nearly 200 different kinds enumerated, of which no fewer than 150 are the Patagonian gooseberries of Lancashire.

The varieties of the gooseberry may be said to be almost endless, being propagated by seeds, the produce of which is not only affected by soil and climate, but is very various in itself, perpetually appearing in new kinds. The following, however, may be taken as a general description of the qualities, so far as they are associated with colour. The yellow are of a more rich and vinous flavour than the white,-the white than the green. The red are very various in flavour, but are commonly more acid than the others, though to this latter remark there are many exceptions. From this description, it follows that the yellow are most proper for the dessert, as well as for being fermented into wine, while the red make the most agreeable preserves.

The currant is perhaps also a native of this country, although it has been regarded as the degenerated grape of Corinth, from which circumstance it derives its name; and, indeed, there is a small seedless grape, in the Levant, which is known by the same appellation, and from which it is possible that it may be derived. In "Dodoen's History of Plants," translated in 1578, it is called "the red beyond-sea gooseberry." There are three distinct varieties of the currant,—the white, the red, and the black, differing from each other in flavour as well as in colour, and each possessing some valuable characteristic qualities. The black currant, especially, has distinguishing peculiarities; its flavour is milder than that of the other two, and it is supposed to be particularly salubrious, and even medicinal.

I have already adverted to the providential arrange3 ment, by which the gooseberry has been made to succeed the vine in our comparatively northern regions; and the same view has been so well expressed by an interesting writer, that I shall gratify both myself and the reader by concluding this account in his words. "Divine bounty is equalized to the nations. Italy has

the grape; but there the gooseberry will not grow, or it will live only as an evergreen shrub, incapable of producing fruit; and it is further pleasant to observe, that, in the large field of the world, proper to the cultivation of our vine, its annual produce is less precarious than that of any other tree,—a further proof that the things which are really best for man, are also the most abundant and the most easily produced. Were the pine apple, which sells at one guinea per lb., as easy to be had as the potato or the gooseberry, no family would ever have done with the physician.'

THIRD WEEK-THURSDAY.

HORTICULTURE. THE ORCHARD.

THERE are fruit-bearing trees, as well as plants and shrubs, which man has appropriated to himself. Of these there are chiefly two kinds,-those which have their seeds inclosed in an edible, fleshy, or succulent substance, and those which, along with a similar substance, have their seed also protected by a stone. Of the former kind are the apple and pear, of the latter the plum and cherry.

The history of fruits is not less curious and interesting than that of vegetables; but I must hasten to other subjects, and shall compress, within a single paper, all that seems necessary, in this place, to say regarding them. Most of our European fruits seem to have had their native place in the East; and among these may be named the apple and the pear. Of both of these fruits there are very numerous varieties, the Author of nature having in this, as in other departments of the vegetable world, left much to the power of cultivation, in conformity to that beneficent law which calls forth industry and ingenuity, by rewarding their labours. Between the wild crab and * Paterson's Manse Garden, p. 113.

some of our finest garden apples, the difference is immense; and the same may be said of the sloe and the plum; while this difference is chiefly to be attributed to cultivation, which selects and cherishes the most useful kinds.

The apple was common in Syria in the days of Solomon, who, in his Song, as well as in the Proverbs, speaks of it with approbation; but it seems to have been rare in Rome, even so late as the days of Pliny. When, or under what circumstances the art of engrafting fruit-trees was introduced, is not known, but it must have been familiar in Judea in the age of the Apostles, as St Paul draws one of his remarkable metaphors from this source.* I am not aware that it is any where mentioned at an earlier date; and it would appear to have been but partially known in Italy still later, as Pliny notices the art in terms of admiration, which seem to imply that it had been but recently practised. To this art we owe the facility of propagating particular sorts, and these have lately multiplied to a remarkable degree. The varieties of apples at present known are upwards of a thousand, and of pears the fruit catalogue of the Horticultural Society names about six hundred kinds. From both of these fruits an agreeable fermented liquor is obtained.

