200 
SECOND BOOK. 
2 . There, on the busy wharfs, we may see hogs- 
heads of sugar and casks of rum, bales of tobacco, 
bags of coffee or pimento, bunches of bananas, and 
boxes or barrels of oranges, cocoa-nuts, and other 
fruits. It is plain, then, that the articles which 
Jamaica supplies to other countries come from the 
trees and plants, or are prepared from their pro- 
ducts. Therefore it is very important that we should 
understand how to make the best use of our land, 
that our produce may be both good and abundant. 
3. The government endeavours to encourage and 
assist the agricultural work in the island, and for 
this purpose there is a Department of Public Gardens 
and Plantations. 
4. This Department seeks to introduce and rear 
any useful plants that may be likely to thrive in 
our soil and climate, and to make known the best 
way to cultivate them. It also informs us how to 
deal with diseases, or with insect pests, that do 
harm to our plants. And it tries to find out what 
fibres, fruits, juices, woods, or other parts of plants 
may be of service to us for clothing, food, dyes, 
medicine, &c. 
5. During the last hundred years many of the 
valuable plants from which we get our chief pro- 
ducts have been reared in the public gardens, and 
then sent out to the planters. Indeed, with the 
exception of pimento, almost all the plants that we 
now value most have been introduced from other 
