editor's table. 



and from here they spread to all parts of the Union, and even foreign parts, — Recent experi 

 ments, as stated in the Mark Lane Express, go to show, that common salt is a valuable addi- 

 tion to all applications of guano. 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 pre- 

 viously mixed with salt. At the end of that time, we examined anew the amount of nitro- 

 gen, 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 purjiose, and any refuse salt would probably answer the purpose. — We 

 have recently conversed with two gentlemen — both practical men, and of critical observa- 

 tion — who infoi-med 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 corre- 

 spondingly 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 hal'f 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 

 Jerdonic-e, figured in our May number, is easy of culture, so showy and princely in appear- 

 ance, and continuing in bloom fully 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 sub- 

 servient, 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 

 Punch, to gardening matters, we have a strong suspicion, tliat 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 

 serves burns and wounds from the action of the air, and keeps the margin of the scar 



