The little useful animal was hatched from the egg of a wild duck, and laid an enormous number of eggs last year. Might it not add to the profits of the poultry-yard if similar experiments in breeding were oftener tried? - Orchard-houses for peaches, etc. etc, are now the rage abroad, and are even penetrating into the far north of Scotland. - Picea Nordmanniana succeeds perfectly, grafted on the Silver Fir. - "The Blood Manure Company" is introducing a valuable manure, made from the blood of animals. It is highly recommended for wheat, barley, oats, etc. This substance is lost in America, but steps should be taken to use it. - Among the score of plants which, show the effects of the different modes of Grafting, the most useful to know is, that all the rare Pinuses, or, rather, the whole race of Conifers, should be grafted down as low as the collar of the plant which is used for a stock; then, by planting such grafted plants sufficiently deep to bury the grafted part, roots will come from the scion, or graft, in time, so that the plant, ultimately grows on its own roots.

This is really a useful lesson. - Perhaps the most interesting object which has lately-flowered abroad is a new Camellia from China, discovered and sent home by Mr. Fortune. It is a carnation striped kind, very different, however, from any we have hitherto possessed, inasmuch as the stripes, rosy pink, are much more brilliant than in any variety we now have of this class, and the general outline and form of the flowers are all that the most fastidious in such matters could desire. This, therefore, must be regarded as an acquisition of no mean importance. It may be mentioned that the plant which has flowered, was half-starved, and nearly destitute of foliage; therefore the blooms, handsome as they are, may be expected to be much more so when produced by healthy specimens. - There is, perhaps, more injury done in a mild winter than in a severe one, amongst the tender or half-hardy plants which the gardener has to deal with; for it not unfrequently happens, that a period of dull, mild weather, throws the inexperienced off their guard, and towards the middle, or it may be earlier, a sharp frost sets in suddenly, carrying death and destruction to many things which had looked not only healthy but luxuriant.

A mild winter is seldom followed by a genial spring; the conseqaence is, that plants which have survived, perhaps, in the open air, are often killed. - Hartweg declared, that a woods of Pinus Benthamiana was the finest thing he saw in his extensive travels. It is now much planted on the hills of Scotland. - Thuja gigantea is one of the most singular trees; it is not unlike Sequoia gigantea, only it has not so much of a cypress look. Like the Sequoia, it is a Califomian tree, of great size and beauty, attaining the height of one hundred and eighty feet, the lower eighty feet of which is as bare as a May-pole; but, with us, we shall not see it thus in our day - Another remarkable Conifer, from Asia Minor, is Thuiopsis borealis, a fine, graceful-looking tree, and said to be very hardy. The Wardian Case has brought over a large batch of seedlings of Araucaria Cookii to the other side of the world, and there they are as if they were sown on the spot. - In Holland, no table is without cooked Endive, and almost no day in the year. It is the most universally popular dish in the country, and the most savory morsel. But the method of preparing it is somewhat different from that given by you.

Take two good Endives, not blanched, separate the leaves, and boil them in two waters (to extract the bitter). If still bitter, use a third water, but ten minutes before they are ready, throw in a handful of Sorrel leaves. When ready, take them out and strain them, and put them back in the saucepan with a piece of butter, the size of a walnut, pepper and salt, q. s., and a tablespoonful of any rich gravy. Shake them well over the fire till all is incorporated, and send them in hot. On no account chop the leaves. Iota, - The appropriate name of one of the exhibitors of the London Horticultural Society, is Cutbush. - The Southern Cultivator says: " We believe, from all the lights before us, that more wine, and of better quality, can be made on a given quantity of land in the South, than in Europe or at the West, and that the Catawba is by far our most promising grape for the purpose. We must not, however, be confined entirely to this variety, as the Warren, and, perhaps, the Isabella may be found to produce wines which cannot be made from the former." - Robert Nelson, in the same periodical, pronounces a new seedling peach, of Georgia origin, and called the Pocahonta, the finest he has ever eaten. - Tansy, planted round the peach-tree, is obtaining favor as a remedy against the borer. - A good oil can be produced from the seeds of cotton, but they are too valuable for manure to be extensively employed in this manner.

