' 
tlons and patents in the world must have belong¬ 
ed to agriculture from the date that Adam and 
Eve were put In the garden and told to till it. 
It la hut nine yeare since the Agricultural build¬ 
ing, erected for the special use of this depart¬ 
ment, was completed. The grounds are hand¬ 
some, rising a gradual ascent to the front; flow¬ 
ers, shrubs, trees, walks, and drives, ranging the 
foreground with hot-houses and gardens In the 
rear. The building la of brlelc, with browD-stone 
trimmings. 
On the first floor are offices, laboratory, library, 
and reception rooms, opening Into handsome halls 
upon which are hung In conspicuous places, “No 
vacancies” — “No one need apply for employ¬ 
ment,” Ac.. Ac. But in spite of these, there Is a 
waiting crowd who hare brought letters of lntro- 
ductlonandof recommend.tlou. They are a study 
In themselves, ranging through all the grades of 
active life, from those who call themselves “ work¬ 
ing-women,” to the delicate hands of wealth and 
Idleness. It is a dreadful misfortune fora woman 
to have a hand so delicate she cannot use It; she 
is on a par with Chinese ladles with feet that can¬ 
not walk. 
There were few gentlemen applicants, and 
those who came were too Impatient, to watt; but 
the women sit by the hour, as If walling was sec¬ 
ond-nature. They seem to be under the influence 
of so much Inertia, that it will take a thunder¬ 
clap from the heavens to make them hear the 
order, “Go, work In my vLneyard.” The workers 
of the world are divided Into three classes—those 
who can set themselves and others to work, those 
who can only set themselves to work, those who 
can work when another directs them; and out¬ 
side of these ranks the drones or paupers, whom 
the workers have to urt and carry. 
Waiting may have Its place, but walling on 
people is much more healthy than waiting for 
them, and it is pitiful to see the wrong kind of 
watting at the door of office and position. 
The present Commissioner 19 God. Wm. g. i,e 
D uo, a wlde-awako man, who does not spare hlm- 
Belf In his-work. He rully appreciates the neces¬ 
sities of the country and the importance of agri¬ 
cultural Interests; he Is not afraid of enterprise 
or toll, for he sees far enough to know that labor 
Is king—when labor stops, the world dies; there¬ 
fore, he gives himself to looking 01 1 new indus¬ 
tries for tno people, new crops, new fields to eul- 
vate. 
One of the most Interesting projects In the 
hands of Gen. Le Due and his assistant, Mr. A. C. 
Jones, Is the raising of tea in this country. Ex¬ 
periment has succeeded, and the time has come 
to go beyond experiment, and cultivate It on a 
large scale. His report opens with this fact“ We 
import annually from China and Japan twenty 
million dollars’ worth of tea; this large Import 
comes to us through British merchants, who are 
monopolists in the trade. Onco upon a time, we 
pitched the tea Into Boston Harbor, rather than 
pay unjust taxes, and now when hard times are 
crushing us, we must look about to see what we 
can do without, or what domestic productions can 
take the place of our expensive importations. 
The cup of tea exhilarates, without Intoxicating; 
it is the favorite beverage of the people, and 
twenty million dollars a year wiu hire labor, land, 
and whatever else Is necessary to get Into full de¬ 
velopment this well-known evergreen which we 
propose to adopt. TI 10 propagatlng-beds of the 
Department are Ailed with healthy seedlings, and 
if. Is expected they will be able to give away a 
hundred thousand plant ,3 early In the spring,” 
We saw this hardy little shrub untouched by 
frost or snow, like a thrifty evergreen, in the 
grounds not under protecting glass; It had gone 
beyond need of careful nursing, and looked as 
bright and healthy as box. The ordinary hlght 
of the cultivated plant is from three to six feet r 
and we are told the wild growth reaches fifteen 
or twenty feet—In fact, a tree eight or ten inches 
In diameter. 
Tea Is raised from small nuts or seeds. Three 
or four of these are dropped into a hole and cov¬ 
ered with earth two or three Inches deep. The 
weeds must be removed, of cou-’se, and at llrat a 
little shading is necessary until they are large 
enough to supply their own shade. They also re¬ 
quire some prunlug, and the leaves aro not col¬ 
lected for use until the plant Is three years old; 
when nine or ten years, they are cut down to 
make room for the young shoots. The tea Is gath¬ 
ered when the leaves are small, young and Juicy, 
and the first tender leaves make the best tea, so 
choice and rare that we never get it here; In fact, 
the best tea is worth, In China and Japan, from 
five to fourteen dollars a pound. 
