooves of unscientific agriculture, the author has so 

 written the second part of this book as to afford the 

 information he needed greatly in his own planting novi- 

 tiate. This has rendered it necessary to enter into 

 details which to the experienced tropical agriculturist 

 may appear superfluous, but the book is really intended 

 as a guide for the young and the unlearned, to whom 

 such details are likely to be of essential service. 



Mr. D. Morris, M.A., F.L.S., the Assistant Director 

 of the Royal Gardens, Kew, and for many years the 

 Director of the Botanical Department in Jamaica, has 

 very kindly undertaken to revise the work and to pilot 

 it through the press. The author has, therefore, not 

 only to express to Mr. Morris sincere acknowledgments 



