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surface of the nectarine on one side, and the downy skin of the peach on the other.

It is not certain in what part of the globe the peach tree was originally produced; for, although we have early accounts of its being brought to Europe from Persia, it does not follow from this, that it was one of the natural productions of that country. Pliny relates that it had been stated to possess venomous qualities, and that its fruit was sent into Egypt, by the Kings of Persia, by way of revenge, to poison the natives; but he treats this story as a mere fable, and considers it the most harmless fruit in the world. He expressly states that it was imported by the Romans from Persia; but whether it was indigenous to that country, or sent thither from a region still nearer the equator, we have no information.

The Apricot is indigenous to Armenia, Caucasus, the Himalayas, China and Japan. It is supposed, however, to have originated in Armenia, but Regnier and Sickler assign it a parallel between the Niger and Mount Atlas. Pallas considers it to be a native of the whole of Caucasus; and Thurberg describes it as a very large, spreading, branchy tree, in Japan.

It is the opinion of some authors that the common Domestic Cultivated Plum, and all its variations, as well as the Bullau Plum, originated from the common sloe of Europe. On this point, botanists do not agree.

The Apricot-like plum (Drap d'or) is thought to be a hybrid between the wild plum and the wild apricot.

The Domestic Cultivated Plum is believed to be indigenous to the south of Russia, Caucasus, the Himalayas, and to many parts of Europe. Falkner makes it a native of Asia, and an introduction, into Europe, of the Crusaders.

The Common Garden Cherry is regar ded by all ancient authors as of Asiatic origin; but whether it is truly indigenous to any part of Europe, modern writers differ in opinion. Pliny states that it did not exist in Italy till after the victory which Lucullus won over Mithri dates, King of Pontus, 68 years. B. C.He tells us that, "in 26 years after Lucullus planted the cherry-tree, in Italy, other lands had cherries, even as far as Britain, beyond the ocean." According to Abbè Rosier, Lucullus brought into

Italy only two superior varieties of cherry; the species which were the origin of all those now in cultivation, being, before his time, indigenous to Italy, and the forests of France, though their fruit was neglected by the Romans. At present, however, the common cherry is no where found in an apparently wild state, in any part of Europe or America, except near human habitations.

The Common Pear is indigenous to Europe, Western Asia, the Himalayas, and to China; but not to Africa nor America. Professor De Candolle describes two forms of the wild species, comparatively permanent, from which all of our cultivated varieties have been derived. The earliest writers mention the pear as growing abundantly in Syria, Egypt and in Greece; and it appears to have been brought into Italy from these places about the time that Sylla made himself master of the last named country, although there is but little doubt that the Romans had several kinds of this fruit long before his time.

Among the trees which Homer describes as forming the orchard of Laertes, the father of Ulysses, we find the pear. Theophrastus speaks of the productiveness of old pear-trees, the truth of which is verified by the trees of the present day. Pliny describes the varieties in cultivation in his time, as being exceedingly numerous, and says that a fermented liquor was made of the expressed juice; and Virgil mentions some pears which he received from Cato. According to Pownell, the pear was imported into Marseilles by the Phocian colonists, sometime during the middle ages.

The cultivated varieties of the common pear succeed both in the temperate and transition zones of the two hemispheres, and it is remarkable that this tree will perfect its fruit within the verge of the tropics, when grown at a proper elevation above the sea, at about the same period of the year as in Europe and the United States.

The common Apple Tree, or some allied species, grows spontaneously in al most every part of the northern hemisphere, except in the torrid and frigid zones, and some of the islands in the ocean. This tree, by itself, or conjointly. with other species or races, is the parent of innumerable varieties and sub-varieties, generally known as 'cultivated apples.'

POETRY.

The Vicar.

Some years ago, ere Time and Taste
Had turn'd our parish topsy-turvy,
When Darnel Park was Darnel Waste,
And roads as little known as scurvy,
The man who lost his way between

St. Mary's Hill and Sandy Thicket,
Was always shown across the Green,
And guided to the Parson's wicket.
Back flew the bolt of lissom lath,..

Fair Margaret, in her tidy kirtle, Led the lorn traveller up the path,

Thro' clean-clipt rows of box and myrtle: And Don and Sancho, Tramp and Tray, Upon the parlor steps collected,

Wagg'd all their tails, and seem'd to say,

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Our master knows you; you're expected."