Tea gathering Is a processor great nlecnessand 
delicacy; it requires delicate, clean, and skllirul 
hands; thore or women and children are best fit¬ 
ted for the work, and each leaf must be plucked 
separately from the twig with great care, so as 
not to Injure the young leaves Just coming out. 
After gathering, the process of preparation for 
use is quite elaborate In rolling, drying, clipping, 
and packing ready for transportation. They pack 
the tea while warm, In a box perfectly dry; the 
evaporation or water and the drying changes the 
color to dark-brown or black. Teas are named 
from the size and age of the leaf and the locality 
In which they are raised. 
Physicians tell us tea Is not nutritious, but, that 
It prevents waste or the system, and makes less 
rood necessary. The Chinese drink the tea made 
from loaves soon after they aro picked, but pre¬ 
pare quite a different article, dried and dressed 
for the foreign market, and the best authority de¬ 
clares the one leaf makes every variety of tea, the 
difference being the result, or different ways of pre¬ 
paring. The first thing the United states might 
attempt would certainly be to raise enough for our 
own use as long as we h ivo 
work, workers whom capital refuses to employ. 
Some statesman must devise ways to do ourselves 
what foreigners now do for us. 
The average price of tea as Imported, ts about 
thirty cents a. pound, and It sells at retail for more 
than twice that amount. In latitudes adapted to 
Its growth every fanner can have his tea garden. 
Pour pounds of green leaves make one pound of 
prepared tea, and one acre will produce four hun¬ 
dred and fifty pounds of tea. 
The States which are best adapted, from cli¬ 
mate, for this plant, are Delaware, Maryland, 
Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South 
Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Ken¬ 
tucky, Arkansas, Missouri, and part of the Pacific 
coast. 
Many letters have been received from people 
In those Southern States, who have succeeded in 
raising tea. They compare their success with the 
cotton crop, and th:nk It bids fair to be more pro¬ 
fitable, only the one ts In full development and 
the other not. In South Carolina, they say the 
cotton yield to the acre is $15, and the beBt yield 
about £- 10 ; but tea at fifty eents a pound would 
bring $220,50 per acre. It figures up handsomely 
In prospective, but fortunes are often more easily 
made on paper than In reality. However, there 
is a wide margin for failure between a cotton 
crop at $15 the acre and tea at $ 220 . 60 . It cer¬ 
tainly looks promising enough to try. 
Mr. Ives, of Lake City, Florida, says we ought 
to grow our own tea but we are not likely t,o, un¬ 
less something Is done to promote an Interest In 
the matter. The Interest may be promoted by 
our poverty. If hard times keep growing harder 
we may raise our own tea, because we cannot af¬ 
ford to buy from the foreign market. A gentle¬ 
man who bad experimented with thirteen plants 
and knew the elaborate process through which It 
must pass, said the difficulty was to obtain cheap 
labor at five and ten cents a day, as the Heathen 
Chinee sells himself, but this might be compen¬ 
sated by some machine to Imitate hand labor. 
As soon as we begin to try our tea plantations, 
the Inventors must set tnemselves to work to 
make a machine as near like a human hand as 
possible. Already we have many Inventions In 
machinery that are miracles to look at, and as 
the future brings us whatever we need, no doubt 
there are countless numbers yet to come. 
while there Is the delightful prospect of an addi¬ 
tional plate, aged one hundred and fifty, to add 
Its antique beauty to the rest. On the same 
shelf Is a gluger Jar, not loaded with all Imagina¬ 
ble devices so closely crowded that one scarcely 
knows where a Chinese woman ends and a vora¬ 
cious looking serpent begins, but decorated with 
a few well-aelected pictures on a pale cream- 
colored ground. This color was laid on In oil 
paint, and between the pictures, partially filling 
up the vacant spaces, are gilt scrolls, very easily 
made with a sable brush dipped Into primer’s 
gilt after the gilt Is mixed with a little mucilage. 
An o'd-fashtoned brass candle-stick, containing a 
wax candle ornamented with a little decalcoma- 
nle work, completes the furniture 0 ? the top Bhelf. 
