THE GARDEN.

(Uy Hoktos).

Calendar of Operations, September 8.

fHoRTCS is willing to answer any queries. Cor respondents must give their full name ami address, though not lor publication.]

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Planting Trees (D.R.)—You ought to push on the planting—in fact it ought to have been finished some time aijo. The sap is beginning to rise in a good number of plants now, and all planting ought to ecase before the sap begins to rise. When trees are planted too late they sometimes receive a cheek so severe that they never properly recover from it. Grafting (R.McF.)— Yes: now is the proper time. Mix the clay as I have explained formerly, viz., two parts clay and one part cowdung, well mixed. Clay is the most economical for grafting new tops on old trees. I would not head back the whole of the tree, only about half of it this season. Calceolarias Cineramas (J.C.)—T would give them an occasional watering with liquid manure. A small quantity of animal manure put into a bucket of water and allowed to stand for a day or two, then strain off. will give a very good liquid manure.

Kitchen Garden.

Nearly all kinds of vegetable seeds can now be sown whenever the weather is favourable. Sow all vegetables, such as onions, carrots, beet, turnips, spinage, etc., in drills—in fact, every vegetable wiiichgrowsuOiiisec-dtoriiriuurityintlicsamo position should be sown in the drills. They can be much better looked after in the way of keeping weeds down, thinning out, regularity, also giving much more indi vidual space for each plant. All culinary herbs ought now to be taken up, dividing the old plants, thoroughly working over the ground, giving plenty of manure, and re planting the best portions of the old plants. Plant out a few of the intermediate pota toes now. Pot off cucumbers, onions, and tomato plants when large enough. Sow a fresh lot celery seed under the glass. Give frequent dustings of lime so as to keep slugs in check. Flower Gardes. Still continue sowing hardy annuals ; it is rather early for sowing some of the tender " varieties out in the open yet. Finish pruning off the roses as soon as pos sible. Give each plant a good mulching of well-rotted manure ; this will greatly as sist the quantity and quality of the blooms during the season. Commence making § reparations for the arrangement of the ifferent bedding plants, arranging their colours so that they will have a harmoni ous effect. Continue planting out bulbs, keep the surface soil well stirred around those already coming through the ground. Look well after slugs, dust lime frequently. Lawn : Keep the grass cut close, apply the roller frequently. Walks : Keep the weeds down. Greenhouse. Azaleas in flower water freely. Pot fuchsias, and other cuttings which are struck, pot off. Liliums and amaryllis in pot should be growing freely now ; give them liquid manure frequently. Start a few coleus cuttings. Give plenty of air on suitable occasions.

Seasonable Hints.

Bear in mind, when sowing radishes, cress and other small salndings, never to sow them in large breadths. Always adopt a system of sowing very little at a time—■ sowing every ten or twelve days—thus ensuring a continuous succession of tender saladings. When sowing seeds, putting in cuttings, or re-potting plants, never use dirty pots— always wash and thoroughly dry them before using ; whatever is put in them will grow and succeed better. When watering plants in window or greenhouse, never apply cold water ; the water ought always to be the same temper ature as the air of the place wherein they are grown.

When watering plants in pots, don't give a little because the air happens to be dull and the plants not very dry ; rather wait till the plant is needing water, then give a proper watering, thoroughly saturating the soil in the pot.

Wood ashes are excellent for top-dressing pastures. Ashes contain a larn-e amount of salts which are promotive of a luxuriant growth. One busnel of unleached ashes is nearly equal to two barrow loads of good soil for top-dressing on grass. The roots of many plants retain their vitality under intense temperatures. Boil ing water has been applied to some without injury to them, and some plants absorb poisons that are destructive to others. The weeds on which birds have fed often retain their powers of germination for a long period, as the birds sometimes carry them in their bodies from one country to another, where they have grown and multiplied. SOWING SMALL SEEDS. There are many failures in planting or sowing small garden or farm seeds from three causes—namely, in not sufficiently pulverising the soil, in burying too deep, and in not compressing the earth closely about the seeds.

