It not only has a tendency to give strength and hardness to the straw (which guano weakens), but prevents the loss of ammonia, which is constantly going on even in a dry atmosphere. M. Barral, the French-editor, says: "We left in the open air, in plates, during 15 days, equal weights of the pure guano and the guano previously mixed with salt. At the end of that time, we examined anew the amount of nitrogen, and found that the pure guano had lost 11.6 per cent. of its nitrogen, while that mixed with salt had only lost 5 per cent." The Express recommends the use of refuse salt from fish packers for this purpose, and any refuse salt would probably answer the purpose. - We have recently conversed with two gentleman - both practical men, and of critical observation - who informed us that they have now fields in grass, and yielding good crops, laid down some five, six, and seven years ago, manuring them solely with guano, and receiving little or no manuring since. - A correspondent of the London Times, in commenting upon the progress of Irish agriculture, states that, during the past fourteen years, the value of farm stock, in Ireland, has increased from £22,000,000 to £35,000,000 sterling, and that the number of horned cattle has risen from 2,000,000 to 3,250,000, while the quality has correspondingly improved.

Still, however, of the 20,000,000 of acres which Ireland comprises, only about one-fourth is under direct tillage, and fully one-third in pasture. - Nothing is in worse taste than an evergreen with its branches lopped off half way up. It is but half a tree. It resembles some wretched man, who has undergone a surgical operation that has taken off his arms up to his shoulders; it would be as correct to shave off the wavy silken tresses of a fair girl up to the crown of her head. - A travelled lady recently sent us some honey from Hymettus, with the true poetic flavor still distinguishable. The humble thyme plant, nourishing the Grecian apiaries, lives in the recollection of mankind, whilst the loftiest platanus on the Ohio, awakens no retrospective sentiment whatever. Thus, one of the sources of the pleasures of foreign travel, is denied to the American tourist. - Pteridology, some may be glad to be told, is the botany of ferns. - John Reeves, Esq., for a long series of years Tea-taster to the East India Company, and to whom England was greatly indebted for many of the most interesting Chinese plants, died in April last. The Spirea Reevesiana, and many other plants, derive their specific names from him.

He was 82. - The Impatiens Jerdonite, figured in our May number, is easy of culture, so showy and princely in appearance, and continuing in bloom folly six months, is so invaluable, says the Cottage Gardener, that no amateur, be his collection ever so small, should be without this gem. It is easily propagated, in the same manner as the fuchsia. - To prevent chickens from fighting, tie an empty bag to the end of a long stick, and, when the birds are intent on their encounter, buffet them with the bag one after the other, and they will soon "give it up." - Fruit growers have racked their brains to discover new forms of training fruit-trees. Enough importance is not attached to those conditions, to which all the others ought to be subservient, that their branches should take that form which involves the least delay, the least care, and the least space, compatible with the greatest amount of fertility - that is, such a form as will give the greatest profit with the least outlay. - From the frequent allusions, in Punchy to gardening matters, we have a strong suspicion, that at one period of his life he must have been a cultivator. His last hit is, "A paper to make people smart. A gardener has succeeded in making paper out of common broom.

We should say, it would be a capital paper for schoolmasters, satirical writers, and political antagonists, if the broom in question is a birch broom." - Glycerine is a liquid obtained in quantity in the manufacture of soap, candles, and stearic acid, but, till recently, was thrown away. It is now found to be one of the most efficacious agents for softening the skin and healing wounds; it preserves burns and wounds from the action of the air, and keeps the margin of the soar in a state of suppleness; it prevents the drying of cataplasms, is a valuable ingredient in pomatum, cerate, and soap, and gives perfumes of a highly cosmetic quality; is useful in baths and lotions; alimentary and other substances, coated with it, retain their freshness for a long time, and it improves salted meats; and, in weaving and facing woven goods, it is said to excel any kind of mucilage or paste. It is even supposed, that the meat and vegetables exhibited at Paris, as keeping for an indefinite length of time, were prepared with glycerine; it is also administered internally, as a medicine, and horse doctors have availed themselves of it with the happiest results. - There is now but one opinion regarding the irresistible remedy for the grape-vine disease; sulphur, dusted copiously upon the parts affected as soon as it appears, the precaution being first taken to syringe the vines. - A monument is to be erected to Alexander Wilson, the most able writer upon North American ornithology, in his native place of Paisley, Scotland, during the present summer.-Rats are the annoyance of everybody.

