Mr. Baker's Rijlr ami Hound in Cri/lon (with woodcuts), has just appoareJ. Those who 

 have read the author's very ijiteresting AVy/i/ Years' Wandcrinr/s in Ciijlon,-wil\ ghadly make 

 acquaintance with the littU^ Lonchui volume; those who now read the latter, will bo anxious 

 to see the former. The Rijlc and Uound is a sportsman's book, full of hunting atlventures, 

 advice about guns, and stalking, and camping out ; and of the way to make hunters war 



upon elephants, deer, bulls, boars, and bears. Some of the reeds of Brazil, called Taqua- 



russa, are living fountains ; they grow from forty to fifty feet high, with a diameter of six 

 inches, form thorny, impenetrable thickets, and are exceedingly grateful to hunters ; for, 

 on cutting off such a reed below a joint, the stem of the younger shoots is found to be full 



of a cool liquid, which quenches the most burning thirst. The floor-matting so much 



employed in America, is made from a reed (Papyrus corymbosus). Another reel lielps much 

 to protect the banks of the Ganges from the rapidity of the stream, and the force of the 

 tides ; it is the Cyjierus inundatus, and should be tried on our Western rivers — as, in Hol- 

 land, the Carex arenaria is carefully planted on the dikes, where its far extending roots, by 

 mutually interlacing with each other, fix the sand, and give strength to the embankment. 



The Cyperus hydra (called Nut-Grass in the West Indies) is a pest, overrunning sugar 



plantations, and rendering them barren. The latest adaptation of India-rubber, is to inclose 



a stiip in wood in the form of a great lead-pencil, when it makes a most convenient article 



to rub out lead marks on paper. It is sold in this form, very generally, by stationers. 



In its wild state, the pine-apple, when unripe, is so excessively acid as to burn the gums of 



the mouth ; it is then employed, in the West Indies, to destroy intestinal worms. The 



tuberose emits its scent most strongly after sunset, and has been observed, on a sultry even- 

 ing, after thunder, when the atmosphere was highly charged with electric fluid, to dart 

 small sparks, or scintillations of lucid flame, in great abundance, from such of its flowers 



as were fading. A good gardener asserts that he has found " well kept" was synonymous 



with '• easy kept," and that, with plants as with other things, *' a stitch in time saves nine." 



The Pistol plant is thus alluded to in the Sydney Morning Herald: "A hothouse plant, 



Pilea allitricJioides, of tender, brittle, and juicy aspect, looking as if good to eat in a cooling 

 salad, is really of so explosive a temperament that it might fairly be called the Pistol plant. 

 When near flowering, and with its buds ready to open, if the plant is either dipi)ed in water 

 or abundantly watered, each bud will explode successively, keeping up a mimic Sebastopol 

 bombardment, sending forth a pufl' of smoke, or of dusty pollen, as its stamens suddenly 



start forth to take their place and form a cross. It is an amusing toy." The Sc^uills 



(ScilLx') make excellent edgings of bulbs, and are too little known among us. Cherries 



of good kinds were readily retailed, the past season, at ten and twelve cents the pound. 



The wet spring had injured the crop. M. Millon, an Algerian colonist, according to a report 



by M. Payen to the Central Agricultural Society of France, has found in the thornless species 

 of Cactus a valuable food for cattle in Algeria, because it supplies the want of green fodder 

 during the season which, from the month of June forwards, burns and desti'oys every sort 

 of herbaceous vegetation which cannot be continually watered or irrigated. An applica- 

 tion of sulphur is thus described in the Gardeners' Chronicle: " I had before applied sulphur 

 in various ways, and this year I only mixed up such a quantity in water as would freely 

 pass through a Read's hand syringe, and dashed it freely on the glass above the vines. The 

 sulphur adhered to the glass and dried on, but, in windy weather, is partially detached in 

 fine powder, and falling on the leaves, keeps them under the continued influence of its 

 etfects ; and certainly a cleaner and more healthy foliage cannot be desired. I may men- 

 tion that a Black Hamburg recently introduced, began early to show symptoms of mildew, 



but entirely recovered, and has not since been unhealthy." The Wistaria vines are the 



best runners to cover unsightly trees that are needed to remain in your grounds from any 

 cause. Many classes of herbaceous plants continue to brave the rigors of the winter, 