First— Without thorough pulverisation the soil and its moisture cannot be brought into close contact with the seed, but only a few points of the small clods and lumps will touch it .and air crevices be left all about it. The smaller the seed, the larger will be the crevices in comparison. Seeds will not grow buried in a stone-heap, or in a heap of close clods. The more nearly the soil is reduced to the condi ion of fine powder, the better. Garden beds should, therefore, be finely pulverised with a thorough use of the steel take. Manure, when applied, should be thoroughly broken up and well intermixed. In .sowing the smaller flower seeds, which <tre not to be covered over half-an-inch deep, it is well to pulverise the earth with the thumb and finger as it is dropped in the drill. If the soil is not dry enough for the operation, wait until it is so, and more will be gained by the delay than by the hasty covering of the seeds with wet clods. A rule has been correctly given that a strong soil is never dry enough until a clod under the pressure of the boot is crumbled to powder, instead of pressed to a soft and yielding mass. Second—Seeds are often buried too deep. They must never be placed beyond the reach of air. An old and good rule is to cover them to a depth varying from three to five times their diameter. But this rule will vary with the character of the soil and its condition. More depth will be required for a dry than for a moist covering ; and a greater depth of sand may be applied than of compact clay. Seedsmen are sometimes falsely charged with selling poor seed, merely because the gardener buried it to such a depth that it could not grow. Wo have witnessed some rather striking in stances of such mistakes.

Third—The soil should bo sufficiently compressed about the seed, otherwise there will bo many air cavities. The amount of pressure given will depend on circumstances, if the earth is finely pulverised, less pressure will be required than ■with a coarse or lumpy soil. A heavier pressure needs to be given with a dry than a moist soil. It is an old opinion that seeds germinate better if sown just before a rain than after it. This,may be true when a fine soil has been previously well pressed about the seed. More commonly a coarse soil has prevented

a close packing, and the soil having been softened more or less by a shower, will the more closely encase the seed with a mode rate pressure. If the gardener understands the rationale of all these operations, he will be more likely to avoid mistakes, and to meet with uniform success, than if he pur sues blind and unconditional rules.

In sowing every kind of seed, and with different conditions of the soil, a great deal that is really valuable in practice, as well as really interesting, may be learned by trying different modes side by side. Bury the seeds at different depths, and mark each portion ; observe the condition of the soil as to moisture and.fineness ; plant both before and after rain,'M a commonly coarse and in a pulversised soil; these experiments, per formed side by side, will during the season of growth convey much valuable instruction to the operator.— Country Gentleman.

Hybridisation.

[Conlimied.)

Hybridization is but a simple operation. The grower has merely to collect the pollen from one flower and apply it delicately with a light touch to the stigma of the Hower in tended to bear the seed. If impregnation has resulted, the flower will collapse within from twenty-four to thirty-six hours (earlier in a flower past maturity, and later in one barely arrived at puberty), otherwise there is no impregnation. The most suit able time for performing the operation is from nine to twelve o'clock a.m. on a light sunny day ; if cloudy and dull, impregna tion rarely follows : the pollen at such time being heavy and adhesive in its character, has not the light, dusty powderiness requi site for fertilisation. After the flowers have been impregnated, the whole stamins must be cut away, protecting the flowers, so that bees or other insects do not operate on the stigma already impregnated, and spoil the operator's work, afterwards allowing the fruit or seed to ripen on the tree or bush. The above is extracted from the " Gar dener's Chronicle." As the season for the different fruit trees putting forth ilowers is upon us, I would like to say a few words re" garding the benefits to the colonists which a systematic following up of the above subject would entail. It is a well-known fact, and one universally true throughout the vegetable kingdom, that all varieties of plants have constitu tions best adapted to certain soils, climates, and conditions of growth. Now, by hybridising, not only do we produce new varieties, but wo also diversify and increase the number of situations, soils, and con ditions, to which the constitution of those varieties will adapt themselves. The fruit, flowers, and vegetables which we possess are for the most part importa tions from Europe and America, being in troduced from those countries as the best they had to send. Some of the varieties are positively improved by the change ; Others we rind do not come up to the expec tation formed from their reputation abroad. The reason of this is manifest on a little re iection. Those plants for perhaps a series of their generations have been raised from seed in soil specially adapted for their re quirements. Everything which science and art can do to bring these soils into a high state of cultivation has been done. All who are acquainted with the routine work in the jublic and large private gardens at Home enow that no trouble or expense is spared .o procure the soils best adapted for the growth of each species. Not only each species but each variety. Even varieties will take a range from the very heaviest to the lightest soil 3. From these facts it will readily be per ceived that among the difficulties under which gardeners and horticulturists labour. one of the greatest is the change of climate and soil which plants have to undergo— more especially fruit trees—as well as our gnorance, until experience teaches us the lifferent capabilities of the soil, of which, >roadly speaking, very little is known yet. Trom this cause many of our best men com- | mit'many a blunder in handling and adapt ng soils to the requirements of some plants. These difficulties will, in a degree, be modi ied by the hybridising of the different varieties which have already been intro duced into the colony. Turning to the practical part of the sub ect, we are again met with further difficul ies. One serious drawback is that such experiments cannot bo made to pay the mrseryman or practical gardener who night attempt to carry them on for such radesmen could never hope to receive prices for their stock sufficiently high to •ecompense them for their trouble and abour, and as a rule they cannot afford to divert from their other occupations either he time or attention necessary to make such experiments a success.

