We have many native plants here, out of which I believe an enterprising florist could make money, by shipping them north. In one of your recent issues I see the sacred lotus of India advertised. This plant grows by the thousands, even by the millions here. I have seen lakes three miles wide and 20 miles long completely covered with this grand aquatic plant. It is indeed a grand sight to see a lake 20 miles long filled with this tropical foliage, with its beautiful flowers towering above. Here again is a chance for some one with enterprise and a little money. I have seen both white and pale orange colored flowered varieties, and have been told of a variety which has pink flowers, and I see the variety advertised at $4 each, for plants with pink flowers. A beautiful gray moss or lichen grows on the trees in abundance, which is much prettier than the Spanish moss, and I think that it would please northern decorators. - J. L. Normand, Marksville, La.

[Note. - The water lily to which our correspondent refers is probably a native species, Nelumbium luteum, not the oriental lotus. - Ed. Am. G].

The Japanese Cypresses (retinispora) are very difficult to classify and sport greatly. The opinion of many experts that all the so-called retinisporas are only sports of one species is made probable by the surprising reversions of the garden sorts to the simpler forms. A large tree of R. squarrosa, 10 feet high, near here, has two main trunks, one of R. squamosa Veitchii and the other a very blue form of R. pisifera. - F. L. Temple.