CHAPTER IX 
ECONOMIC AND MEDICINAL PLANTS, ETC. 
Every year Great Britain, in common with other highly civilised 
countries of Europe, becomes more and more dependent on the 
products of tropical countries. For many fruits, spices, 
j^ w E anc *. and condiments — even for certain foods and drinks 
p ' and articles in everyday use — it has to rely entirely on 
an oversea supply. At first luxuries of the well-to-do, such things 
gradually become necessaries of the poorest. Ever since its institu- 
tion as a national garden, Kew has been busily engaged in the 
propagation of plants useful as food, in medicine, in manufactures, 
and in the arts ; and in their distribution to those British Colonies 
and Possessions in which they are most likely to succeed. This 
Works or the good of the Empire in two ways : in the first place, 
it opens up new industries in the Colonies, giving employment to 
capital and creating a demand for labour ; and, secondly, by increas- 
ing the supply of the various products, it brings them within the 
means of a much larger proportion of the home population than 
could otherwise obtain them. 
A work of great importance has been the introduction of useful 
plants from the tropics of the New World to those of the Old. The 
transmission of living plants, and even of many seeds, from (say) 
Brazil to Ceylon, is not so easy as may appear. It is not merely 
a matter of gathering the seeds, packing them, and consigning them 
to their destination. In the first place, it is all-important that the 
right thing should be obtained, and expert knowledge may be necessary 
to secure this. Then the seeds of many tropical economic plants lose 
their vitality quickly, and the journey is too protracted to be safe, 
even in these days of rapid transit. Great Britain, from its central 
position, on which all the great trade routes converge, affords a 
convenient halfway house. The usual process has been for seeds 
or plants to be sent to Kew. Here they are overhauled and, if in 
x 169 