We gave a receipt, lately, of fried cork cut in small pieces, which they will eat and cannot digest. Waterton got rid of a houseful, by catching one and dipping his hinder parts in warm tar, and then turning him loose in his old run. The others, seeing his condition, and smelling such a rat, thought it prudent to take themselves off. On examination, it was found they had actually gnawed away the corner of a peculiarly hard brick which had obstructed their thoroughfare. - Were I asked, says the same remarkable naturalist, my opinion of a highly cultivated flower-garden, I should say it is the loveliest sight in rural nature; and, moreover, that if it afforded me an opportunity of listening to the song of birds, I should pronounce it little short of absolute perfection. But, in general, the charming melody of birds is of too rare occurrence in the modem flower garden- - Cats, he says, amongst birds, are like the devil amongst us; they go up and down, seeking whom they may devour. Ton must absolutely chase them away for good and all, otherwise there will be no place for your birds.

A small quantity of arsenic, about as much as the point of your penknife will contain, rubbed into a bit of meat, either cooked or raw, will do their business effectually. - Gardeners are, in general, choice observers; to them "Not a tree, A plant, a leaf, a blossom, bat contains A folio volume".

Rational people now-a-days, will scarcely believe, that near the close of the last century, most men considered that the appearance of the horse was considerably improved by depriving the poor beast of one-half of its ears. Yet this was the case; then the tail was cropped, and both fashions coming at the same time, it was no uncommon sight, each extremity presenting a distressing picture of mutilation and deformity. People were found who took horses to board, to have their ears properly clipped, and their tails docked. A sticking plaster was attached to the back, and the tail fastened to this canvas, to mount it in the air. About as rational, you will say, as some of our more modern fashions. - A correspondent says: "I have the ten volumes of the Horticulturist bound, and they could not be bought of me for money; I consider them indispensable for reference on fruits or flowers, and they are all as valuable to me as they were the day I first received them." - Five agricultural warehouses, in Boston, sell, annually, two and a half millions of dollars' worth of agricultural tools. - Okra is proposed for making paper and rope, and, probably, it will answer a good purpose.

It is readily stripped of its bark by threshing. - A New Property of Steam. Persons in the city, who are in the habit of receiving winter fruit, such as apples, etc., per railroad, complain frequently of the great reduction in quantity, which the fruit suffers in transitu. This, we presume, is attributable to the motion of the cars, or the whistle of the steam, although a suspicious friend suggests, that steam would hardly be able to force apples out of barrels, and cram them into the mouths of the brakesmen. - A California letter, speaking of the extravagant spirit that prevails everywhere in that State, says: " Apples (of large size, to be sure) were offered at fruit stands for sale, at four dollars and fifty cents apiece. The price is not more remarkable than that there are many persons indiscreet enough to purchase and eat them even at this rate. If this taste continues, who will say that the orchards of Oregon shall not come to be as valuable as the gold mines of California? - A reminiscence of the late winter, which it may be as well to put on record, partakes of the fan and exaggeration of our people, as follows: The Syracuse (N. Y.) Journal says, that the plank roads in that section are so drifted with snow, that the gate-keeper comes up through the scuttle in the roof of his house, and receives the toll by reaching up through a hole in the middle of the road.

The additions made to the drifts by the recent mil have been so great, that all communication through the scuttle is cut off, and the toll is now paid to the gate-keeper by dropping the money down the chimney! - The Detroit Advertiser states, that they have exported to Chicago something over 800,000,000 feet of lumber, about 100,000,000 feet to Wisconsin, leaving only 100,000,000 for home consumption, which is a very low estimate. The whole value of the exports of lumber exceeds a million of dollars per annum.