The importance of tropical agriculture in the commerce of the world is increasing daily. Sugar, coconuts, coffee, tea, cacao, bananas, fibers, rubbers, gums, spices, tans, oils, tropical woods, silk, ostrich feathers, and the hundreds of other tropical products hold a large place in international trade. The United States imports tropical products to the value of more than $6oo,ooo,ooo annually, $3 in Sugar, coffee, and silk. Year by year new tropical products, previously unknown to most of us, are added to the list of the world's economic products. Year by year more tropical products pass from the class of luxuries to the necessities.