The second shelf contains a little Japanese cabi¬ 
net and tea-pot, an empty salt Jar nearly covered 
with roseB and butterflies, and a large beautifully 
variegated nautilus shell. On the lower shelf 13 
a number of shells of various kinds and sizes, and 
two or three articles from India. But It is not so 
much the furniture of the shelves a9 the shelves 
themselves I want to speak about. The plain 
boards, brought by Isaac from a pi Jolng mill at a 
trifling cost, are transformed Into an article that 
every one not In tne secret supposes to have come 
from Japan. They are painted black, thoroughly 
dried, then varnished, and while the varnish Is 
wet the printer’s gilt Is rubbed on in spots with a 
pad of wadding. Then, when thoroughly dry 
again) the shelves receive a final coat of varnish; 
carriage varnish is the best. The edges of the 
shelves are trimmed with scolloped points of 
crimson enameled cloth, nailed on with silver or 
brass-headed nails. Above this “ high art” estab¬ 
lishment Is a standing row of Japanese fans, 
which give the finishing touch to our corner. 
figures wortny of their closest consideration. Mr. 
Hill draws attention to the vast infernal devel¬ 
opments of our country, under the auspices of 
the Government, within the past few years, and 
the proportionate neglect and decay of our com¬ 
mercial resources, comparing these features with 
the fostering care bestowed by other nations upon 
their merchant marine, and the consequent ben¬ 
efits that have accrued to them. He urges upon 
all classes—mechanics, merchants and farmers— 
a revival of Interest in the subject, and points 
out the means of retrieving our loss and placing 
American commerce once more on a rooting with 
that of the leading nations of the world. 
lieedle Vawcob Straus*, and other Poems. Bv 
Charles f. Adams. Boston: Doe A Shepard. 
Cloth; <1.50. 
The ephemeral popularity of such ballads as 
“Leedle YawcotwStrauss,” "The Puzzled Dutch¬ 
man,” and the like, whose sole merit seems to 
rest upon the correct rendition of a maudlin 
Dutchman’s broken English, do not make for a 
man the reputation of a poet. Nor do the paro¬ 
dies and weak Imitations which, with them, make 
up this book of “poems," contribute aught of 
originality or piquancy to the collection. The 
volume ts not one we can commend as an addition 
to one’s library, notwithstanding its attractive 
exterior and clever illustrations. 
Quinnebn««ei (Uirla. By Sophie Mat. Boston : 
Dee A Shepard. 
The charm of this book lies In the naturalness 
of “ the girls.” They are true to life and, not¬ 
withstanding their sometime naughtiness, utter¬ 
ly charming. The chapter on " Spiritual Lilies ” 
we would especially commend to those of our 
young friends who are beginning to feel an attrac¬ 
tion lor table turnings, phantom bouquets, and 
other peculiar " spiritual" manifestations. 
MAGAZINE NOTES 
The Atlantic, March Issue, 13 brimful of Inter¬ 
esting matter, and the papers are selected with 
great aptness, making a varied table of contents 
that will captivate most diverse tastes. “Det- 
molda romance, opens the number. This serial 
grows In Interest. Edward H. Knight contributes 
the eleventh article on Crude and Curious Inven¬ 
tions at the Centennial Exhibition. The poetry 
Is contributed by C. P. Lathrop, Whittier, L. C. L. 
Cleavelaud and Longfellow; while Mr. Stead¬ 
man’s poetry Is the subject of an appreciative 
paper by J. J. Platt. Mark Twain ts excessively 
funny with The Loves of Alonzo Fltz Clarence 
and Rosannah Etbelton, while C. D. Warner con¬ 
tinues to verify the Adlrondacks in the most de¬ 
lightfully humorous way. The Opposition to Lin¬ 
coln In 1864, by the late Gideon Welles, victor 
Emmanuel’s Political Work, The Story of a Swiss 
Ring Politician, together with the Contributors’ 
Club, and the usual departments make up a 
Charming number. 
Scribner's has has not yet reached Its Ideal. 
Tt improves with each number both as to matter 
and Illustrations. The March uumber opens with 
an agreeable paper on Central America by E. 
Westervelt. The serials, ills Inheritance, and 
Roxy, sustain their Interest. Concerning a 
Prodigal, by Henry KlDg, is a quaint bit of writ¬ 
ing that will be appreciated ; Noah Broon.3’ Per¬ 
sonal Reminiscences of Lincoln, of which we have 
the second paper In this number, are most Inter¬ 
esting, and rumisb new anecdotes and traits of 
the man. The three remaining illustrated arti¬ 
cles are: An Earthquake Experience, Dresden 
China, and Kenyon College. Saxe Holm contri¬ 
butes a story, and Boyesen figures among the 
poets. 
