South African colonists compare this old British fruit with that which is called the Cape gooseberry, and are inclined to believe - like our American cousins with the Indian corn - that theirs is the genuine article and ours the counterfeit, forgetting that centuries before the Cape gooseberry was known, the British fruit was widely cultivated and highly esteemed. The Cape gooseberry is, in fact, no gooseberry, but a kind of winter cherry, which, although much relished by those who are accustomed to the flavour, is not quite to the taste of those who enjoy the British gooseberry; and although it makes a splendid jam - which might, we believe, be imported profitably - yet the resinous flavour requires an educated palate to be fully appreciated. This fruit is also cultivated in India, and a jam known as teparee is made from it, and sometimes imported.

Few colonists have the opportunity of tasting our British fruits in perfection, and especially berries, such as gooseberries, which, when ripe, should be picked and eaten from the bush, as they get flat and tasteless when sent to market. We venture to think that could they wander through an English garden when gooseberries - yellow, green, and red - are ripe, they would find them worth running the risk of a few scratches from the superabundant thorns, to obtain. The same may be said of the raspberry, and that universal favourite the strawberry, both of which, to be enjoyed in perfection, should be picked and eaten where they grow. Nevertheless, tons of strawberries find their way daily to Covent Garden market from the provinces, and even from Jersey and France, in the season, to be eaten and enjoyed by those who, if they had to pick for themselves, would never taste a berry. Yet they are still grown largely in the immediate neighbourhood of London, and a feast of strawberries freshly picked may even now be eaten with cream and sugar in many gardens in the suburbs; but to those accustomed to the smoke and dirt of this great Metropolis it seems impossible that strawberries could ever have been grown in Holborn, yet Shakespeare repeats an historic fact when he makes Glo'ster say to the Bishop of Ely -

' My Lord of Ely, when I was last in Holborn I saw good strawberries in your garden there.'

Ely Place, the site of the Bishop's palace and garden, may now be searched in vain for any fruit, except such as is brought there in baskets from Covent Garden.

There is now an endless variety both of strawberries and raspberries cultivated, but whilst in the latter the flavour is improved as the size is increased, in the strawberry the very large berries are seldom equal in flavour to those of medium size. Both these fruits are also much esteemed in their wild state, and, strange to say, the wild raspberry becomes more luscious and more highly flavoured, the farther north it is found, forming the most delicious of fruits in Norway and Sweden; whilst the wild strawberry is an indispensable adjunct to the dinner table in Alpine countries, as all travellers know, for heaped-up dishes of strawberries appear daily at every hotel and restaurant in Switzerland and Northern Italy during the season, till one is constrained to wonder at the abundance of the fruit, and the patient industry of the gatherers, who must wander over miles of mountainous country to supply innumerable voracious travellers daily with this never-failing luxury. There are numerous other wild berries, which have their use in due season, although not so universally esteemed as the strawberry and the raspberry. In mountainous districts the bilberry - a little black berry - growing abundantly on low bushes, is excellent for pies and puddings, whilst the cranberry - which is of the same family, but red - is not only used when fresh and ripe, but is imported in barrels from Norway and Russia, and a larger kind, though not so juicy, from America, to the extent of many thousands of gallons annually. The blackberry, which is the fruit of the bramble, comes into the market at a season when fruit is scarce, otherwise it would hardly hold a high place in public favour; but, mixed with apple, it makes excellent puddings and pies, and blackberry jam and jelly are highly esteemed by many. The fruit of one species of bramble which grows in the extreme north is highly lauded by Linnaeus; and the cloudberry is also a great boon to dwellers in the cold and barren regions of Northern Scandinavia and Lapland, even to the North Cape.

