PREFACE. 



The history of this volume is as follows. In tlie Colonies 

 and India for Sept. 13tli, 1879, Mr. G. J. Symons pub- 

 lished a catalogue of works on Applied Botany, having 

 previously contributed a letter to that periodical urging the 

 compilation of such a catalogue. The same journal for Novem- 

 ber 22nd, 1879, contained an appendix consisting of the former 

 list, with large accessions by Mr. P. L. Simmonds. Mr. Symons 

 having added a few additional titles to the list, it was offered 

 to the Index Society for publication, and I undertook to edit 

 it. The work served excellently as a supplement to a journal, 

 but required much labour before it could be considered fit for 

 publication in a permanent form. I began by striking out 

 colonial floras of purely botanical aspect, they having been 

 far more fully dealt with in my Guide to the Literature of 

 Botany, I also deleted all books devoted to Silk and 

 Cochineal, as not being strictly within the limits of the title as 

 settled by the Index Society ; and most reluctantly the subject 

 of the Vine, its culture and products, simply on the ground 

 of its enormous extent. The bibliography of the Yine in 

 all its bearings would require a lifetime for its compilation ; 

 I did not attempt to take up the subject myself: in the Index I 



