This secures a damp atmosphere at the same 

 time. A little reflection would make practical 

 gardeners of us all. — Alicia. 



"Revolutionary Principles-" — Anew Reading 

 — I am a determined supporter of yours, dear Mr. 

 Editor; and I never fail in my Avalks and drives 

 to make diligent inquiries for your noble little 

 Journal. When I can make personal applica- 

 tion, I do so; if in my carriage, the servant 

 makes known my wants. Do you know, Mr. 

 Editor, that you stand charged by the whole fra- 

 ternity of booksellers, with being a man of very 

 horrible, very fearful principles? The bare men- 

 tion of Our Journal seems to drive all the 

 dealers mad. [You are perfectly correct, Ma- 

 dame. It is as you say.] Such shruggings of the 

 shoulders — such mutterings — and such direful 

 anathemas, are hurled at your poor devoted 

 head, that I almost wonder you have not been 

 assassinated on your way home! All this, no 

 doubt, you are already pretty well aware of 

 [But too well!], as you frequently hint at it; but 

 I must beg room for the "very last" answer 

 given me by an elderly and, apparently, re- 

 spectable man — one who has evidently learnt to 

 read. On asking for the last number of the 

 Journal, this worthy soul started up from his 

 seat, as if I had insulted him. " No, Madam !" 

 said he, with a giant's lungs. " I have not 

 got it, and never shall have it. Its days are 

 numbered. Its proprietor is a man of the most 



HORRIBLE REVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES, and WC 



are determined to crush him." — Can you laugh, 

 Mr. Editor? If so, have I not given you 

 " cause " for some little merriment ? Surely, 

 the " veil of ignorance " does yet want removing 

 in some quarters ; nor did Our Own Journal 

 make its appearance one single hour too soon ! — 

 G. K. C, Harley Street, Cavendish Square. 



[We can laugh, and often do laugh, Madame, 

 at these little outpourings of brotherly love, 

 kindness, and good-will. Still, while we feel 

 " amused," we yet cannot but regret that so 

 much of the " savage " defiles the fair form of 

 man. Neither you nor ourself can ever hope to 

 effect any good, on minds so constituted. We 

 shall never again attempt such an impossibility. 

 Many thanks for your note.] 



Ladies and Monkeys; at Home and Abroad. — 

 Some time since, Mr. Editor, you expressed some 

 surprise at the excessive and most unaccountable 

 affection lavished by the fair visitors to the 

 Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, on the 

 monkeys. You said, and with strict truth, that 

 the " monkey-houses are /died with well-dressed 

 women from morning till evening." It would 

 seem by a statement I send you (annexed), that 

 our English women are not " original " in their 

 taste for monkeys. In Spain, the ladies of haut 

 ton employ them as messengers dans les affaires 

 du caur, an honor to which " Jocko" never dare 

 aspire, thank God! in this our "happy land.'' The 

 following is from the " Times" of a recent date; — 

 " The Madrid Journals contain an account of 

 the arrest of a street organ-player of that city on 

 a singular charge. This man, whose name is 

 Juanito, had a monkey which he dressed in the 

 uniform of a sailor, and sent up to the windows 



of the houses before which he played his organ, 

 to receive the money that was given. In this, the 

 police saw no offence; but, it appears, that Jua- 

 nito was in the habit of putting under the jacket 

 of his monkey certain love letters, with which he 

 was entrusted; and for delivering which, he was 

 well paid. This was regarded as an offence 

 against public morals and the honor of the mar- 

 ried Senors of Madrid. The mode in which the 

 letters were delivered, was as follows: — When 

 the monkey ran up to the windows, Juanito 

 kept pulling his cord, and caused him to shift 

 from place to place until he arrived near the lady 

 to whom the letter was addressed. He then ceased 

 to pull the cord; and the monkey well knowing 

 what he had to do, drew out and presented the 

 letter. The latter was eagerly caught up by the 

 expectant lady ; and the monkey received from 

 her fair hand a reward for the services he had so 

 faithfully rendered." — So that, Mr. Editor, after 

 all, our English ladies are only ape-'mg the 

 customs of Foreign ladies! — A Lover op all 

 Things (in their proper places), St. John's 

 Wood. 



Flies destroyed through the simple Agency of 

 Flowers. — I send you the following very curious 

 particulars, translated from La Beige Horticole. 

 It is worthy of " Our Journal Records," in- 

 asmuch as it may assist in preventing unneces- 

 sary " cruelty to animals." The " Fly Papers," 

 which we now use in England, and whose hor- 

 ribly-barbarous properties you have so eloquently 

 exposed (see Vol L, pp. 21 and 42), will, let us 

 hope, henceforward be banished. They are mo- 

 dern atrocities of the most hideous character:— 

 "The housefly is one of the greatest annoyances 

 of domestic life, and numerous means have been 

 proposed for its destruction. We beg to call at- 

 tention to a novel and interesting method of ac 

 complishing so desirable an end — namely, by the 

 agency of a beautiful and fragrant flower. 

 Every one has observed that the mission of cer- 

 tain plants appears to be the capture, torment, 

 and death of insects ; and particularly flies. The 

 Nepenthes, the Sarracenias, the Dischidias, the 

 Marcgravias, and other plants, secrete a sweet 

 and odoriferous fluid, which allures the flies to 

 destroy them. The Diona?a muscipula has its 

 leaves armed with teeth and darts, and as soon 

 as the fly comes within their grasp, it is squeezed 

 and pierced as in a vice full of knives. Certain 

 Droseras are covered at the extremity of their 

 hairs with a viscous fluid, which entraps the un- 

 wary insects, and consigns them to a lingering 

 death of hunger and fatigue. Nature abounds in 

 similar examples, all of which point to living 

 plants as a means to free ourselves from the nui- 

 sance of flies in our apartments. At the com- 

 mencement of the last century, a man named 

 William Hale emigrated to Halifax, in Nova 

 Scotia. He found there a curious plant, which 

 he sent to Europe. In 1731 Miller cultivated it, 

 and mentioned it in his Dictionary. It was then 

 popularly termed, ' Fly-catching Dogsbane. ' 

 Linnaeus perceived its affinity with the genus 

 Apocynum, and called it Apocynum Androsazmi- 

 folium — an unhappy designation, and which 

 would be well replaced by one indicating its cu- 

 rious property of catching and killing flies. The 



