out the vineyard unto keepers; every one, for the fruit thereof, was to bring a thousand pieces of silver. Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth. The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved."

If it were desired to magnify this subject, the object would be sufficiently attained by referring to the Mosaic account of the creation of the world. "And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed."

That much of the skill, and many of the most approved appliances of the gardener's art have come down to him from a very remote antiquity is true beyond dispute. St. Paul seizes upon a figure, derived from this source, to enforce a sublime doctrine. "And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree, boast not against the branches: but, if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well: because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith," &c.

To the Antients, then, are we indebted for the knowledge we possess of the art of grafting. This great fact must not be forgotten. And we have also derived from them our knowledge of the operation of budding, sister to the former. This demands from us redoubled acknowledgments. The precise period of the invention of these arts, like many of the most common and useful of our tools and implements of labor, is lost in remote antiquity. To go no further back than Virgil, we find him describing, in graceful hexameters, and not without hyperbole, the modes and the effects both of grafting and budding. Of grafting, he says:

"Et sæpe alterius ramos impune videmus
Vertere in alterius, mutatamque insita mala
Ferre pyrum, et prunis lapidosa rubescere corna.
Quare agite, ô proprios generatim discite cultus,
Agricolæ, fructusque feros molite colendo.

Neu segnes jaceant terræ: juvat Ismaro Bacho
Conserere, atque oleâ magnum vestire Taburnum.
Tuque ades, inceptumque unà decurre laborem,
O decus, ô famæ merito pars maxima nostræ,
Macenas, pelagoque volans da vela patenti.
Non ego cuncta meis amplecti versibus opto:
Non mihi si linguæ centum sint, oraque centum,
Ferrea vox: ades, et primi lege littoris oram.
In manibus terræ: non hic te carmine ficto,
Atque per ambages et longa exorsa tenebo.

Sponte sua quæ se tollunt in luminis auras,
Infoecunda quidem, sed læta et fortia surgunt.
Quippe solo natura subest. Tamen hæc quoque siquis
Inserat, aut scrobibus mandet mutata subactis,
Exuerint sylvestrem animum: cultuque frequenti,
In quascunque voces artes, haud tarda sequentur,
Nec non et sterilis quæ stirpibus exit ab imis,
Hoc faciet, vacuos si sit digesta per agros:
Nunc altæ frondes et rami matris opacant,
Crescentique adimunt foetus, uruntque ferentem.
Jam, quæ seminibus jactis se sustulit arbos,
Tarda venit, seris factura nepotibus umbram :
Pomaque degenerant succos oblita priores;
Et turpes avibus prædam fert uva racemos.
Scilicet omnibus est labor impendendus, et omnes
Cogendæ in suleum, ac multâ mercede domandæ."

Of budding, he says:—

"Nec modus inserere atq; oculos imponere simplex.
Nam quà se medio trudunt de cortice gemmæ,
Et tenues rumpunt tunicas, angustus, in ipso
Fit nodo sinus: huc alienâ ex arbore germen
Includunt, udoque docent inolescere libro.
Aut rursum enodes trunci resecantur, in altè
Finditur in solidum cuneis via: deinde feraces
Planæ immituntur. Nec longum tempus, et ingens
Exiit ad coelum ramis felicibus arbos,

Miraturque novas frondes, et non sua poma."

Who can doubt, that, had the discovery of the arts of grafting and budding been reserved for the present age, the lucky individual who should be the first to find them out and make them known, would receive such applause as to place him in the same rank of geniuses with Franklin, Whitney, Fulton, and the host of worthies-names ever to be revered by sci

ence.

In such case, would it not be considered one of the wonderful events of our time? When should we get done talking about it?

But this subject is so fruitful, care must be taken that your pages be not overburdened with it; if, indeed, too much has not been already said. Allow me, in addition, to tranfer to your pages the following extract from a letter of Evelyn to Dr. Wilkins, Feb. 17, 1660, which I do without remark :—

"It is certain, as Dr. Goddard has shewed, that a section of any tree made parallel to the horizon, will, by the closeness of the circles, point to the North, and so, consequently, if a perpendicular be drawn through them for the meridian, the rest of the cardinalls &c., found out; but this is not so universall, but that, where strong reflections are made, as from walls, the warme fumes of dunghills, and especially if the southern side be shaded, &c., those ellipticall and hyperbolicall circles are sometimes very irregular; and I doubt not but, by some art, might be made to have their circles as orderly as those which we find in Brazille, Ebene, &c., which, within a very little, concentre by reason of the uniforme course of the sun about them; which is doubtless the cause of their greater dilatation on the South part only with us, where the pores are more open and lesse constipated. The consideration whereof (though nowhere mentioned that I know) made the poet, giving advice concerning transplantations, to caution thus:

'Quin etiam Coeli regionem in cortice signant,
Ut quo quæque modo steterit, qua parte calores
Austrinos tulerit, quæ terga obverterit axi,

Restituant: ades in teneris consuescere multum est.'

