AUTHOR'S PREFACE 



IT is not necessary for me to add much to the kind 

 " Foreword " of my good friend Sir Daniel Morris. 



I have to acknowledge my indebtedness in the study of 

 the cultivation of the banana to my friends the banana 

 planters of Jamaica, by whose skill and perseverance 

 under difficulties and misfortunes the plantations of the 

 Island have increased to such a marvellous extent. It 

 may be somewhat invidious to give the names of any ; 

 but I cannot refrain from mentioning the names of two, 

 to whom I am especially grateful Mr. Robert Craig and 

 the Hon. Henry Cork. 



My thanks are due for many courtesies, and are hereby 

 tendered to the Librarians of the Royal Colonial Institute, 

 the Imperial Institute, the Pharmaceutical Society, and 

 the Botanical Department of the British Museum (Natural 

 History) ; also to the West India Committee and it s secretary , 

 Mr. Algernon Aspinall, for valuable aid in the preparation 

 of this volume ; to Mr. H. Hamel Smith, editor of 

 Tropical Life ; to Mr. A. Roger Ackerley, of Messrs. Elders 

 and Fyffes ; to Dr. A. B. Rendle, keeper of the Botanical 

 Department, British Museum (Natural History), and to 

 Mr. Ramsbottom, of the same department. 



References are given by footnotes in most cases to 

 sources of information ; but sometimes, especially in the case 

 of Diplomatic and Consular Reports and Colonial Office 

 Reports, extracts are given without specific reference, as 

 the source is sufficiently obvious. I have consulted 

 the periodical publications of Agricultural Societies and 

 Departments in all parts of the world, and desire to express 



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