(To be continued.)

The First Great Balloon.

Thk following extract is from a paper "Adventures above the Clouds," by Mr F. Whymper, in the current number of " Good Words":—The filling commenced on the 23rd of August, 1783, in the Place dcs Vic tories, but such crowds came to see it that it had to be moved three days Inter to tho Champ de Mars by night, and secretly, for fear of a mob. An eye-witness tells us that

—"No more wonderful scene could be imagined than the balloon being thus conveyed, preceded by lighted torches, surrounded by a cortege, and escorted by a detachment of foot and horse guards ; the nocturnal march, the form and capacity of the body, carried with so much precaution, the silence that reigned,* the unseasonable hour, all tended to give a sin gularity and mystery truly imposing to all those who were acquainted with tho cause. The cab-drivers on the road wore so aston ished that they were impelled to stop their carriages and kneel humbly, hat in hand, while the procession was passing." J\ext afternoon it was launched, and rose to a considerable height in spite of the heavy rain which was falling. The excitement was so intense that fashionably-dressed ladies allowed themselves to be drenched to the skin rather than lose the wonderful sight. When it fell near tho village of Gonesse, about 15 miles from Paris, it caused considerable alarm. "It is supposed by many to have come from another world ; many fly ; others, more sensible, think it a monstrous bird. After it has alighted there is yet motion in it from the gas it still con tains. A small crowd gains courage from numbers, and for an hour approaches by gradual steps, honing meanwhile the monster will take flight. At length one bolder than tho rest takes his gun, strikes carefully to within shot, fires, witnesses the monster shrink, gives a shout of triumph, and the crowd rushes in with flails and pitchforks. One tears what he thinks to be the skin, and causes a poisonous stench ; again all retire. Shame, no doubt, now urges them on, and they tie the cause of alarm to a horse's tail, who gallops the country, tearing it to shreds." Tho Government, absurd as it may seem, actually issued a proclamation, briefly explaining the nature of balloons in general, and begging the people not to be alarmed.

A NAUGHTY GIRL'S MARY.

By the Author of "A Bad Boy's Diary."