Of stone fruits, the plum and the cherry are the only kinds extensively cultivated in this country; but the peach, the nectarine, and the apricot, are also reared on the walls of our gardens, although these delicious fruits are too delicate for open exposure as standards in this northern climate. Both the plum and the cherry are natives of Europe, though the finest kinds of each seem to have been brought from Asia, that original depository of almost all the most valuable vegetable stores of the world. The former seems to have been introduced into this country as early as the fifteenth century, the latter about the time of Henry VIII.

In tracing the history of fruits, it is remarkable to ob* Romans, 11th chapter.

serve their connexion with the progress of civilization. As our taste refines, and our wants accumulate, the means of gratifying them are extended; and this is doubtless a wisely intended provision of the Creator, by which the stimulus to exertion is kept up, and man finds himself in this, as in other respects, in the midst of a wide and constantly increasing field of enterprise, in which he never ceases to achieve new triumphs for his genius and talent. While the sense of taste is a singular and important gift, the means which have been provided for its gratification form a very pleasing department of study, in considering those adaptations, which subsist between the vegetable and animal worlds, and which afford an undeniable proof of Creative intelligence and goodness. It is by their organ of taste, combined with that of smell, that the lower animals distinguish and select their food. What precise kind of sensation this organ produces among them, or whether or not it be similar in different orders, it may be impossible to determine; but that, while it, in some respects, differs from the human sensation, it is decidedly of a pleasurable nature, there can be no doubt. To them, indeed, the pleasure of taste forms the chief charm of existence; and it is beautiful to observe in how many ways the Creator has contrived to prolong the enjoyments derived from this source. Among these, the provision which is bestowed upon ruminating animals of chewing the cud is not the least remarkable. They thus are enabled to enjoy the pleasure of eating a second time; and the latter pleasure is probably more delightful than the former. It is impossible to see a herd of cattle lying on a sunny meadow, amidst the luxuriant herbage they have been cropping, quietly and at their ease re-masticating their plentiful meal, without being convinced that the spirit of enjoyment rests on them; furnishing a new evidence of that Divine benevolence which, notwithstanding the disorder of a fallen world, is so remarkable a feature in the character of the Author of nature, as reflected from his works.

But a far more refined and varied pleasure, arising from the sense of taste, is enjoyed by man. The lower animals, indeed, show preferences in the choice of their food; and the greediness with which they devour one kind of vegetable production rather than another, proves that they are capable of degrees of enjoyment, according to the peculiar flavour of their food. But this exists only to a limited extent, and seems to be bestowed chiefly, if not exclusively, as an instinct distinguishing between what is more or less salubrious. In the human species it is different. It is not so much instinct as experience and habit which regulates the choice of his food; and among articles of subsistence equally wholesome, there are great diversities as to what is palatable or otherwise. The truth is, that his taste, as I have already hinted, is obviously intended as a stimulus to his active powers, as well as a source of varied enjoyment; and to accomplish this double purpose, he is furnished with a palate delicately alive to the perception of differences in flavour and pungency. Adapted to this palate are the various vegetable productions with which he is surrounded, or with which he can furnish himself, so diversified in their qualities and modes of existences, as well as in their manner of affecting his taste, and in the degree of enjoyment which they afford. It is striking to run over the numerous productions even of our common gardens and orchards with these considerations in our view, and to think of the roots, the tubers, the bulbs, the broad juicy leaves, the farinaceous seeds, the fleshy and succulent fruits, with their almost interminable varieties of fragrance and flavour, of sweetness and acidity, of mellowness and pungency, all so wonderfully suited to gratify the taste, and stimulate the appetite. If we look beyond our own country, and think of the vegetable produce of other climes, we find the catalogue wonderfully increased, and discover still more reason to admire the diversified resources of nature, and the peculiar sensitiveness of the human palate, which can so accurately dis