St. Nicholas is as captivating as ever. Two 
full page Illustrations : A Horse at Sea, and The 
London Chick weed Man are very spirited, hut the 
whole number Is so replete with flue specimens 
ol art work that It seems Invidious to make dis¬ 
tinctions. Here are the titles of the prominent 
papers: Hansa, The Little Lapp Matdeu, Secrets 
of The Atlantic Cable, A Night with a Bear, 
Westminster Abbey, Crumbs from Older Read¬ 
ing, and The Boy In the Box. 
The Iowa Liberal, edited by Mr. C. F. Leidy, at 
Le Mars, Iowa, Is one of the best country ex¬ 
changes that reach this office. Every issue of 
the Liberal la brimful of spicy, readable news, 
showing ro good advantage the go-aheadltlve 
characteristics of our Western cousins. Those of 
our readers who want to learn concerning the 
Northwest, will save time and trouble by sending 
fitly cents, and securing the Liberal for three 
months. 
All of our readers Interested In the sea, and sea 
songs, should send fifty aents to Proctor Broth¬ 
ers, Gloucester, Mass., and receive per return 
mall a copy of “The Fisherman’s Ballads and 
Songs of the Sea." It contains 121 soDgs and bal¬ 
lads, handsomely printed and finely Illustrated. 
Lipfincott's Magazine for March maintains Its 
usual standard of excellence. It contains among 
other attractive matter, Edward King’s second 
paper on “With The Russians in Bulgaria,” 
which th036 who have heretofore trusted en¬ 
tirely to English sources, tor Information respect¬ 
ing Russian campaigns, can accept os a fair show¬ 
ing or the “ other stde.” A story by Clara M. 
Green, entitled “ Miss Twill’s Observations," Is 
extremely chatty and pleasant, and M. F. Synge’s 
poem “The Withered Chaplet,”Is as dainty a bit 
of sentiment as we hare met with lu some time. 
“Small Farce and Comedy," by Mary Dean, is an 
Idyl of the children, and although the mind mas¬ 
culine can hardly appreciate! her rhapsodies; 
most mothers will doubtless cordially endorse 
the author's Idealization of the little folks. The 
Installment of “ For Percival,” the anonymous 
serial, is particularly clever. 
RECENT LITERATURE 
The House Spnrrow. at home and Abroad, with 
some concludinsr remarks upon its usefulness 
and copious references to the literature of the 
subject. By Thomas G. Gentry. Phila , Claxton. 
Reuisen A HalfelSnxer. Price S3, with colored 
plate- 
This work Is a valuable contribution to " Spar¬ 
row ” literature and we commend it to the care¬ 
ful perusal of farmers. To give our readers a 
fair Idea of the scope and aim of the book we will 
quote from Mr. Gentry in the Preface : 
“ In view of the many heated discussions which 
the sparrow has produced In this country tending 
to show Its general usefulness or wholesale 
destructlv eness, a careful and critical survey of 
Its llte-hlstory, detailing the minutest particular 
thereof, cannot fall to awaken attention and to 
command respect. Agriculturists and rrult-grow- 
era mainly of all others, will certainly reap the 
first fruits of such knowledge. The facts which 
the writer has gleaned from various fields of ob¬ 
servation, but largely from his own, at Infinite 
pains and expense subserve In the highest de¬ 
gree, the Interests of humanity, and should not 
be carelessly set aside. With the disappearance 
of our highly insectivorous native species before 
the rapid and Insolent advances of their hardy 
foreign brother and the consequent multiplica¬ 
tion of insect foes, must come the destruction of 
vegetation and the entail ment of uutold misery 
upon man and beast. The sparrow Itself, by rea¬ 
son of Its almost exclusive graln-eattng habits 
will assist In bringing about this much-to-be- 
regretted condition of things. He must be a fool 
who can close his eyes to the fact. Wherever 
we turn, evidence of Its baneful Influence con¬ 
fronts our vision. We cannot escape it. The 
writer would say that his only plea for writing 
this history Is that a more general knowledge of 
the sparrow's odious practices which are mani¬ 
fold, shall be brought before the tillers of the soil 
and the growers of vegetables. Further to 
awaken attention to the growing evil In the con¬ 
fident expectation that It may be Instrumental 
In the adoption of practicable means for getting 
rid of the Intolerable nuisance. 
BRIC-A-BRAC. 
