CHAPTER IV 
ECONOMIC BOTANY. 
Economic Botany 1 is the study of plants from the point 
of view of their uses in the arts, manufactures, or commerce. 
It is largely bound up with agriculture, chemistry, political 
economy, and other subjects. We shall deal with it here 
almost solely from the botanical side. As yet the subject 
is too much in the stage of a heterogeneous assemblage 
1 The literature of Economic Botany is enormous, and the subject 
is intimately connected with Agriculture, See. The following are 
among the 'more important works of reference on the botanical side: 
Wiesner, Die Rohstoffe aes Pflanzenreichs , 2nd ed. Vienna, 1903 ; 
Watt, Dictionary of the Economic Products of India ; F. von Muller, 
Select Extra-tropical Plants ; Willis and Wright, Handbook of Economic 
Products of Ceylon, appearing as Supplements to Ann. Per ad. I, 1901- ; 
Semler, Tropische Agrikultur ; Nicholls, Tropical Agriculture ; De 
Candolle, Origin of Cultivated Plants ; Morris, Cantor Lectures on 
Plants yielding Indiarubber , 1898; Obach, Cantor Lectures on Gutta- 
percha, 1897; Seligmann, Lamy, et Falconnet, Le Caoutchouc et la 
Guttapercha , Paris, 1896 ; Dodge, A descriptive Catalogue of Useful Fiber 
Plants of the World, Washington (U.S. Dept. Agr.), 1897; Hannan, 
Textile Fibres of Commerce, London, 1902; Dragendorff, Die Heilpflanzen 
d. versch . Volker und Zeiten, Stuttgart, 1898; Gamble, A Manual of 
Indian Timbers, 2nd ed. 1903 ; Bailey, Cyclopaedia of Horticulture , 
Plant-breeding', Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening', Sorauer, Physio- 
logy of Plants for Gardeners ; Bateson, MendeVs Principles of Heredity. 
And see such journals as Kew Bulletin, Revue des Cultures Coloniales 
(Paris), Tropenpflanzer (Berlin), Schim?nel dr 3 Co.’s Reports (Leipzig ; 
essential oils), Tropical Agriculturist (Colombo), Agricultural Ledger 
(Calcutta), Mededeelingen uit’s Lands Plantentuin (Buitenzorg), Bulletins 
of the Dept, of Agi'iculture (Washington), as well as agricultural and 
technical journals. 
