They do not work with so simple a raw material as plants do; they use plants, indeed, directly or indirectly, as their raw material; but they convert them into products raised in industrial value by the additional workmanship bestowed upon them. We have thus the silkworm, whose calling it is to tyro mulberry leaves into silk; the bee, who turns sugar into wax; the coccus, who turns cactus juice into carmine; the oyster, who turns sea-chalk into pearls; the turtle, who turns seaweeds into tortoise-shell; and the whale, who turns see jellies into oil and whalebone. The birds are the only makers of quills and feathers; the hogs, of bristles; the elephant, the walrus, and hippopotamus, of ivory; the sheep, of wool, not to speak of fat and mutton; the ox and his congeners, of undressed leather; the beaver and his brethren, of hat-felt; and myriads of wild creatures of land and sea, of furs and skins. The most important industrial relation of many others is their power, as machines, to convert weeds of various kinds into beef, mutton, venison, milk, butter, eggs, the flesh of birds and beasts, and fishes.

He continues thus: "At every agricultural show, prizes are given to the exhibitors of vegetables and animals, which differ as much from their protoplasts as Watt's steam-engine does from Savary's or Newcomen's. 80 much has cultivation changed our most highly-prised cereals, that it is a matter of dispute from what forgotten weeds wheat and barley, as we now see them, have been elaborated. Our apples and pears were once sour crabs; our plums, austere sloes; our turnips, acrid radishes. We have as truly created such fruits and vegetables as the chemist has created ether or chloroform. The physiologist, no doubt, is much more limited than the chemist as a creator, but he is as truly one. Both work under that aphorism of the Novum Organum, which teaches us to conquer nature by obeying her." - Dr. Lindley is writing much, lately, regarding the decay of races, in which he upholds his former opinions very forcibly. The rose grower, Mr. W. Paul, takes up the topic, and, in the course of his remarks, says: "Although, in the Florist of October, 1855, Mr. Rivers writes, 'one almost fears the point of perfection has been attained, and that no better roses than those we now possess can or will be originated,' it would perhaps be hardly fair to infer that Mr. R. doubts the progression of races.

This indeed cannot be, for, while depreciating new roses, he recommends a list of no less than twenty-eight new varieties of pears. It seems, rather, that he has forgotten the old proverb, 'Nature does not advance by leaps,' and expects too much from his ' old friend of thirty years' standing, the rose.* This proverb applies with peculiar force to the various families of flowers. Every raiser of seedlings knows that nature does not advance by leaps. To look on new roses as they appear from year to year, improvement is perhaps not great. If we are seeking for striking results, we must look backward into the storehouse of time. I remember, many years ago, the late Sir Abraham Hume, who was a great patron of gardening, presenting my father with half a dozen roots of single dahlias. How were they prized! Every seed was saved and sown, and, when the single row of flat petals surrounding a yellow disk was converted into a double flower, how great was the acquisition considered I" - Turpentine is recommended for the cure of scale; some experiments are detailed, and we copy the following: " To get rid of scale on orange-trees, I took a small quantity of turpentine in an earthen pan, and, as I did not use it at once, it was absorbed by the pan.

I then added about three times the quantity of warm water, which was strongly impregnated with turps. To this I added a small piece of soda, and the same of soap. This was applied by the hand in the manner of washing, and it answered, as I have stated, satisfactorily." - A branching pine-apple is exciting much interest abroad. Among the curious plants sold to the Crystal Palace Company by Mr. Loddiges, was an unfruited specimen. Under the skilful management of Mr. Eyles it soon produced three young ones, and these, having now arrived at maturity, are found to possess the branching habit much as it is described by Rumphius. The specimen before us is ten inches long, twelve and one-half inches round in the widest part, and has a weak, cockscomb crown. At its base sprout out thirteen small pine-apples, each from two and one-half to four inches long, and terminating in a slender, imbricated crown. What gives this production peculiar interest, is the proof which it offers of all the "pips" or flowers of the pine-apple being leaf-buds in a state of abortion. While in that condition the parts all swell, the centre is fixed, and a " pip" is the result.

But if, owing to high temperature, excessive moisture, unusual stimulants, or any other disturbing cause, the customary abortion is removed, then each pip sprouts into a branch, assuming the pine-apple conformation, and a brood of little fruits is the result. - "We have sometimes (says the Rural Intelligencer) sprinkled a favorite cherry-tree with ashes or quicklime, in order to save the fruit from the ravenous worms; when this has succeeded, and we have feared the robins and comb-birds, we have spread a net over the tree; but the meshes, though small, were not small enough, and we have found the birds under it taking their dinners. But the best protection against worms and cherry birds that we have yet found, is a boy in the neighborhood, who, after the fruit has been preserved until fully ripe, is sure to enter the garden and rob all that would otherwise remain as the reward of our toil and care. His parents think he is a remarkable child; and, if he continues in his thievish habits, we presume they will find that he will yet come to a remarkable end".