The people of the South have so long been accustomed to buying their meat from Northern and Western markets that the suggestion of packing-houses in the Southern cities is full of novelty and surprise. Packing-houses distributed over the Southern territory would be the incentive for farmers to raise more hogs and cattle and a better quality, and thus create a source of revenue now practically closed to them. Are not our people convinced of the folly of selling their marketable live stock to drovers and buying their meat, thus paying the cost of transportation both ways, besides the profit each handler obtains? Pork and beef raised on our own farms and cured in our own packing-houses would keep at home the large sums of money sent off annually for the meat supply of the people. The grocerymen of Jackson purchase every year about $100,000 worth of meat and lard for consumers in this immediate section, and it is easily seen that a packing-house in Jackson would be a profitable industry. It would furnish a home market for hog and cattle-raisers, and stimulate the production of the best qualities. Every step in this direction is an important gain, and the subject deserves the earnest attention of our live and progressive citizens.--The Whig, Jackson, Tenn. Sponge Fishing in Florida. The vessels that are used in the business are chiefly schooner-rigged and vary in size from five to twenty-five tons burden. They carry crews ranging from five in number to fifteen for the largest vessels, nine men to the boat being the average number. The odd man in each case is the cook, who remains aboard to provide for the inner wants of the crew (generally amazingly large) and sails the craft while the balance are off in the small boats called dingeys in search of sponge. Each vessel is provided with poles of various lengths, from fifteen to fifty feet, to be used according to the depth of water in which they are working, which have attached to them three pronged hooks shaped like the teeth of a garden rake, somewhat heavier, with which the sponge are detached from the objects to which they are adhered and drawn into the dingey. Two men are necessary to operate a dingey, one, the “hooker,” using the pole and the sculler keeping the boat in motion, following the directions of the hooker, where he leans over the side looking through an ordinary wooden bucket with a glass sealed in its bottom for the sponge, which, when discovered, is secured with the hooks. The fisherman are most all former inhabitants of the islands; many of them have lived in the Bahamas, and there are about equal numbers of white men and negroes. They are designated “Conchs” by the people living upon the mainland, from their making use of that shell animal for edible purposes when living upon their native islands.