Tokio, Nov. 1, 1872. Sir, - In one of my previous letters I gave a short notice on agriculture; and now, with the kind assistance of a horticultural friend, I send you a letter on garden culture and fruit and forest trees, which I hope will be interesting to some of your readers. The soil of Japan is well adapted to gardening, being generally rich and loamy in its nature, and of a great depth. Trees, therefore, grow to great perfection, and are very cheap. In the garden in front of my own bungalow I have three dozen Camellia trees, in addition to Firs and Palms. The former only cost me 1s. 8d. a dozen, and they are now in flower, and will remain so throughout the winter, as they appear to be very hardy, and the frost does not kill them.

I will commence with fruits. Pears are grown here to great perfection; and the Japanese are wonderful in the art of grafting trees. They spread them out flat on bamboos after they have grown to about three feet in the shoot, and as you walk through the orchards, the Pears, etc, are within reach above your head. Plums, Oranges, and Grapes, are in great quantities, and of a very rich flavour. Peaches, Chestnuts, Loquats, Salisburia nuts, and Diospyros Kaki, are the most common fruit-trees of the country. The winter vegetables are Carrots, Onions of several kinds, "Lobbo," a kind of Radish, "Gobbo" (Arctium gobbo), Nelumbium roots, Lily roots, Turnips, Ginger, Scirpus tuberosus, Arum esculen-tum, and Yams. Some of the forest-trees are of great size, the largest being the Pinus Massoniana, P. densiflora, Abis firma, Retinospova pisifera, R. obtusa, Cryp-tomeria japonica. The latter grows to an immense size, and seems to reach the greatest perfection. There is also the Thujopsis dolabrata and Sciadopitys ver-ticillata. The Maiden-hair tree (Salisburia adiantifolia) is very common, and is generally found in great numbers at all the temples, and attains a great size.

The Japanese eat the fruit from it, which is called "Gingko." The evergreen Oaks, in great variety, are very common, and attain a goodly size, and are most ornamental trees. Chestnuts of several kinds are also common: the leaves of one species (Castania japonica) are used to feed silk-worms. Maples are also common trees; many of the leaves are beautifully marked with various colours, and almost all of them take on deep colours as they ripen in the autumn, and produce a most beautiful and striking appearance upon the landscape. The Elm (Ulmus Keaki) is, however, the most valuable timber-tree in Japan, reaching as it does immense proportions. It has been now introduced into Europe. Amongst shrubs the Weigela is common, is covered with flowers in the summer months, and is really ornamental in a garden. I have a beautiful specimen in mine. The Osmanthus aquifolius, which is covered with a sweet-scented white flower, is also very pretty. My friend informs me it belongs to the Oleaceas (Olive tribe), and is a fine evergreen shrub. The variegated Holly is very plentiful, and makes a pretty contrast with other shrubs.

The suburbs of Tokia are remarkable for the number of their gardens, the most extensive of which are situated at Ogee, Dang-o-zaka Ogee, and Su-mae-yah. At the latter place the entire country is covered with gardens; and one straight road, more than a mile in length, is lined on both sides with them. Each nursery covers three or four acres of land. They are nicely kept, and contain thousands of plants, both in pots and in the open ground. In another letter I will give you a description of one of them, and an article on dwarfing, etc. - Yours, etc, J. Tasker Foster.

[The Editor of the ' Yorkshire Gazette ' has kindly forwarded us proofs of several communications received from his son, who is Telegraph Engineer to the Emperor of Japan. The above is one of the letters. - Ed].