dependencies of the British Empire, is no longer considered a mere
subject of speculation, but one well worthy the attention of the eye
of science; and the fostering hand of care is beginning to be held out
to productions of nature and art, which, if not all equally necessary
to the welfare of man, yet certainly merit the attention of the
cultivator and capitalist, and have great claims on the scientific
observer, and on those interested in raising the manufactures of our
country to a higher standard.

Few who have not investigated this subject are aware of the immense
number of countries lying in the equatorial and tropical ranges of the
torrid zone, many of which, from the value and importance of their
indigenous productions, have already attracted considerable notice,
and to which still more attention will be directed by European nations
as the value of their various products becomes more extensively known.

The homeward commerce which we carry on with our numerous Colonies,
with our Indian Possessions, and with foreign countries, is
principally in articles furnished by the vegetable kingdom, such as
the cereal grains, wheat, rice, maize, &c.; vegetables used in
preparing dietetic drinks and distilled liquors, as tea, coffee,
cacao, and the sugar cane, grapes, &c.; spices and condiments; drugs;
dyes and tanning substances, obtained from the bark, leaves, fruit,
and roots of various herbs and trees; the expressed or distilled oils
of different plants; fruits in the green, dried, or preserved state;
starches obtained from the roots or trunks of many farinaceous plants;
fibrous substances used for cordage, matting, and clothing, as cotton,
Indian hemp, flax, coco-nut coir, plantain and pine-apple fibre;
timber and fancy woods. These substances, in the aggregate, form at
least nine-tenths in value of the whole imports of this country. There