2 INTRODUCTORY. 



out a prrfortly qualified person to some distant part of the globe, to learn fm 

 him thoM practical <l.'t. ills which In- desires to know. This is no uncommon 

 thing; ami in night be stated, showing the great advantages which 



i havo thus g;tiiu-d a nrtix-h upon their neighbours." 



The Society of Arts, appreciating the importance of from time 

 to timo encouraging the introduction of new and improved pro- 

 ducts from our Indian and Colonial Possessions, has offered mauv 

 gold medals as premiums for a great variety of staples from abroad. 

 The Great Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations brought 

 together an immense variety of productions from tropical re- 

 gions, of which the English public were comparatively ignorant. 

 \ ting public attention, as these necessarily did, information 

 on the best modes of cultivating and manufacturing them will bo 

 peculiarly valuable to the colonists, and is a- eagerly sought after 

 t>v many brokers, merchants and manufacturers at home. 

 " In consequence of the recent liberal policy of Great Britain, 

 the competition of foreign countries, the want of cheap and abun- 

 dant labor, and other causes, those chief staples, Sugar and Coffee, 

 which for a series of years formed the principal and almost exclu.-ivo 

 articles of production in our colonies, and which had met with a 

 ready and remunerative sale in the British markets, have either 

 fallen off to an alarming extent, or become so reduced in price as 

 scarcely to repay the cost of cultivation. The partial abandonm Mit 

 of the cultivation of these staples in our colonies has had the effect 

 of crippling the agricultural and commercial enterprise of several of 

 our most valuable foreign possessions, and throwing out of emplov- 

 ment a number of persons: it behoves us, therefore, to direct atten- 

 tion to some of the many minor articles in demand; to those indi- 

 genous or exotic products of the soil in tropical regions, which, 

 being inexpensive in cultivation and manufacture, might be under- 

 taken with a moderate outlay of labor and capital, and the cer- 

 tainty of a ready and remunerative sale in the European markets ; 

 and could moreover be attended to without neglecting or at all 

 interfering with the cultivation of the leading staples. 



evident that the export wealth of tropical regions must be 

 chiefly agricultural, the soil and climate being peculiarly fitted for 

 the culture of fruits, trees and plants yielding oils, gums, starch, 

 . and other valuable products, which no art can raise cheaply 

 in more temperate latitudes. The large and continued emi-rat io-i 

 of farnn-r- and oilier enterprising persons from Britain and the 

 Coniiii'-ni to \atal. tin- Cape Coloiiv, .Northern Australia, 

 -t India Company's l'oss.-s<ions and the Straits 

 :i/.il. New (Irana.'a. and the Central American 

 Kepuhlies. Texas, ihe Southern States of North America, and 

 other tropical and suh-t ropi'-al countries, renders information 

 ns to l! i" a-Ticultmv and productions if those regions highly 

 desirable. Even to the settlers in our AVest Indian posses- 

 most of whom have too long pursued the old beaten track 

 of culture and manufacture, comparat ivelv regardless of modern 

 improvements and t!. ,,f chemical, Vientili.-, and practical 



