circulars; but the statistics are accurate enough for approximate
calculations.

Whilst the work has been passing through the press, several important
modifications and alterations have been made in our Tariff.

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;