There is, unhappily, a very serious objection to cultivating fruit in our villages and suburban gardens; fruit-stealing is a common crime in most parts of this country, and the standard of principle on such subjects is as low as it well can be in our rural communities. Property of this kind is almost without protection among us: there are, to be sure, laws on the subject, but these are seldom or never enforced; and of course people are not willing to throw away money and time and thought to raise fruit for those who might easily raise it for themselves, if they would take the pains to do bo. There can be no doubt that this state of things is a very serious obstacle to the cultivation of choice fruit in our villages and towns. Horticulture would be in a much higher condition in this country, if it were not for this evil. But the impunity with which boys, and men too, are allowed to commit thefts of this kind is really, to say the least, a painful picture, for it must inevitably lead to the increase of a spirit of dishonesty throughout the country.

It is the same case with flowers; many people seem to consider them as public property, though cultivated at private expense. It was but a short time since that we saw a little girl, one of the Sunday-scholars, put her hand within the railing of a garden and break off several fine plants, whose growth the owner had probably been watching with care and interest for many weeks, and which had just opened to reward his pains.

Another instance of the same kind, but still more flagrant, was observed last summer: the offender was a full-grown man, dressed in fine broadcloth, too, and evidently a stranger; he passed before a pretty yard, gay with flowers, with wh\ch our beautiful city of Poughkeepsie abounds, and, unchecked by a single scruple of good manners or good morals, proceeded to make up a handsome bouquet, without so much as saying "by your leave " to the owner. Having selected the flowers most to his fancy, he arranged them tastefully, and then walked off with a free and jaunty air, and with an expression of satisfaction and self-complacency truly ridiculous under the circumstances. He made up his nosegay with so much pains, eyed it so tenderly as he carried it before him, and moved along with such a very mincing and dainty manner, that he was probably on his way to present himself and his stolen trophy to his sweetheart; and we can only hope that he met with such a reception as was deserved by a man who had been committing petty larceny.

As if to make the chapter complete, the very same afternoon, the city being full of strangers, we saw several young girls, elegantly flounced and crinolined, put their tiny hands through the paling of another garden, facing the street, and help themselves in the same easy manner to their neighbor's prettiest flowers. What would they have thought if some one had stepped np with a pair of scissors, and cut off a yard or so from the ribbon on their hats, merely because it was pretty, and one had a fancy for it? Neither the little girl in crinoline, nor the stranger in broadcloth, seemed to have learned at common-school, or at Sunday-school, or even at home, that respect for the pleasure of others is simply good manners, regard for the rights of others, and common honesty.

No one who had a flower-border of his own would be likely offend in this way - he would not do so unwittingly, at least; and, if guilty of such an act, it would be premeditated pilfering. When people take pains to cultivate fruits and flowers themselves, they have some idea of their value, which can only be justly measured by the owner's regard for them. And then, moreover, gardening is a civilizing and improving occupation in itself; its influences are all beneficial; it usually makes people more industrious and more amiable. Persuade a careless, indolent man to take an interest in his garden, and his reform has begun. Let an idle woman honestly watch over her flower-beds, and she will naturally become more active. The occupation itself is so engaging, that one commences readily, and the interest increases so naturally, that no great share of perseverance is needed to continue the employment; and thus labor becomes a pleasure, and the dangerous habit of idleness is checked. Of all faults of character, there is not one, perhaps, depending so entirely upon habit as indolence; and nowhere can one learn a lesson of order and diligence more prettily and more pleasantly than from a flower-garden.

Horticulture is not carried on upon a great scale anywhere in this country. We regret that this should be so. A large garden, where taste and knowledge have full scope, is indeed a noble work, full of instruction and delight. The rare trees and plants, brought with toil, and cost, and patience from distant regions; the rich variety of fruits and vegetables; the charming array of flowers, are among the most precious and the most graceful trophies of commerce, and industry, and adventure. Such gardens are, whether public or private, always desirable in a neighborhood. They are among the best gifts of wealth, and scatter abroad too many benefits to deserve the doubtful name of luxury. If we have none near enough to bring good to our own neighborhood, it is at least pleasant to remember that other communities are more fortunate than ourselves. When one can not enjoy some particular good thing one's self, a very little charity, and a very little philosophy, lead one to be glad, at least, that others may profit by it.

A very striking proof of the civilizing effect of large gardens may be seen in the great towns on the continent of Europe. In those old countries, where grounds of this kind have been more or less open to the public for generations, the privilege is never abused by any disgraceful act. The flowers, the fruit, the trees, the statuary, remain untouched, uninjured, year after year; it never seems to occur to the most reckless and abandoned to injure them. The general population of those towns is, in many respects, inferior to our own: but, in this particular point, their tone of civilization rises far above the level of this country.

Pilfering fruit, or destroying the flowers of neighbors, is, to say the least, a disgraceful act: and yet it is quite common in our cities and villages. We suffer from it every season. It is the result, in most cases, we think, of thoughtlessness, and the bad example of older persons, Our Horticultural Club was formed with a view to the mutual protection of our fruit - to detect and punish all trespassers and pilferers - and so far it has had a salutary effect.

[Mr.Bement's article is timely. The evil of fruit-stealing is one of great magnitude in the United States, and is yearly increasing. It deters a great many from growing fruit, either for profit or pleasure. We have a friend who destroyed a beautiful young orchard rather than submit to the robbery of his fine pears. We have laws against fruit-stealing in New York, but they are never enforced; a few examples, we think, would have a salutary influence. Our chief reliance for the abatement of the evil, however, must be the creation of a moral feeling which shall regard fruit-stealing with the same horror as stealing bank notes: there is really no moral difference between them, and both should be punished alike. The "nice young man" alluded to by Mr. Bement we hand over to reprobation; but what shall we say of the girls? Sunday-school girls, too ! Surely, Mr. Bement, you did not sec girls we can not write the word; we think too much of the girls to believe such things of them. We hope Mr. Bement was mistaken; his eyes must have deceived him; or, at most, he saw a ghost! Was it not so, Mr. Bement? - Ed].