G 



ITsTROPUCTORT. 



the statistics of each article to the close of last year, thus render- 

 ing the work YaluabJe by commercial references which could not 

 be found collectively elsewhere. 



There are some articles of commerce which could not pro- 

 perly be treated of in a work intended as a guide on agricul- 

 ture and husbandrj^, for the tropical planter and cultivator, who 

 purposes devoting his attention to the raising of useful crops and 

 plants on his estate. I^he forests and jungles of the tropics abound 

 in products of an usefal character, the luxurious and spontaneous 

 growth of nature, such as ebony, sandal wood, &c. ; but these must 

 be sought for by a different class of settlers ; and the mahogany 

 cutter of Honduras, the teak-feller of India, the gatherer of elastic 

 gums, can scarcely be ranked with the cultivators of the soil. 



I had originally intended to confine my remarks to staples of 

 tropical growth, but I have been induced to depart from my pre- 

 scribed plan by the importance of some of the commercial pro- 

 ducts of temperate regions, such as maple and beetroot sugar, 

 wheat, the grain crops, aud potatoes. 



The system of agriculture, and modes of tillage, &c., of separate 

 countries in the Eastern and "Western hemisphere, notwith«tand- 

 ing their similarity of climate, are as opposite as if each country 

 belonged to a different zone ; and yet much may be learned by one 

 of the other. 



The only essentially useful division of seasons in countries within 

 the tropics is into a wet and dry season, the former being the 

 period of germination, the latter that of fructification. 



The implements of agriculture required are for the most part 

 few and simple, for no high tillage is necessary, the luxuriance of 

 vegetation being so great that most of the products of the soil will 

 grow indiscriminately throughout the year, and the only care of the 

 husbandman, after the first preparation of the soil, is to keep down 

 the vast growth of weeds, which might stifle the crops. 



In tropical regions there is less demand for manures than in 

 temperate climates, but still there are many additions to the soil 

 that may profitably be made. 



Firstly, that most important principle, which has only receutly 

 been practically inculcated, is in too many quarters entirely 

 neglected, namely, returning to the soil the component parts 

 taken ofi* by various crops, and which is so generally practised in 

 all good agricultural districts, by a careful rotation of crops. 

 Liebig has well pointed out this : " It must be admitted (he says), 

 as a principle of agriculture, that those substances which have 

 been removef^ from a soil must be completely restored to it ; and 

 whether this restoration be effected by means of excrements, 

 ashes, or bones, is in a great measure a matter of indifference." 

 Again he remarks, " We could keep our fields in a constant state 

 of fertility by replacing every year as much as we remove from 

 them in the form of produce ; but an increase of fertility, and con- 

 sequent increase of crop, can only be obtained when we add more 

 to them than we take away." Of all natural manures, therefore. 