Sho Patronises the Bagman,

Gkanma went away this morning to stay awhile with my aunt. I felt very lonesome without granma, so I went over to see Maggie. 'Her mother said she was lurning to croshay, so she couldn't let her play with me to-day. She asked me was I sory I had driven my poor dear granma away ? I told her I did not. Fred drove her to the station in his bugy. She ecsplaned she meant my conduck; I had given granma a great shock. I ran down the steps as hard as I could, for Ido not like Maggie's mother. I stood on the sidewalk, wishing Maggie would come out, but it was only my sister put her head out of our chamber windo an' called me to come home an' sit up in my room like I was ordered for a punishment for putting 2 todes in grandma's bed. I walked along like I did not hear her, for I did not wish her to see I had on her blue silk stocings wich she kepes for best. I was playing I was her or I would not have tooken them. I walked pritty fast, cause I was in a hurry to get out of her sight. Jus' then Charlie past me getting a famus ride on the end of a big hay wagon. He hollered to me " all a'oord," an' I run an' hung on, an climbed up an' sat beside him, an' hung on by a Dole like lie did. I tore Mary's stocing a little climing on, but we had jolly fun. It jounsd the breath most out of me, the dust was awful, i was almost def it ratled so, an' we laffed till we nearly tumbled oft. The man didn't appear to know we were there. I guess he wae sleepy or thinking how much money he got for his hay. .He let us ride way out of town. Pritty soon he stoped to get a drink of water to a pump before a house. Then he saw us an laffed, an' said, "Hallo, youngstirs, how far do you kalkilate to ride? It will be mite tejus gitting back in the hot sun, won't it?" So he took a drink an' handed us some in a dipper. A man came out the house. They began to talk 'bout harvest. He had laid his pipe down on the waggon bottom, so Charlie crep along untif °he could reach it, an' he put something in it an' crawled back. I asked him what he put in. He said a little gunpowder. I told him that was dangerous. I would tell the man. He said he only put in a weenty teenty bit, wait air see the fun ;it would friten him but not hurt him. Pritty soon the man said good-by to the other man, 'cause his horses were awful skittisli an' wouldn't keep still. They wanted to be on the go, an' soon they wore on the go sure enouf. You see, he lited a match before he got in, an' went to puffing at his pipe, then came a loud ecsplosion, the horses jumped like they were shot, plunged wildly forward —in a minit we relized we were running away, the haywagon jounced so I could not hold on, next thing I knew I did not know a single thing. When i came to I smelt camfor. my head aked an' ray broken aim hurted worser than it did when I fell into the ship's hold. I thought I was on board the steamer an' I looked rounifor Mr God trey. " She is coming to," said a strange voice. '" Well, I'm glad the young one ain't dead : she's a right pritty iittle gal," said anuther, " The boy wantiurt a mite —he's run back to town to bring her father to take her home : but them horses are jest about spiled, an' Mr Coulter's eye is mos' put out ;he says it beats all what was the matter with that tobacco; he reckons he must a spilled a leetle powder into his pokkit. That was a splendid term ;it is too bad they got fritened." " There come her parens, well I am glad they will find her alive." The next moment they msht in, there was an effeckting scene, but when they got their darling child home what do you think wur the first words my sister said ? "if she hasn't got -ny blue silk stockings on !" Mary is a lartless girl. Fred an' the doctor caried me up stairs—i have got to remane in bed a week, there is a large lump on the side of my head. Fred is afrade my branes will settle there; be says the town feels cam an' composed now it knows Dolly is in bed ?or a week. My arm has been set over igane ;it hurts so bad I wish i could sleep *iil tho time ;if it wur not my left arm I could not write in my diary how it akes. Dharlie has just sent me a note by Maggie, she was alowed to see me 2 minits. I read .t after she went away : " Dear Doly—kepe dark, ho thinks he did it himself, father has not paid for the woman's woden leg yet so you mus not et this leek out, will you, Doly ? I am sory your arm is broke over. I am going fishin' with Henry in the morning, I wish you could go to so as to help with the lunsh. we shall miss your donuts. P.S.—One of :he horses hurt hisself against a tree ; an' I :iave heard, but i do not know how it .s, his pipe was broke all to pesis. bum :his, yours anonymously, C." O how slowly the time passes, it is too warm in bed, an' my poor arm hurts. Fred is very good to his little sister, he says " it ia wicked and cruel to keep little Dolly on gruel," so he brings me ice cream every afternoon. I perfectly idulize him. When I get well I am going to be a nice, quiet, lady like little girl. I have promised him. Miss Garner came to see me this morning. She was very nice. She brout me some flowers and lemon jelly, an' I thanked her, an' told her what jramma said about her—that she was bright in' stylish, but she wasn't domestic enough Eor Fred, she would not be a good house keeper. She could crimp her bang, but she couldn't make a lofe of bread. She coloured up an' looked mad, but my brother jus' caut her about the waste and walsed her around. He wanted a stylish girl or nun. I say so to. I told her we were all very fond of her, that I heard pa say, when I was under the bed playing hide and seke with Maud Evelyn, that the quicker Fred married old Garner's daughter the better for him—our bisnoss was ticklish. If we had any more bad luch tilings would go to pieces. So I asked her wouldn'tshe marry him soon 1 Then I asked him what he was pinching me under the bedclose for, how folks could tickle a bisness, an' what things would go to pieces ? He did not answer, he only said : "Dolly, I would like to brake your other arm." An' Miss Garner, she said, kind of smil ing : "Children an' fools spoke the truth." "Oh," said Fred, "that was a fortnight ago; we have passed the'erisis. My father's business is booming. Dolly is a nuisance ; let's have a game of croquet." They went, and played so long Fred forgot to bring me any ice creme that day. Maggie came an' staid with me half a hour, then my mother called her away. She an' me made up we would have tabloes when I am well enough to play next week. We will have them to our house, 'cause Maggie's mother does not like to have anything to her house. She is very careful of her carpet, you must not stir when you go there. I tol'her when she came to see me my mamma said she ought to bo an old maid an' not have any child, sho was too particular. I asked her what made her so—was it cause her liusband treted her badly ? Mamma looked quere, an' put some jelly in my mouth. I swallowed it as quick as

