I have on a former occasion alluded to the wonderful progress of pomology in our day, and I deem it proper, although at the risk of repeating previous statements, to erect, as it were, some landmarks by which we and those who come after us can measure its advancement. With all the boasted civilisation of Greece and Rome, we are far in advance of their highest standard in all that tends to the real comforts of life and the elevation of our race. The science of pomology forms no exception to this remark; indeed, the improvement since the time of Pliny and Columella is infinite. From the fall of the Roman Empire to the close of the seventeenth eontury, it is true, we know but little of its progress; for this, like all other arts and sciences, was hidden by the darkness which enveloped the ages during so large a part of these years. Pomology, like other refined pursuits, found an asylum in the only sanctuary then known for the arts of peace - the monastery. In these quiet retreats were cultivated and perfected the best varieties of fruits; and doubtless some which they have transmitted to us have been produced from seed under their patient care and nurture.

Although the records of pomology during these years are but few, still we may glean some idea of the manner in which the art was preserved, from incidental notices, from the old trees still found growing amidst the remains of these institutions, and from the new and fine varieties whose origin is traced to them, and whose names they often bear. Nor do we doubt that the Grape, now exciting so much attention, received especial care, not only for the rich clusters which crowned the dessert, but also for the "wine which maketh glad the heart of man".

But how meagre the list of good fruits which have been handed down from them when compared with those of later times! If any of the Pears of Roman origin yet remain, they are only to be found among the cooking varieties, or else they are so dry, coarse, and inferior, as to merit a place only in the pages of the writers of two centuries ago. Now we have collections consisting of ten to fifteen hundred varieties, among which are many embracing in the highest degree all the characteristics of size, beauty, flavour, and form, which constitute a perfect fruit; and instead of fruits confined to a short period of use, the art of the cultivator has extended the season of maturity over the greater portion of the year. Think what Governor Endicott of Salem or Governor Stuyvesant of New York would have said, if they had been told that their example in the first planting of a single Pear-tree would be multiplied into thousands of orchards, and that, instead of a few Pears for the summer season, every month in the year would be supplied with its appropriate sort; or what was then considered an aristocratic tree, to be trained and nursed only in the gardens of the opulent, should be planted in orchards of five or more thousands of a single variety, and be enjoyed by the Western pioneers as well as by the Eastern magistrates!

How would the soul of the generous Peregrine White, of Pilgrim memory, have swelled with joy had he known that, in a little more than two centuries from the time of planting his Apple-tree at Plymouth, this fruit would become almost an article of daily food; or that his orchard of one tree would be magnified into orchards of twenty thousand or more trees of a single variety, as in the case of Mr Pell's Newtown Pippin! And although it is recorded, some years after, that Governor Winthrop had a good store of Pippins in his garden, yet neither of these gentlemen could have foreseen the influence of their example in New England, to say nothing of the three counties of Western New York, then and for more than a hundred and fifty years afterwards a wilderness, from which there have been sent annually to market five hundred thousand barrels of Apples, in addition to what were retained at home for consumption; or the new orchards of our youthful State of Nebraska, some of which contain seven thousand trees, mostly in bearing at the age of six or eight years; or the other millions of trees planted, sufficient to regale the appetites of every man, woman, and child in the United States with their fruit.

What would the Csesars, with all their luxuries, have thought of their half-formed mongrel Peaches, so deleterious to health, when compared with the delicious varieties into which they have been developed by the hand of skill, guiding and assisting Nature in her efforts for improvement, so that in many parts of our country they are almost spontaneously produced; a fine variety being secured merely by planting the stones, without the trouble of budding or grafting? Or what would De la Quintiney, that skilful gardener of Louis XIV., have thought, when comparing the products of the world-renowned Peach-gardens of Montreuil with the immense quantities raised in our Southern, Western, and Middle States, especially the latter; from whence are brought to New York - not to speak of other great markets - between one and a hundred car-loads, besides those received by steamboats and other sources, daily; making an aggregate of from eighty to one hundred thousand bushels of this delicious fruit - affording in number more than two Peaches to every inhabitant of that great city!

But what shall be said of the Grape? The only two varieties generally cultivated in our northern gardens twenty-five years ago were the Isabella and Cat awba. "What would Mrs Isabella Gibbs and Mr John Adlum, to whom we are so much indebted for the inti-oduction of these varieties, have said, if they could have realised that within less than fifty years the cultivation of the Grape would be extended almost over our whole Union? that, in addition to these, we should have numerous varieties adapted to every section of our country; that millions of Vines would be planted on our hill-sides and the banks of our Western lakes and rivers; that wild and waste lands would be converted into smiling vineyards, rivalling in luxuriance and abundant product the Vine-clad hills of Europe; that Vines would be sold for a few cents each, thus enabling the humblest cottager to sit beneath its shade, enjoy a fragrance richer than the Rose, and pluck for the wife and weans the purple clusters from his own Vine, or from the ripe berries if he choose, "crush the sweet poison of misused wine "? Surely, even the sanguine Nicholas Longworth, the great American pioneer of Vine-culture - all honour to his memory - could not have predicted that, within half a century, the manufacture of this juice would exceed in a single State more than five millions of gallons per year.