Herewith I send you some flowers of Hydrangea Otaxa, to see how they compare with those in Philadelphia; also two pieces of Bignonia, the names of which have been lost. The one in bloom is covered with whorls of bloom at every joint and is a delightful object.

Have you ever seen a Magnolia grandiflora thirty to forty feet high, with a bare stem for about half the distance covered with a Rhyncospermum jasminoides breaking out through the top, flowered from the ground and hanging in garlands all over the Magnolia, also in bloom and bud? If not, all I can say is, up to the present time you have missed one of the grandest sights in nature.

Gardens in this city, that have been taken care of, have been and are looking very gay. Gardeners appear to be all busy, and have got all the evergreens shaved, etc. The natural soil in this section is a kind of a cross between brick-clay and shoemakers' wax, and every pound of potting soil I use, has to be hauled from New Jersey, except some Mississsippi mud, called by courtesy, sand ! All the heat-loving Orchids do well here, Cattleyas, Dendrobiums, Oncidiums, Phalaenopsis, AErides, Angraecum and several of the Mexican varieties as Laelia, Chysis and Lycaste. With Odontoglossums we cannot do much, - cannot get a place cool enough for them.

The palm-house is occupied by such varieties as Acanthorhiza Warzcewicsii, Astrocaryums, Atta-lea, Carludovica palmata, Caryota urens, Areca Verschaffeltii and lutescens, nearly all the Chamae-dorea, and Cocos, Kentia, Livistonia, Pritchardia macrocarpa, Thrynax, Ptychosperma, Calamus, Oreodoxa regia, Geonoma gracilis, and several others, too numerous to mention. We have specimens outside to remain, of such " trash " as Phoenix dactylifera, P. sylvestris, P. tenuis, P. reclinata, Sabal Blackburniana and palmata, Cocos Australis, Jubaea spectabilis, Chamaerops Fortunii, and excelsa, Latania Borbonica, Chamaedora scandens and several others.

In the fern-house - but I will not talk of that at present, for if I commenced to tell you about my Alsophila Australis carrying twelve fronds from 12 to 14 feet long, and Cibotium regale worse still, with Pteris serrulata and Davallia pyxidata, and all my Adiantums and hundreds of others, I should never end - and then my Cyanophyllums, Diffenbachias, Nepenthes, Alocasias, Anthuriums with Crotons and Draecenas, till I cannot rest day or night, or "I run so far behind" that I do not know what to commence first. But I have every modern facility and convenience for doing the work, including a small boy to break pots, plants, and glass, play with the cats, give us an "over the garden wall " solo, and attend to all such important matters.

I omitted to say I counted forty-seven flowers on one side of the Hydrangea, and then I got mixed up and lost my temper, after counting thus far. Also, if you recognize the Bignonias would like to have the name, through the magazine. But you must not think by this that I have got all the plants in this neighborhood, although having the largest and best private collection in this section, to take care of. I believe some of my neighbors have better plants than I, of some of the same varieties, and I am very glad of it, but I can't help it just at present.

[This pleasant letter was written on the 7th of June, but laid over till the Editor's personal return, on account of the inquiry about the Begonias. They are now so dry, not having been pressed, that there is little left of them; but the large one appears to be B. Chamberlaynei and the small one B. Chica. - Ed. G. M.]