PREFACE. 
N view of the expansion of the activities of the Depart- 
J- ment of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, and 
the extension of work upon the various economic products 
of Ceylon, native or introduced, we have been for some 
time past engaged in collecting, classifying, and making 
easily available the immense mass of information about 
these products which is contained in the files of the Depart¬ 
ment, and in the numerous books preserved in the library 
at Peradeniya. At the same time the collections in the 
Economic Museum are being re-arranged and renewed in 
pursuit of a definite plan of classification of economic 
products. It being necessary to write out a large amount 
of the information thus gathered in a brief and simple form 
for the explanation of the specimens in the Museum, it 
seemed worth while, for the sake of all in Ceylon and else¬ 
where who are interested in the economic products of the 
Island, to make this more generally available by printing 
it in book form, giving brief but accurate information about 
all known useful vegetable products of the Island, with 
fuller details about such as are staple products. 
It has been decided to issue the work in the form of 
Supplements to the numbers of the “ Annals of the Royal 
Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya.” It will appear as ready, in 
consecutive order, with separate paging from the rest of the 
journal, to admit of independent binding, and will be 
concluded by a detailed index of names and products. A 
limited number of copies will be placed on sale (at a price 
probably of Rs. 10-15) when the work is complete ; this 
will probably be in the course of two or three years, and the 
whole work will likely form a volume of 400-500 pages. 
The products dealt with include those which have been 
introduced into the Island for cultivation or trial, and so 
far as information is available, also those which are im¬ 
ported only, and are not cultivated or prepared locally. It 
will probably surprise most people to find how few native 
products of value the Island possesses, and what a vast 
number of introduced ones. Some are introductions of 