Gossip #1

They have lately had an exhibition at the Crystal Palace, London, of Canaries and cage birds, which proved a success. Mr. Kidd, the ornithologist, furnished a daily lecture on the natural history and judicious management of song birds, and it may be justly stated, that the whole exhibition could not fail to be a source of pleasant and highly rational enjoyment to the genera] public as well as to the bird amateur. Among the foreign birds were two remarkable parrots, - the first a grey, who spoke the words, - Walk in, Mr. Cox; Polly wants her breakfast; Puss; mocks the cat; calls the dog Toby, and then laughs; walk in, Sir; who are you? Polly is a darling. Speaks many names, Elizabeth, etc. May be handled by strangers. Is very quiet. - Green Parrot, (South America). Words spoken by this bird - Eliza, George, Charles, Charley; Polly, Polly; Oh you pretty Polly; laughs; imitates talking, and children crying. Quick in imitating sounds and tunes. A very good-tempered bird. - A Rose-breasted Cockatoo. Words spoken by this bird - Pretty Boy, Polly, Puss, How do you do. Calls by name several members of the family, etc. Highly commended.

But the most attractive bird was a Mealy Turncrown, which sings and talks with marvellous fluency, without requiring, as in the Arab tale, a Grand Vizier to be his interpreter. In clear, soft, silvery tones, like those of a silver bell, or blushing school Miss, he simpers forth, " Pretty dear, call the doctor, Polly sick! Polly sick!" He, besides, calls the house dog by name, whistling to him. Yet his tuition was at second hand, by a paroquet: and the funny contrast to the listener, between this delicate little speaker and his clear, full enunciation, drew crowds around his cage. His money price is £20.

People very frequently are puzzled with the idea of conducting and non-conducting powers, but they are very simple. The main business, first, with pits and frames is, to prevent a too sudden loss of that interior warmth which has been previously accumnlating. This is what they term arresting radiation. At the same time it must be admitted that covering materials - in the case of cutting winds - certainly avert that refrigerating action which winds are known to exercise by passing over bodies wanner than themselves. Dryness is a great essen tial, and, although we cannot dry mats when we choose, we can continue to renew the straw when it becomes much draggled. I had almost forgotten to suggest, that all glass should be kept clean.

Mr. Rivers says, that boiling coal tar with slacked lime will make a shining surface on woodwork, and walls of any clay, or turf, which is as imperishable as stone: it is, therefore, better than all the paints in the world for the outside work of these houses; and I have proved that rough surfaces may be made in his way as durable and hard as cast iron, by using the dust from a smith's forge over the tar, as soon as it is brushed on. I had six wooden spouts, each 18 feet long, 4 inches wide, and 6 inches deep, for a particular purpose, and the man who sup. plied them (God forgive him!) assured me that they would last three lifetimes, if they were kept painted. But they soon turned so leaky, that a painter, with nothing else to do, could not make them hold their parching jaws together for an hour, in hot weather; so I took the painting of them into my own hands, and gave them three good thick coats of hot tar, and as much of the forge dust every time as the tar could suck in. From that day to this these spouts have been as sound as a bell; and when I use tar for paint, I dust it immediately with that smithy dust, and brush off what is not fixed after the tar is quite dry.

Gossip #1

Lichens which grow on the summit of trees, have been found to contain an uncommon proportion of oxide of iron, a curious illustration of the peculiar powers which various plants possess of separating the inorganic matters presented to them in their food. Certain lichens make the dye called litmus, largely used by manufacturers under the name of orchall or Archill. The common yellow pale lichen contains a peculiar coloring matter, called Parietin, of a bright yellow. This is heightened by a drop of nitric, muriatic, or sulphuric acid; while minute quantities of ammonia change it to a rich red, inclining to purple. The Iceland Mess is a familiar illustration of the use of lichens. Tripe de Roche, a lichen, Canadian hunters have been reduced to subsist upon, and other kinds are eaten in the deserts of Asia, in large quantities, by the nomade tribes of those regions.

It is only lately that ferns have been well understood; to Mohl we are indebted for their illustration. One of the most interesting of them is that of the Baranets, or Baroinets, called also the Scythian Lamb, in which, by cutting off the leaves, except on a small portion of the stalk of a woolly stemmed species, and turning it, upside down, simple people have been persuaded that there existed in the deserts of Scythia, creatures half animal and half plant.