PKEFACE. 



In submitting this work to the notice of the public, 1 

 deem it proper to explain the sources from which I have 

 acquired the knowledge of the subjects of which it treats. 

 The greater part has been obtained during an official 

 connection of more than forty years with the Eoyal 

 Gardens, Kew, which afforded me the opportunity of 

 studying and becoming practically acquainted with the 

 largest collection of living plants, exotic and native, 

 ever brought together, not only as regards their cultiva- 

 tion and classification, but also with their properties and 

 uses, as known both by their scientific and popular 

 names. My knowledge of the latter has been greatly 

 increased by correspondence with collectors and curators 

 of Botanic Gardens abroad, and also through my having 

 taken an active part in assisting the late Sir "W. Hooker 

 to establish and bring together the vast collection of 

 specimens of vegetable products which, begun in 1846, 

 now occupies three separate large buildings under the 

 name of the Kew Museum of Economic Botany. The 

 object of this collection is to show the practical applica- 

 tion of the use of plants, by which we learn the source 

 of the numerous products furnished by the vegetable 

 kingdom made use of by man in all matters of domestic 

 and general economy. 



