EDITOR'S TABLK. 



kitchen garden, strangely metamorphosed to serve the uses of his table, bear forms unknown 

 to nature ; an occult law of change and devolojiment inherent to these organisms, meets in 

 liim with the developing instinct and ability, and they are regenerated under his surveillance. 

 Nor is his influence over many of the animals loss marked. The habits which he imi)art8 

 to the parents become nature, in his behalf, in their offspring. The dog ac(juires, under his 

 tutelage, the virtues of fidelity to a master, and affection to a friend. The ox and horse 

 learn to assist him in the labors of the fields. The udders of the cow and goat distend 

 beneath his care far beyond the size necessary in the wild state, and supply him with rich 

 milk, and the other various products of the dairy. The fleece of the sheep becomes finer 

 (if texture and longer of fibre in his pens and folds ; and even the indocile silkworm spins, 

 in his sheltered conservatories, and among the mulberry-trees which he has planteil, a larger, 

 and brighter, and more glistening cocoon. Man is the great creature-worker of the world — 

 its one created being, that, taking up the work of the adorable Creator, carries it on to higher 

 results and nobler developments, and finds a field for his persevering ingenuity and skill in 

 every province in which his Maker had expatiated before him. He is evidently — to adopt 

 and modify the remark of Okeu — God's image 'manifest in the flesh.' " 



The Frk.nch Gardeners. — These industrious gardeners, especially around Paris, pursue a 

 simple plan, which they find advantageous, paying attention to a few special plants for 

 which there is a regular demand. The plan will prevail here as we arrive at a more ex- 

 tended population. Division of labor follows high civilization, as we see in our stores and 

 shops. Formerly, when cities contained but a few inhabitants, the store contained dry- 

 goods, hardware, and groceries, with a large sprinkling of nick-nacks, and perhaps an ox 

 or goose-yoke or two. Now the cloth or silk merchant disdains to sell knives, and the 

 hardware merchant would know about as much of the quality of silks as the butcher. 

 This plan of having specialties has many advantages, not the least among which is the 

 perfection that may be obtained by studying and practising a particiilar line of business. 



The Freiuli gardeners, in the faubourgs around Paris, possess from a quarter to one acre, 

 where everything is done on the most economical plan. To save expense in heating, &c., 

 the plant-houses are built two, three, or four feet below the surface, exactly like span-roofed 

 pits ; the front or south lights are glass, and the back is simjdy constructed ; in this coun- 

 try it may be of very common boards, with an interspace filled with tan or covered over 

 thickly with leaves in winter. No other means of warming is employed. Such structures 

 are quite common in Burlington, N. J. — so much so as to make it quite noted — and in these 

 fine plants are bloomed, and lemon and lime-trees fruited in great perfection. 



Kach French gardener grows only ten or fifteen kinds of plants, to bloom in succession, 

 that his energies may be concentrated upon one thing at a time, and thus what is done is 

 done well. One will attend only to camellias, azaleas, roses, orange-trees, and hard-wooded 

 plants; another, to ericas, epacris, pelargoniums, &c. ; another to violets, pansies, carnations, 

 &c. All who have been in Paris, in the season, will remember the exquisite perfection of 

 the moss-rose buds and flowers sold in the shops and- streets ; these form one specialty, and 

 the earliest come from such houses as we have described. It is no uncommon thing to find 

 in one of these little gardens 10,000 or 15,000 camellias, and in another as many roses or 

 crassulas. From such spots issue the bouquets so exquisitely grouped, and with such har- 

 mony of colors, that the work assumes the character of a fine art ; it is, in fact, the result 

 of study assisted by practice, by a people who, of all others, have the best taste for colors. 



These hints are thrown out for imitation, and are from notes on the spot. 



TuE Hybrid Lucombe oak, having now attained sufficient age to be felled, is pronounced 

 to possess more valuable wood than the best English oak, being heavier and stronger. 