And though Pliny neglect it as an unnecessary curiosity, I can, by much experience confirme it, that not one tree in 100 would miscarry were it duly observed; for, in some, I have made tryall of it even at Midsummer.'

Coshocton, February 13, 1847.

Probably a portion of our readers will not be able to give a free translation to the above quotations; and will think they might have been omitted: but we preferred to give our correspondent's communication entire.-Ed.

ART. II. Mr. Knight's Seedling Pears. By the EDITOR.

It is well known that the late Thomas Andrew Knight, President of the London Horticultural Society, to whose labors the science of Horticulture is so deeply indebted, originated several new fruits, of great excellence, more particularly cherries and pears. Of the former, all the varieties, we believe, are well known in our extensive nursery collections, as well as in most amateur gardens, and specimens of the fruit have, from time to time, been presented for exhibition, fully sustaining their high reputation. But, of the pears, very little information has yet been obtained. It is true they have been described in the catalogues of the London Horticultural Society, but, to American gardens, they are not familiar acquaintances. Recently, nearly or quite all of the varieties. have been introduced, but, owing to the errors which occurred in the dessemination of the scions from Mr. Knight's own garden, it is yet somewhat uncertain whether all the kinds are true to name, more particularly that finest of all his seedlings, the Monarch.

In the autumn of 1844, when we visited the garden of the society, at Chiswick, and looked over the collection of pears with Mr. Thompson, we were anxious to obtain all the information in relation to these seedlings, as the high character which Mr. Thompson had given to some of them, rendered them particularly desirable, more especially on account of the hardy character which was ascribed to the varieties, and, consequently, their peculiar adaptation to our climate. The Monarch we were most eager to possess, and when we left, Mr. Thompson placed in our hands one specimen out of only three or four, in his possession; this we put into our trunk, and, after journeying to Scotland, and from thence home, occupying about twentyfive days, we found the pear in good condition, and, upon tasting it, about the middle of November, fully coming up to Mr. Knight's and Mr. Thompson's estimate of the variety.

The Dunmore, we have not yet seen in good perfection. In the autumn of 1845, we had one single pear, which ripened prematurely and dropped off—it promised well: the present year we hope to have many specimens, and fully settle the

question in regard to its qualities. In the mean time, before this and the other sorts come into fruit again, we have thought that the following article, from the Transactions of the London Horticultural Society, an expensive work, which does not, probably, find its way into the hands of many, would prove highly interesting to our amateur cultivators, and prepare them somewhat for what they may expect when they shall have specimens from their own trees :

The following account of some of the new fruits, raised at Downton, has been prepared from descriptions made in the society's garden, by Mr. Robert Thompson, to which notes have been added by Mr. Knight. As these varieties appear of considerable importance, it was considered desirable that an early opportunity should be taken, of making the public acquainted with them.

1. MARCH BERGAMOT PEAR. Fruit middle-size, in form and appearance resembling the Autumn Bergamot. Flesh buttery, a little gritty near the core, rich and excellent. Season, March, or later.

Note.-Owing to its resemblance in form to the Autumn Bergamot, and its ripening chiefly in March (it may be preserved later,) I have named this sort the March Bergamot. The sample sent was not favorable in any respect, the most perfect having been previously eaten, owing to my having erroneously supposed that I had sent a sample of the fruit in autumn. No pains were taken to preserve those that remained, and which, it appears, were found to be excellent, after enduring the carriage to London in the beginning of March. It will be found a much larger and a much better pear when grown in the garden of the society. The fruit is, I think, quite as large as that of an old Autumn Bergamot tree was, which formerly grew in the same soil and climate, and at the distance of a few feet only. Both this variety and the Pengethley Pear, would probably be greatly improved if grown upon a wall, and, so cultivated, I believe both would be found very valuable in cold and unfavorable situations, in which the French and Belgic varieties could not be made to succeed.

2. PENGETHLEY PEAR. Fruit middle-sized, obovate, a little curved at the stalk. Eye small and a little open; stalk about