I could, an' wanted to know if she gave me the jelly to stop mo talking ? She said yes, it was bad for my head to talk. So Maggie's mother said it was bad for other people's hoads too, and went away very solum. Mamma is afraid I have oiFenderl her by my injudical remarks; she says I kepe her busy smoothing pople's fethcre I have rubed the wrong way. The swelling in my head is going down ; I can lie on the lump now. Fred says I can lie in any posiihun ; he just loves to teaze me. The doctor says I have narrowly escaped struckture on the cranium an' de formation on the brain. lam out of danger, but my arm is in a sling. Fred says if it was a gin slincr he would envy my arm. He tells me a Eng lishman asks after me every day. Me wants to know if the fall did much arm to harm ? Charlie is to be allowed to see me tomoro. I am to go down stairs tomoro. Granma has returned, When she heard of poor little Dolly's illness she came right back. I have promised never to put toads in her bed ; I will koepmy promise. Char lie says burs will be as much fun, so we" will try that. I am a good eel wellcr than I was a few days ago, I have sat up sevral times an yesterday I went down stairs. I rose an crep down in my rapper to find out why the house was so quiet: I saw by the clock it was three—not a sole was to be seen. I went to the kitchinn and asked cook where the folks were. Would you believe it evry one had gone to the big aniversary picnic, even granma. I was not told because I would teaze to go, an Nora had bin told to take good care of me as ever was, to watch me as like she was a cat an i was a mouse, an let me have creme cakes an jam for *my lunch ; but Nora was eomming her hair wich takes her one hole our, so I came down to look about. I was tired being in one room. Maggie an Charlie were gone to the picnic also. It was too bad. I felt awful lonesome ; Maud Evelyn was cross an wouldn't play ; I was glad when I heard the door bell ring, an went fast as I could an opened it—it" was only an old ragman. " Got any rags my pritty ?" says he as sweet as pie. "No," hollers Nora over the banister, " clear out ! Shut'the door an' lock it, Miss, an' come light strata back to your room or I'll tell yer mama on yez," an then she slamed her own door an began frizing her hair again. '• Wait a minit," said i to the ragman, " I guess granma has a few—i'll look."— for you see I was jus' wishing I had some money to do something I wanted to do. So he waited an I went very sofly to her room, and one or two other places so's Nora wouldn't hear me, an pritty quick I brot down a big calico bag stufed full. I thout I would get bout 5 dollars, but I only got one quarter,one nikel,an, 3 cents—they say those ragmen arc very grate cheets, I think they are. lam perfickly sertain my sisters pink gingam rapper I put in was worth more than that, but he tost the bag in, gumped inhisself, an drove off as fast as liis retched horse would go. I went up stairs a minit to lock Nora in her room so she could not follow me, then I got my hat an took a walk. My arm was in a sling so the sleeve of my rapper was not on my broken arm, but the boys did not laugh at me for they wer all gone to the picnic. It was very lonesome, the teers came in my iis because I was not having lots of fun with Maggie an Charlie. Some of the stores were closed, only the drug store was open so I went in there an' had some soda water an' five jackson balls. an' the clerk was lonesome too—he said " never be a clerk in a drug store, it is open day an' night an' picnicks, no rest, no fun. four girl goes with another fellor. you lave to put up with it." I was sory for liim, sol staid awhile to kepe him cumpany. [ told him how sad it was my papa was :ight when the barn had to bo bilt over an' my sister needed 'bout a thowsand things to marrid in. I told him how granma lost a lot of money when the cashear had used it all by ing stocks or stockings orsomethin'; I told him my mama was afrade she was going to have a cansir, an' Fred was jellus if that new yung man that boarded at the notel ; he was taken with Miss Garner an' she tol Fred he was worth a liaf a milyun when his uncle died, an' Fred would not go to the picknik at first, but he took Erne Evarts when he did go—i was afrade they bad quarld. Then I bot a bottle of Bloom af yuth with my quarter, jus then Nora looked in the drug store. " 0 here you ar j ! you little minks ! you will be sick agane, you will have brane fever, I shal have to Ejiv-e warning. I cannot stand it —so much inksiety !" but I made her a present of the bloom of yuth an' she said maybe she would not tell my parens this time, i notis her complecksaun has not been freccled sinse. She had to let; herself down on to the kit ching roof an' then scream to cook to bring her the ladder to get down an' go an' look for Miss Dolly. Evrybody was tired when they got home from the Anniversary ; they wanted a cup of strong tea, an' Fred tost Maud Evelyn clean out into the street, jus' 'cause she happened to be sitting on the stairs in the dark an' made him fall an' bruise his shin. That doll has to put up with everything when my brother is around. Mary was cross 'cause she couldn't find her pink rapper to take off her hot dusty dress an' put on a loose cool one. An' now, to-day, the hole house thinks there were theves got in yLsterday while they were at the picnick. Mary's rap]x:r bias uttirly disappeared along with her winter walking jakkit—i put that in be cause it made the bag way heavy—an' the rufled white bask she comes her hair in, an' her calico clothes bag. An granma is moning an groning over the loss of her old Drown silk she has had so long it is all out of stile, it would make you smile to see the way it is made ; but of course I did not dream she had seven United States fore pur sent bonds sode in the bosom of that ole thing — which makes her sus tieck somebody took tho things that knew the bonds were there. She is very suspichus. Fred says it makes him very uncomfortable to have granma look at him as if perhaps he took them. Poor Fred I cannot bear to see him so downcast—l shall have to oan up about the ragman, my heart akes where my conshunce is—l shal have to tell, and have poor Dolly in disgrnse agen.

