Miss Lounsberry says: “What strange idea filled the pretty head of Robin’s Plantain when it decked itself out to look like an Aster we do not know, but its deception is very transparent and we readily discover that it is not one of the Asters.” May we not look upon it as the harbinger of the true Astors? THE LITTLE FEATHERED BOYS AND GIRLS. In fragrant fields where graze the herds And all along the old highway, The boys and girls among the birds Call each to each the livelong day. Bob White, Bob White, pipes out the quail From old fence posts and mossy stones, In meadows where the ripened grain In golden stacks awaits the flail. A little tuft of feathers grey That snaps its bill in eager glee When e’er a fly is caught on wing, Full forty times calls out Phoebe. When fragrant dews fall from the sky— And sinks the sun behind the hill, From dark’ning woods rings out the cry, O Whip poor Will—O Whip poor Will. —Blandina D. Miller. THE COTTON PLANT. (_Gossypium barbadense_, L.) Theise men ben the beste worchers of Gold, Sylver, Cottoun, Sylk and of all such things of any other, that be in the World. —Mandeville, Travels, p. 212. The cotton plant is undoubtedly one of the most useful plants in the entire vegetable kingdom. As with other exceedingly useful, though common things, we are so accustomed to the blessings we owe to this plant that we almost entirely lose sight of its identity and very existence.