Mr. Fortune sailed from England to China, about two months since, in the service and interest of the United States, to collect a supply of tea-plants for trial in this country, as well as to procure other Chinese productions as may be desirable to introduce. It is said that Mr. Fortune considers the soil and climate of our Eastern States peculiarly adapted to the growth of tea; but does he and our Government remember the rate of wages there 1 It is creditable to employ such men, and we hope for good results. A private letter from Mr. Fortune says: "It shall be my careful study to accomplish the important objects which you have entrusted to me, and you may rely on my not submitting to exorbitant charges, and on my acting in good faith to the Government of the United States.

" I have had so much experience in packing and shipping seeds and plants from China to India and England, that I venture to suggest to you that my operations should be conducted in the following manner: It will be imprudent to trust my collection in one or two vessels, as living plants are easily damaged during a long sea voyage. The more prudent course would be to ship, by as many vessels as possible, say six or eight But as this will occupy some time, I think I had better come home by the overland route, and bring the seeds (not tea-seeds) with me, and endeavor to reach America as early as possible, in order to receive the plants on their arrival If, on the contrary, I accompany the last shipment, via the Cape, the first would necessarily be home several weeks before I could be upon the spot to examine it and do what is needed. My object in offering this suggestion is to secure, if possible, the success of my mission, and I have no doubt you will agree with me in the propriety of such a course of procedure".

Dr. Lindley gets several "dressings" for having said the Spirea callosa was the handsomest garden shrub in existence. The " Cottage Gardener" says: "Why give heed to these rhapsodies? Botanists admire the greatest weeds; and as to callosa, it is hardly worth a farthing to the great mass for whom we cater. Dr. Lindley is a very good authority on some things; but his knowledge of practical gardening is very limited and very peculiar." A little jealous perhaps, as we find some folks to be in America!

The Chicago Journal says, " The lamented Downing was undoubtedly the greatest poet of his time - among those, we mean, who write their thoughts of beauty on the garden or the greensward. To counterfeit nature, to sprinkle the clumps of foliage as if they had been planted by the summer wind; to give to a little table of a plain the effect of hill and dale, and to a narrow homestead the apparent sweep of a spacious park; to teach the water to babble like a born brook along the artificial channel we have carved for it; to trace the paths in graceful curves, and hide everywhere the prints of the hand of art - these are among the achievements of landscape gardening, and some of the most exquisite stanzas of its living poetry. And this sort of authorship is one we have always envied; there seem such opportunities for the display of taste, for the intimation of beautiful thought. And then the books one must study to perfect himself in this poetic art are so many and so cheap, strewn everywhere upon the prairie, everywhere among the hills, all about in the woods. Such contrasts, such blending of tints, such admirable effects of light and shade, as fill the heart and soul with beauty.

We do not know why one cannot make a lyric out of prairie wild-flowers; why he may not make a stanza of despised weeds; why he may not display his imagination and his fancy as well in a bouquet as in an epic; why he cannot write 'thoughts that breathe' in ' words that burn' with all the glory of the sunset and the rainbow, quite as well upon a little patch of earth as upon a page of foolscap".

The flavor of fruits is often entirely destroyed by their being packed in unsuitable substances. Bran spoils pears. It is a difficult matter to get a good packing material that will not communicate a flavor; moss, tow, flax-dressings, are unsuitable; the only substance which seems to be destitute of these bad properties is cotton, in the form of wadding; though the catkins of the beech-tree are well adapted, they are not so conveniently obtained.

Orchard Houses require much 'attention in the matter of watering. A saving of one-half the water, and the keeping the roots more. regularly moist, is therefore important; the following method has been adopted, and might be employed for orange and lemon trees, etc, in large boxes: Take old wine bottles, cut off the bottoms about two inches high by passing round them a piece of thick worsted soaked in spirits of turpentine; set fire to this, holding the bottle in a horizontal position, and when this is burnt out pour on cold water; this will cut the bottle through quite clean, if well done. Make a hole down the inside of a pot with a blunt stick, insert the neck of a bottle to the shoulder, and press the soil closely around it Fill the bottle with water as often as it becomes empty, by which plan the roots get a constant and regular supply. Should the soil get too wet, the water must be, of course, withheld for a time; and should it get too dry, pass a pointed stick through the bottle into the soil to give free passage to the water.

Any who may try this plan will find their trees more at home in pots than they have hitherto done.