" Uncle Mose, why does your boy not go to work ? He seems to be idling away his time." " Oh, no, Master Gawge, he ain't no idle boy, Pete ain't. He's gittin' larnin' pow'ful fast up at do 'cademy. I'm makin' a seholard ob him. Yo' Pete, come here an' show do ge'raan how yo' kin spell ; bring him yo' gogerfy book till he takes yo' some spelli' outen it." The gentleman asked Pete to spell cow, mule, ostrich, horse, &c, all of which he spelled correctly. Then closing the book he asked Pete to spell " possum." Pete made several attempts, but failed. "Hcah, yo' Pete," said Uncle Mose, "yo good-fur-nuffin, ■wiiffiles boy, ■what yo' mean by spollin' do la'go animuleH, sich as he hoss an' de mule an' hostritch, an' not bain' able to spell a po' littlo insigni ficant bird like de possum. Yo' better study pow'ful quick on de 'possum, or fust ting yo' know yer'll be hoein1 in de cotton, patclu"

GOSSIP FROM STAGE AND STUDIO.

[By Euterpe.]

Professor Cailliau's Operatic Society in tend reproducing "The Barber of Seville " about the middle of November, -with Mr J. Edwards in the role of Almaviva, vice Mr Longuet. On dit that the Choral Society are con templating the production of Hervd's pretty musical extravaganza " Chilporic," which it will be remembered they gave with com plete success some ten years ago. It will be in aid of the Society's funds. Another local amateur combination are rehearsing " Pinafore," with the intention of performing it at the Choral Hall during November also, Mr 11. W. Sceats taking the part of "the merry, merry captain," and Mr A. E. Isaacs (after a long retire ment from stage life) that of the Admiral. The Polks follow Hegarty's Hibornicoo at Abbott's Opera House, and after them Pomeroy in Shakesperian pieces. This last season will be inaugurated in Decem ber. The company, which opened in Launceston on August 27, includes Miss Lily May and her husband, J. J. Kennedy. Mr Fred Marshall has entirely recovered his health. A baritone is now singing in Italy under the name of Adelino Patti. Literary notes from Australia now appear in the "Academy." Miss Ada Ward visits Australia on tho completion of her American season. Henry Irving's real name is Henry Brodrib. The Academy of Music, Melbourne, is occupied by the United States Minstrels, a company consisting of twenty performers. At Brisbane, the Holloway Company played " The Comedy of Errors " for a week to good houses. Williamson, Garner, and Co.'s Comic Opera Company, now at Sandhurst, intend to make a long tour through the colonies, and then a visit to New Zealand. Miss Emilio Melville has commenced another season at the Princess Theatre, Melbourne. The initial opera was "Le Petit Due." The last nights of the "Grasshopper" are announced at Sydney. The " Ticket of-Leave-Man" is to follow with Miss Jennie Lee as Sam Willoughby. Mr Morris Greenwall has signed a con tract with Mrs Langtry for a term of sixteen weeks in Australia, witli the privilege of a continuance. He guarantees her £500 a week. The season begins in June, 1884. The Federal Minstrels, under the man agement of Mr Hiscocks, have just opened at Sydney for a season at the Masonic Hall, at the conclusion of which they will embark for New Zealand. The opera season at tho Melbourne Opera House is turning out an artistic and finan cial success. "Vn Ballo in Maschera " proved a complete triumph for Miss Martina Simonsen, who sang tho music of the page. "Wanderings in a Wild Country; or, Three Years amongst tho Cannibals of New Britain," is the title of a book just is sued by Mr Wilfred Powell. It is said to be