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 appear to have had their native place in the East; and among these may be named the apple and the pear. Of both 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, so often adverted to, which calls forth industry and ingenuity, by rewarding their labours. Between the wild crab and 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 Songs, 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 practiced. 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

* Romans, 11th chapter.

gardens, although these delicious fruits are too delicate for open exposure as standards in this northern climate. Both the wild plum and the wild 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.

In tracing the history of fruits, it is remarkable to observe 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 wise 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 boubt. To them, indeed, the pleasure of the palate 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 amimals 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 sense of 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 existence, 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 fragance 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 distinguish, and with so much relish appreciate, all that is exquisite in these diversities. The east, the west, the north, and the south, all furnish new and agreeable means for the gratification of his sense of taste; and in the varied sensations to which these varieties give rise, new departments are opened of commercial activity, discrimination, and enterprise.

That this extensive and curiously varied system of edible vegetation has been constructed for wise purposes we might, à priori, be entitled to conclude, from considering the wisdom which appears in every other department of nature. That its effects are practically useful, and admirably adapted to the circumstances and character of man, will be obvious if we consider what the effect would be of a different system. Let any man for a moment imagine to himself what consequences would arise from the human palate being formed with the obtuseness of that of the brutes. I do not speak of the sensual enjoyment which we would thus lose, for that, to a right constituted mind, is little. The Scottish cottager, in his frugal repast of potatoes or of prepared corn, may feel as much real content, and as substantial a pleasure, as the gourmand, surrounded with all the luxuries of the table. But I refer to the effect that would be produced on the human community. Those who are aware of the workings of society, will scarcely think it too much to say, that had not the nice perceptions of the human palate been bestowed, a vast stimulus to mental and bodily exertion would have been wanting,—which, to say the least, must have most materially interfered with the advancement of mankind in the race of civilization.

The recent transportation of fruits from one region to another, has been very happily employed by Hume to prove the comparatively late origin of the human race, and may certainly serve, though he meant it not, as a collateral argument in favour of the Mosaic history of our globe.

'Lucullus was the first,' observes he,' who brought cherrytrees from Asia into Europe; though that tree thrives so well in many European climates, that it grows in the woods. without any culture. Is it possible that, throughout a whole eternity, no European had ever passed into Asia, and thought of transplanting so delicious a fruit into his own country? Or if the tree was once transplanted and propagated, how could it ever afterwards perish?' He makes a similar remark as to the vines of France, and the corn and animals which have been transplanted within these three centuries to America; and then he adds, all these seem convincing proofs of the youth, or rather infancy, of the world; as being founded on the operation of principles more constant and steady than those by which human society is governed and directed. Nothing less that a total convulsion of the elements will ever destroy all the European animals and vegetables which are now to be found in the Western world.'

This subject cannot be presented with the same precision as the geological inquiries of Cuvier; but, assuredly, the circumstances alluded to have a tendency to confirm his argument in favour of the fact, that the present surface of the earth is not of more ancient origin than the period assigned in the Inspired Volume to the deluge; and thus, the vegetable and animal productions of our globe speak the same language as the soil on which they grow, and raise their united voices to confute the sceptical arguments of the infidel.

FOURTH WEEK-SUNDAY.

SPIRITUAL SOIL.

LEAVING Out of consideration the influence of climate, the growth of vegetables depends partly on the quality of the seed, and partly also on the nature of the soil, and its state of