To be a thorough good plant-grower requires no mean competency, and an amount of practice by no means insignificant. But to be such in the southern states, is almost saying you have reached perfection in the art. Doubtless this will appear singular, and will be strongly questioned by those who are accustomed to the climate of England, or other parts of Europe, and who imagine they have a deal more to contend with, than it is possible to have in such a favorable climate as that of America. These, as well as perhaps some plant owners, are apt to suppose that good practical "plantsmen" are not yet among us, to take the matter in hand. But that is not the case, as we have as competent men in that department as any country can produce; and nothing more or less than the scorching heat of American tropical summers, which is so overpowering in its effects of parching the leaves and drying their substance, weakening and exhausting others, and even dissolving some of a certain class, and notwithstanding the efforts and energies of the gardener, he will be even threatened, in some instances, with the entire loss of his stock. Large plants that are of any age, seem as though they were more exposed, and in all cases are the greatest sufferers.

Small and young stock will always survive best, and consequently we have always, with such, to be pretty well supplied; we water largely, and syringe freely, but this is in an hour wasted and consumed by a burning atmosphere. Again, the variations of seasons such, as extremes of wet or dry, or sudden interchanges of both, defy all rules. To be a plantsman here, you must be directed by nature's laws, paying the closest attention to the great excesses of temperature which belong to a climate partly temperate and partly tropical.

The winter division here, that is after the heat of summer declines., and before it regains its power in the spring, is to a certainty, of all the climes I have practiced in, the most favorable. We may pot, repot, reduce balls of earth, shake them to pieces, or whatever else necessity and proper management directs. Nature assists at this season, and every thing prospers well and grows luxuriantly. A charming sight certainly, is a well kept and well managed green-house, all throughout this season. Next comes the summer division, the season of extreme heat, with strange contrast in its effects. The rich gum of your soft wooded plants will, if plants are exposed as they would he in England, change into a sickly yellow appearance, which will soon deprive them of nearly all their foliage, leaving the whole in such a feeble condition as to he hard for them to exist. Then is the time the gardener enters upon his difficulties. Then is the time that the unacclimated practitioner and the unskilful amateur will be confounded.

They naturally suppose that something must be done to bring them back to their usual condition, and to stay them from getting any worse; putting in fresh soil, and a little cutting to excite them into fresh growth, is resorted to, but instead of getting better they get worse, and many of them die. Perhaps soil and situation are supposed to have been unsuitable, and all is again changed, but they will gradually drop off till probably all perish. Such is the result of applying common practice to green-house plants in the south. Your hard-wooded plants, and all that are not the growth of a few months, will not be effected so visibly, and you may venture to repot such in the event of additional room being required. But it should be law among the plant growers in the southern United States, not to destroy root or branch daring this season, for just as sure as they do so, certainly they will loose their plants. They may look shriveled, yellow, or leafless, but be glad if you can save the wood, and to do this you must be strictly careful that everything stand in the shade - a place in the shade of trees but not under them will do very well - but the north side of a building is much better.

The most delicate ought to be protectable from the destructive rain-storms. The summer site being chosen and the plants placed in it, they must be kept moist by watering them twice a day - morning and evening. Do not become uneasy and think, because they are looking tolerably well, that a repotting or some other process, would assist them. If you do so, the chance is ten to one that you will make the worst of a good job. As the season grows cooler, they will show signs of commencing to grow, but even then do not be in a hurry; let all dangers and hazards of the hot season be over, before you prepare for winter and its entirely altered condition.

As to the various plants that are sown throughout summer for winter bloom, such as the Chinese Primrose, Mignonette, and other annuals, in four seasons out of five, you fail to bloom them here before February, because you cannot get a sowing to stand before late in September or October, but to overcome the difficulty, I sow as late in spring as possible, and let them remain in the seed pot, in the shade, with all the rest, till the growing season commences at the south, and the gardener must be wide awake to get his plants ready for it. There is something to do and to be done, as well after the heat of the season has so far declined as to allow the plants, which are still in their shaded situation, to commence their growth; let them be fairly started to prove that the season of rest is complete and the season of growth has begun. Then is the proper time to commence potting. A great part of the collection will want their balls examined and divested of nearly all the soil in which they grew last year; others must be reduced to suit the condition of their roots.

I wish here to make a few remarks on soil, drainage, and watering, as they form part of the general system of culture. Compost, according to nearly all writings and practitioners, must be of as many kinds and natures as you have genera in your collection, and many pages, and much time, are spent in collecting and mixing them. In all this routine I was educated; I have, perhaps, seen as systematic a practice as any body, but experience has taught me that all such detail respecting compost, is unnecessary. A theorist may suppose, and may state, that each variety of plant must have a different soil, or mixtheory. Some years ago I came to the conclusion, that practically, we need only two soils, loam and peat; the former I use free from any mixture whatever, for all the general assortment of plants, excepting such as camellias, to which I add half the latter, and to hair-rooted plants, (heaths, Ac.) I use the latter. To the cactus tribe, I use, with the former, a little lime-rubbish or sand. I never use manure under any circumstances, in the compost. The soil I obtain from where I can get it most convenient and suitable, although I decidedly prefer and recommend soil to be collected with all the rough herbage, bones, etc, and to be piled up to lie undisturbed at least two years.

I find sods from an old pasture give the best loam, and when well decomposed they are rich in vegetable matter. Next comes draining, a subject which occupies more room in horticultural pages, and has been so long and universally practiced, that it is the height of boldness to assail its value. But let me invite the gardener at the south to stop and look into it, and ask if such is really necessary, and for what reason. "Why certainly, it is," he will reply; "every article you read, and every gardener you meet, declares it needful, to prevent the plants being flowed with superfluous water." My answer is, that if a gardener does not know such a small portion of soil, of elevated, movable soil, as is contained in a flowerpot, without a drain, or how and when to water a plant, without surcharging and saturating it, it will be, by all means, advisable for him to employ a drain; but for a man who really is competent in the plant department, I contend a drain of some two or three inches of broken pieces in the bottom of the pot, is, in a dry climate, worse than useless. The pots are ready and clean, inside and out, and a heap of soil is collected free from any foreign mixture. This I use in as rough a state, (without sifting,) as the size of the pot may allow.

I make the soil compact in potting, by beating the bottom of the pot on the pot-ing bench. Never by pressing with stick and fingers. The bad effects of the latter are unseen and unknown to the inexperienced, but bad effects they often are. After potting, place the plants in the situation you have for each species. If such situation be at all adapted, they will soon show a rich appearance of sound, healthy growth, though they are always to be found in different stages; some more delicate, and not fit to feed on anything but the pure soil, others growing quite robust, and therefore ready to use something stronger. In the latter case, I commence manure watering, by the use of guano, a strong solution of which I keep mixed up in a tub, and as I pass with the water pots, I add half a pint or half a gallon, or in other words, make it strong enough to suit the condition of the plants, and so on continue all the growing season, with additional pot room, and more and stronger liquid feeding. This, however, must be gradually withdrawn as the hot season approaches. When the growth ceases, the plants can no longer digest liquid manure, and suffer by it.

James Stewart.

Memphis, Tennessee.