very interesting. Rignold's pieces, " Youth " and " The Lights o' London " are to be produced at Ounedin at Christinas time, with Mr Frank Cates as a substitute for Mr Kig nold in the " star " parts. Pomeroy lias been in trouble—not matri monial. On leaving her house in i'itzroy, she was arrested, under a writ of capias, at :he suit of Mr Hornby, who represented -mother lady, a creditor of the tragedienne, or a sum of £255. The claim was settled. Mrs G. B. W. Lewis, of Melbourne (who trained the first Juvenile " Pinafores"), has organised and trained a company of juve niles to perform Shakspere'a comedy " Much Ado about Nothing," and tho 4th act of " The Merchant of A enice." " Les Manteaux Noirs" i* still the attrac tion at the Sydney Opera House. Mr Knight \ston, an English tenor, made his appear ince in the opera on August 11. The 'Herald" says:—"Ho possesses a full, clear tenor voice, is an actor of good parts, and brings all a player's love of his art to make his performance a worthy one." Bandmann is still doing a big business witli the "Woman of the People" at Mel journe. He has caught the clergy and «mperance bodies, and intends running the play six months. It is a feature of the performances that ladies in the stalls are -served with tea— a, mark of attention whicli hey seem to highly appreciate. Thorn and Darvin, "Royal Illusionists," are again performing together, Darvin laving reached Prague from America, from Prague they went to Carlsbad, Marienbad, and Franzenbad, and they are to visit tho watering-places on the North Sea. They are to open their autumn season in Vienna, playing six weeks ; thence to St. Petersburg. Miss Mary Anderson, the American ac tress (cousin of Consul Griffin), who is to appear as Galatea at tho Lyceum Theatre the autumn, makes a great point of her realistic rendering of the part. She oven wears stockings divided at the toes in order that her feet may resemble those of a classic statue, and she weights her clothes that they may hang like garments of stone. It is rumoured that the magnates of Printing House Square have resolved on bringing out a duplicate copy of the "Times" every morning at a penny. It has been long considered, but it is now al most ripe for putting into execution, experiments having been made for some time past to test its possibility as far as the printing goes. The revival of "Struck Oil," at Mel bourne, by the Williamsons, was an un precedented success. £1,737 6s was taken in the first seven nights; nearly 1,900 persons having paid for admission. With the exception of a period during the first engagement of the late Mr G. V. Brooke,, the receipts of any Australian place of: amusement have never come up to this amount for the same period of tim«. Miss Genevieve Ward's season in, London came to a conclusion on June 30. In an swering a recall, sh© said—"Ladies and gentlemen,—Lord Bolingbroke remarked just now that 'to gee to any point you want to reach you start off in tho opposite direc tion.' I wajvt to get to Lovtdon, and, there fore, I start by ledia, Australia, Now Zea land, Japan, and tho American continent. Meanwhile* I hope you will ' Foafget-me- Not,' and' that when I return I may still bo, the ' %isen.'ls Favourite-' und yours."

O sec the young girl. In beauty rare. Sans kink, sans curl. Banging her hair! Anil hear tho young man. At the piano there. Hard as ho can. Banging his air 1 A young mother Btands, Oppressed with care. With slipper in hand. Banging her heir 1

STAR SATURDAY SUPPLEMENT, SEPTEMBER 8, 1885.

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