of arrangement of the various subjects treated of involved
some consideration; two or three plans were open for adoption. 1st. To
describe the several products in the order of their agricultural
importance or commercial value. 2nd. An alphabetical reference, in the
style of a Dictionary or Encyclopaedia; and 3rd. Classifying them under
subdivisions, according to their particular or chief uses. The last
seemed to me the most desirable and efficient mode, although open to
some objections, from the variety of uses to which different parts of
many plants were applied. Some, as cotton, indigo, sugar, coffee, tea,
&c., would readily fall into their proper division, but others, as the
coco-nut, plantain, &c., from the variety of their products, would
come under several heads. I have, however, endeavoured to meet this
difficulty by placing each plant or tree under the section to which
its most valuable production seemed naturally to refer it.

There are very many plants and substances which have been passed over
altogether, it being impossible, within the limits of a moderate sized
volume, to bring under notice even a tithe of the valuable grasses,
timber trees, cabinet woods, fruits, &c.; and I have confined myself
in a great measure to those which either already are, or might easily
be rendered, articles of commerce, of some importance. I have shown
their present value by quoting the current prices, and brought down,
as far as possible, the statistics of each article to the close of
last year, thus rendering the work valuable by commercial references
which could not be found collectively elsewhere.

There are some articles of commerce which could not properly be
treated of in a work intended as a guide on agriculture and husbandry,
for the tropical planter and cultivator, who purposes devoting his
attention to the raising of useful crops and plants on his estate. The
forests and jungles of the tropics abound in products of an useful
character, the luxurious and spontaneous growth of nature, such as
ebony, sandal wood, &c.; but these must be sought for by a different
class of settlers; and the mahogany cutter of Honduras, the
teak-feller of India, the gatherer of elastic gums, can scarcely be
ranked with the cultivators of the soil.

I had originally intended to confine my remarks to staples of tropical
growth, but I have been induced to depart from my prescribed plan by
the importance of some of the commercial products of t