The elderberry, once so highly esteemed as a wine producer, is now neglected. Fifty years ago a glass of hot spiced elder wine, with sippets of toast, formed a Christmas beverage handed nightly to honoured guests in country houses. Now, even our peasants must have port or sherry, and the flower and berry of the elder are left to 'waste their sweetness on the desert air.' Yet elder-flower wine was once thought equal to Frontignac, and there was a scramble between man and bird for the berries: the latter are now allowed to enjoy them unmolested, and they do not let them hang long upon the tree when ripe. The elder was also formerly much esteemed in medicine, and is still used in ointments and soaps, being an excellent emollient for the skin.

The barberry is also a fruit which has gone out of fashion. Once upon a time preserved barberries were used in tarts, and thought delicious; now, however, you very seldom see them in the market, and, if used at all, it is only by way of garnishing, for which they are eminently suitable.

The mulberry, too, although when fully ripe it is the most delicious of berries, is so little esteemed in England that we have seen the ground red with the fruit which the owner has not thought worth gathering. This, however, was not the opinion of our ancestors, who prided themselves upon their mulberry trees, which they cultivated with care, and many of which survive and still bear abundance of fruit, although planted in the sixteenth century. The earliest recorded were planted at Sion House in 1548, and still bear fruit. The mulberry tree is considered the wisest of trees because it never puts forth its leaves until the frosts are over, for which reason it is employed in heraldry to signify wisdom. The white mulberry, which is cultivated abroad for the sake of its leaves, upon which the silk-worm thrives better than on the black variety, is not grown in England, probably because it is not so hardy as the other; but should silk ever become an industry in Ireland, as many philanthropists have proposed to make it, the cultivation of the white mulberry must also be attempted, and planted in hedges, as in the Tyrol, it would probably thrive.

The olive, so famous for its oil, which is indispensable in salads, will not thrive in Northern Europe, but is largely grown in Spain, Italy, and the south of France. At Cap St Martin, between Mentone and Monte Carlo, there are some fine trees, said to have been planted by the Romans, for the olive will live and bear fruit for a thousand years, and the great gnarled trunks, twisted and contorted into the most weird and fanciful shapes, give a truly venerable appearance to these valuable trees. There is one tree, not far from Mentone, which is said to have been planted by Julius Caesar.

We in England do not make much use of the olive as an article of food, but it forms an excellent addition to stews and hashes, and is served at table as an appetiser. Spanish olives are imported in small barrels, but the French are usually sold in bottles, both being pickled in brine.

In Italy a single olive tree often forms a family patrimony, the sole source of income to several sons; but, as may be supposed, the living derived from it is scanty and precarious.

The olive grows wild at the Cape, and attempts have been made from time to time to cultivate it, but as yet with little success. The olive, as we know, was one of the famous trees of Palestine, and the oil was used in the sacrifices and for the making of cakes and pastry, as also in Egypt Among stone fruits, we ought perhaps to name the tamarind, although it is hardly a fruit to be classed with peaches, plums, and cherries, being exceedingly acid; nevertheless, the acidity is its most valuable property, rendering it of special use in flavouring various dishes, especially curries. This pleasant acidity causes it also to be much valued when mixed with water as a cooling drink in fevers and other diseases. The tamarind tree is a native of the East and West Indies, and also of Arabia, and the fruit is a long pod, containing from three to six hard seeds enclosed in the acid pulp. Tamarinds are imported in the form of preserves, both from the East and West Indies. The latter are best for cooking purposes, and the East Indian for medicinal, as the latter are prepared without sugar.

The mango may also be called a stone fruit, of which, however, we do not know the true flavour, as it is known to us only in the form of chutney; but when eaten ripe from the tree it is said to be delicious.

Many other delicate Indian fruits might also be mentioned here, but as they seldom appear in our markets they may be omitted. The loquat or Japanese medlar comes to us sometimes in the natural state, but is much cultivated in the south of France, and forms a considerable item in that excellent preserve of various fruits made at Grasse, which is so commonly introduced at luncheons on the Riviera. The guava also is known to us chiefly in the form of that delicious jelly which has for more than a century formed one of the exports of India.