I have throughout found great difficulty in obtaining commercial information from the various Colonial brokers and importers of the City, who, with but few exceptions, have been stupidly jealous of any publicity respecting the staples in the sale of which they were specially interested. The greatest fear was expressed lest any details as to the sources of supply, stocks on hand, and cost prices of many of the minor articles, should transpire. After the results of the Great Exhibition, the exertions making to establish Trade Museums, and the prospect of information to be furnished at the new Crystal Palace, this narrow-minded and selfish feeling seems singularly misplaced.
I had not originally contemplated touching upon the grain crops and food plants of temperate regions; but the prospect of a failure in our harvest, the disturbed state of political affairs on the Continent, with short supplies from Russia and the Danubian provinces, and the absence of any reliable statistics and information for convenient reference on this all-important subject, added to the recommendations of one or two well-informed correspondents, induced me to go more into detail on the Food-plants and Breadstuffs than I had at first intended, and to treat very fully upon Wheat, Barley, Potatoes, and other subsidiary food crops. This has trenched somewhat largely on my space; and although the volume has been swelled to an unexpected size, I am reluctantly compelled to omit some few Sections, such as those treating of elastic and other Gums, Resins, &c.; on tropical Fruits; and on textile substances and products available for cordage and clothing. The latter section, which includes Cotton, Flax, Jute, &c., and embraces a wide and important range of plants, I propose issuing in a separate volume at an early date, with a large fund of statistical and general information.
Among those gentlemen to whom I acknowledge myself most indebted for valuable suggestions or important information, are my friends Sir R.H. Schomburgk, British Consul at St. Domingo, and Mr. R. Montgomery Martin, the well-known Statist and Colonial Historian; Mr. R.D. Wodifield, Deputy Inspector of Imports at the port of London; Mr. Leonard Wray, of Natal, author of "The Practical Sugar Planter;" Dr. W. Hamilton, of Plymouth, a talented and frequent contributor to the scientific periodicals of the day; Mr. T.C. Archer, of Liverpool, author of "Economic Botany;" Mr. Greene, of the firm of Blyth, Brothers, and Greene; Mr. J.S. Christopher, author of several works on the Cape Colony, and Natal; Mr. B.H. Strousberg, editor of "The Merchant's Magazine," and Mr. G.W. Johnson, the eminent agricultural writer, author of various elaborate "Essays on the Agriculture of Hindostan," which were written for my "Colonial Magazine."
P.L. SIMMONDS.
5, BARGE YARD, BUCKLERSBURY,
December, 1853.
CONTENTS.
[Objects of the work.]
[Prof. Solly on the demand for a practical book on raw materials.]
[Objects of the Society of Arts and Great Exhibition.]
[Necessity for an attention to the culture of the minor staples of the soil.]
[New objects of industry worthy the attention of Science.]
[Principal part of our homeward commerce composed of raw materials from the Vegetable Kingdom.]
[Mutual dependence of countries on Commerce for the supply of their wants.]
[System of arrangement of subjects adopted by the author.]
[Many articles of commerce omitted for want of space.]
[Those of tropical and sub-tropical regions chiefly discussed.]
[Hints for the cultivator. Division of zones, and countries lying within each, with their range of temperature.]
[Table of climate; duration and production of the principal cultivated plants.]