* * * * * It is a sort of fashion which common sense people will be glad to adopt—the run on plain food which London society is said to be having. The Prince of Wales began it by cutting down every _ménu_ over which he presided, and he has had a larger following than usual—both the people who always follow and those whose good sense decides what they do, taking up the custom. It would be a wise lesson for both dinner givers and hotel keepers to learn that the quality of a dinner can not possibly depend upon the number of dishes. * * * * * Bringing out a successful novelty in flowers or vegetables, is to a nurseryman what a bonanza mine is to a westerner, or a flowing well to an oil producer. The present season has several: There is a new lettuce with leaves like the oak, a red celery, a celery which blanches naturally and bears leaves like an ostrich plume; a pansy with blossoms two and one fourth inches in diameter; a zinnia round as a ball, and a mignonette with spikes twelve to fifteen inches in length, and of pure white. Perhaps the greatest novelty about the business this spring is the fact that in the cities the safe deposit vaults are receiving thousands of pounds of invaluable seeds for keeping—treasures quite as priceless to the seedsmen as the jewels which repose beside them are to their owners. * * * * * Another compliment to America! When M. de Lesseps, the new member of the French Academy, was installed, in April, he delivered, it is said, the shortest speech ever delivered by an incoming Academician. Thereupon M. de Rénan complimented him on adopting the pithy, pointed style of _l’Amerique_. * * * * * We are very glad to introduce the Chautauqua Town and Country Club, a new branch of the C. L. S. C., for the study of agriculture. Everybody is expected to do something in this novel society of practical out-of-door work. Everybody must raise a plant, or cultivate a bed, or care for an animal. A well known Orange Co., N. Y., farm is to be the working headquarters of the new organization, and its course of reading and experiment is under the control of Mr. Charles Barnard. Chancellor Vincent honors the organization with his supervision, a guarantee of success, and the headquarters of the C. L. S. C. have been extended to take in the business of the C. T. C. C. In July we hope to give our readers a broader look at this charming club. * * * * * We called attention recently to Dr. Warren’s entertaining theory of the whereabouts of the garden of Eden. And now we have another explorer for this land-one Moritz Engel, of Dresden, who locates it about seventy miles southwest of Damascus. Herr Engel makes his theory almost as entertaining and plausible as does Dr. Warren his. * * * * *