I wish some benevolent person would send me for love or money (I have abundance of both) a plant of Lasiandra macrantha, var. floribunda. I have L. macrantha, but this life is almost too short to wait for it to get strong enough to bloom.

If there be such a thing as a poor Cattleya, I should call Triana one. It is such a great, overgrown looking flower. I have two others in bloom along side, one a variety of the labiate section, and the other C. Eldorado; both, I think, better colored and marked; still, Triana is very interesting.

I grow several Francisceas - namely, Hopeana, latifolia, macrantha, and calycina major; the latter is the best of all. The flowers are 3 to 4 inches across; good dark blue, changing to rose; of good substance, and the most admired of anything I have in bloom at present.

The first season we had Clematis coccinea, I waited all summer for the flower buds to open. Now, I think my Pavonia Wrightii is going to act the same way; it has been covered with buds for the past two months. I can not see any beauty in such miserable things.

I believe if there be any plants that never do bloom I get them all. Now is the first time Toxicophelia spectabilis has bloomed on this place; the flower is not conspicuous, but it fills the house with perfume.

A number of articles were published in the Monthly some years ago; I believe, under or over the heading of "Recollections of a Cactus Man." I am sorry I was not in a position to save my copies. Have those articles ever been published in book form ? If not, they ought to be. But few people will ever realize how little they know about Cactuses, until they visit the Mexican exhibit at Horticultural Hall, and also that of T. H. Wisher, of Texas, for which have been awarded 10 first prizes. Those collections embrace some specimens that would grace any exhibit in the world; and every inch of space occupied by them is full of interest. I believe embrace is not the proper word to use with respect to Cactuses.

There are between two and three hundred varieties in the exhibits, all the way in size from a button up to more than one could get their arms around.

The exhibit of Agaves is also very complete. I noticed a beautiful specimen of A. Shawii coming into bloom.

In connection with the exhibit from Jamaica, in Horticultural Hall, there is also an exhibit of great interest in the Main Building, including roots and herbs used for medicinal purposes, manufactured articles from native fiber of different plants; ladies and gentlemen's hats made from a variety of Carludovica, that for style and finish get ahead of anything in the Tuscan or Panama line. I take the liberty of sending you by this mail a tuber of Exocgonium purga, or Ipomoea Jalapa. Gardener to Prof. Richardson, New Orleans, La.