PREFACE « 



to the literature of tropical agriculture. We have produced 

 many handbooks and cyclopedias of horticulture, agriculture 

 and live stock, but these books treat of tropical agriculture, 

 if at all, only so far as developments in Florida and Cali- 

 fornia are concerned. No American writer has heretofore 

 presented a general account of tropical agriculture. 



The present volume is written from the standpoint of the 

 general reader, business man and agricultural student. I 

 have attempted to present in a brief form what everybody 

 ought to know about the Tropics. Such details regarding 

 the cultivation of crops as are of interest only to. the actual 

 planter in the Tropics have been omitted. Particular atten- 

 tion has been given to the nature, source, and commercial 

 importance of tropical products. Not all economic plants of 

 the Tropics have been included, for thousands of these 

 plants are known and of interest only in a restricted locality. 

 The volume contains an account of about 350 tropical prod- 

 ucts of peculiar interest and commercial importance. I have 

 also attempted to present an intelligible picture of animal 

 industry in the Tropics as well as of climate, soils, and 

 economic conditions. 



This is a book on tropical agriculture in the commercial 

 sense, the production of things to eat, wear, and use in tech- 

 nical industries. Without extending its limits too greatly no 

 room was found for a discussion of the tropical diseases of 

 live stock or of insect pests and fungous diseases. With 

 some regret, too, I have found it necessary to omit the sub- 

 ject of ornamentals — the endless list of vines, shrubs, and 

 trees which paint the tropical landscape with their brilliant 

 flowers. 



The literature of tropical agriculture abounds in exagger- 

 ations. One reads of yields of two pounds of coir fiber per 

 coconut, of 240,000 pounds of bananas per acre, along with 

 similar astonishing statements. If a New York farmer 

 should read that yields of 1,800 bushels of potatoes per acre 