What appreciative reader can sufficiently value 
books—those silent frlend3 that develop new 
beauty at every turn ? The more life embodied 
In the hook, the more companionable. Like a 
friend, the volume salutes one pleasantly at 
every opening of its leaves, and entertains ; we 
close It with charmed memories, and como again 
and again to the entertainment. The hooks that 
charmed us In youth recah the delight ever af¬ 
terwards ; we are hardly persuaded there are 
any like them, any deserving equally our affec¬ 
tions. Fortunate if the best fall in our way dur¬ 
ing this susceptible and forming period of our 
lives. Books are r o be valued for their suggestive¬ 
ness even more than tor their Information; they 
may be taken in hand and laid aside, read at 
moments, containing sentences that quicken our 
thoughts and prompt to following these Into 
their relations with life and things. We are 
stimulated and exalted by the perusal of books 
of this kind. 
Winter makes nations manly by driving men 
Into social unities, and obliging tbem to live with 
each other, and devise ways Tor their amusement 
and Instruction, in a mild climate, where there 
is no necessity for men to dwell under a roof, 
they wander abroad, and in a great measure dls- 
peusn with each other’s society, so that, although 
they may have a certain amount of cursory en¬ 
joyment, they are comparatively uuInstructed. 
But, In a severe climate like this, when the cold 
season shuts men out from the field, and they 
retreat from their ordinary avocations, and the 
days are 9hort and the pvenlngs are long, the 
dwelling becomes a school-house, and there must 
be conversation and reading. Under such cir¬ 
cumstances the family is a center of knowledge, 
and, if there be any leaven In It, a center of 
Christianization, 
The Nabob. By ALPHONSE DAUDKT. Translated 
from the French by Lucy Hooper. Boston: 
Estes & Laurlat. 
The fact, of this book having gone through seven¬ 
teen editions In three weeks, proves, beyond per- 
adventure, that It Is worth readtog. The scene of 
the story is laid in Paris, under the second Em¬ 
pire, and a more deplorable picture of corruption 
and venality In social and political life it would 
be hard to imagine. The hero, Bernard Jac- 
soutet, is a vulgar man, whose instincts and 
tastes render him totally unfit, for the society of 
the polished, cynical, unprincipled Parisians by 
whom he is surrounded. There is sometblog pa- 
thelic In this simple-minded, good-hearted fel¬ 
low’s frantic endeavor to shine In society, and bis 
utter unconsciousness of the fact t hat the polite 
world Is laughing In Its sleeve at him. 
It Is with feelings of positive pleasure that, one 
turns from the contemplation of the immorality 
and coarseness of the “ upper ten ” to join the 
dellghtrul rarnlly circle of the Joyruse. The 
charming “Grandmother" Is only a little more 
alorable than Papa Jotkusb, with whom we 
sympathise acutely when he grieves over the loss 
of his position. As a whole, the story Is clever In 
conception and brilliant In execution. 
Our art Corner.— Those who are Interested in 
art in the household, will doubtless gather a hint 
or two from the following / rt Corner chat which 
we clip from the Christian Union : “ Our art-cor¬ 
ner was conjured up by Isaac and me, Tbe de¬ 
sign was mine, most emphatically mine, for I am 
tbe artist of the fimlly—taking to art as to the 
manner born. Still, to give Isaac his dues, I must 
say that after my designs were laid before Mm 
he showed himself very appreciative and good at 
a suggestion; consequently, I always use the 
plural in speaking possessively or that corner, in 
fact, Isaac did moat of the work, while I superin¬ 
tended and added the finishing touoUes. Where 
I got my first Idea of an arueorner r cannot re¬ 
member—perhaps from Eastlake or Clarence 
Cook; or it may have been from little hints 
here uud there that wove themselves together la 
my mind. But whatever It was that give the 
first impulse In regard 10 that structure, there It 
stands In all Us glory, the delight of my eyes, of 
Isaac's, and of our numerous friends uud acquaint¬ 
ances. The beginning of It In tangible form was 
two boards for uprights about forty inches lu 
length by eight and a half In width; three 
shelves thirty-six Inches long by eight wide; an¬ 
other board the same size as the shelves. The 
latter Is nailed across from oue upright to the 
other, back of the highest shelf, the two china 
plates of my own decoration resting against it, 
Oar Mcrelmm Marine. A Voice for American 
Commerce. By Chas. 8. Hill. New York: D. 
Appleton & Co. 
Under this title Mr. Hill, in a monograph of 
some 60 pages, has given to those Interested In 
American commerce a compilation of facts and 
more workmen than 
