INTRODUCTION. 
Il 
a product will change to a new mark if he cannot he eure of 
a regular supply, though he may recognize the superiority 
of the new quality. 
If, on the other hand, the product under consideration be 
one of the minor kind, we have to carefully consider its 
possibilities. If it can be used as a substitute for an estab¬ 
lished staple, it must be at least as good if its price be as 
high, or if inferior it must be possible to sell it at a propor¬ 
tionally lower cost. These requirements will be found to 
rule out of the world’s markets the vast majority of the 
economic products of the vegetable kingdom ; they may be 
used as fair substitutes, where locally abundant, for some 
staple product, but cannot compete with that product on the 
open market. If again, the minor product is one which 
may be made the basis of a new industry, it requires much 
capital and enterprise, usually applied in Europe or America, 
to start the industry, and the exploitation of the product 
passes out of the purview of Economic Botany altogether. 
So far we have dealt with the world-market, i.e ., with 
economic products from the point of view of an export 
trade from Ceylon. There is, however, also a local market, 
in which local products have an advantage against imported 
ones, and it should often be possible to obtain a profitable 
local sale for an article which it would not pay to export. 
Ceylon imports many things for which local substitutes 
should be possible to a considerable extent, and some of 
these might even find a market as far as India. Instances 
will be found under the various classes of products described 
below. 
Whether the product which it is proposed to cultivate or 
prepare be a staple or a minor product, it is of the first 
importance that it shall be prepared in the best possible way, 
and consequently samples of the best market kinds should 
be studied, and attempts made to imitate them as far as 
possible. Not merely is it needful to imitate the actual 
good qualities of the samples, but it is commonly at least 