His sermons never said or show'd

That Earth is foul, that Heaven is gracious, Without refreshment on the road,

From Jerome, or from Athanasius: And sure a righteous zeal inspired

The hand and head that penn'd and plann'd

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He did not think all mischief fair,

Although he had a knack of joking; He did not make himself a hear, Although he had a taste for smoking: And when religious sects ran mad,

He held, in spite of all his learning, That if a man's belief is bad,

It will not be improved by burning.

And he was kind, and lov'd to sit

In the low hut or garnish'd cottage, And praise the farmer's homely wit,

And share the widow's homelier pottage: At his approach complaint grew mild;

And when his hand unbarr'd the shutter, The clammy lips of Fever smiled

The welcome, which they could not utter.

Alack the change! in vain I look

For baunts in which my boyhood trifled; The level lawn, the trickling brook,

The trees I climb'd, the beds I rifled; The church is larger than before;

You reach it by a carriage entry, It holds three hundred people more; And pews are fitted up for gentry. Sit in the Vicar's seat: you'll hear

The doctrine of a gentle Jolinian, Whose hand is white, whose tone is clear, Whose phrase is very Ciceronian. Where is the old man laid?-look down, And construe on the slab before you, Hic Jacet

GULIELMUS BROWN, Vir nulla non donandus laura.

[London Magazine.

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Franklin The Printer, Philosopher and
Patriot.

He called down Lightning from the Sky;
And, e'er the Thunder made reply,
The flash, like inspiration, came,
Heaven's own pure fire through al! his frame:
Not the dread bolt, whose sudden stroke
Prostrates the Tower or rends the Oak;
A touch, a pulse, a spark revealed
A secret from all ages sealed;
One trembling moment, in its flight,
Drew such a train of wondrous light,
That his rapt spirit seemed to pierce
The mystery of the Universe;

And scan the Power, which, like a Soul,
Informs, expands and rules the whole!
God's hidden minister, whose will
All Nature's Elements fulfil.

There standing, when the deed was done,
That victory of Science won,

He planted where his foot had trod
His conquering Spear-the Electric Rod!
A trophy, simple and sublime—
His monument, defying Time.
That was to him a glorious day,
Whose fame can never pass away;
Philosophy had triumphed there,
A nobler Wreath he lived to share;
He lived, a brighter day to see-
His country by the PRESS made free!
[James Montgomery.

French Proverbs, Bon mots, &c.—

17. Voulez-vous ne jamais éprouver de résistance? faites-vous une réputation d'irrésistible.

18. Un homme d'esprit peut faire autant.de sottises avec de l'argent qu'un sot peut faire d'argent avec sa sottise.

Translation of French Proverbs, &c., p. 368. 15. Where the eyes are, there is the heart. People turn their eyes away from what they' do not like. A look is therefore almost always a mark of sympathy, good will or love.

16. Grammarians, moralists and rhetori-` cians are like guide-posts at cross-roads: they show others the road which they cannot follow.

THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE, AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER; With numerous Engravings. Edited by Theodore Dwight.

Is published weekly, at the office of the New York Express, No. 112 Broadway, at 4 cents a number, or, to subscribers paying in advance, $2 a year. 7 sets for $10. Monthly, in covered pamphlets, at same price." Rare seeds sent to Subscribers.

Postmasters are authorized to remit money, and are requested to act as agents.

Enclose a Two Dollar Bill, without payment of postage, and the work will be sent for the year.

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wholly of stone and mortar. The basement consists of small arched rooms and passages, appropriated to the deposit of fuel, the heating furnaces and other purposes, with walls of such thickness as to afford sufficient support to the spacious floor above, and to the partitions and columns which sustain the upper stories. The dimensions of the edifice are as follows: the length is 200 ft., the breadth 90 ft., and the height, 80 ft.

The whole central part of the building is devoted to the grand rotunda. The eight columns on the south, or principal front, are 5 feet, 8 inches in diameter, and 32 feet high. The dome has sixteen Corinthian columns, thirty feet in height, upon which rests this beautiful dome which is seen in the print, rising above the roof. The hall is 60 feet in diameter, and has recesses extending to 20 ft. more. This fine hall has an admirable air of lightness and fine proportions, and affords one of the best specimens, in the western continent, of the incomparable effect of the Grecian style. It is true that the view of the architecture is somewhat interfered with, by the arrangements and occupations of business. Along the noble circle, which sweeps at the bases of the columns, is a range of desks, over which, in business-hours, are seen the heads of numerous clerks, with fixed eyes and busy pens; while crowds of others, with merchants, supercargoes, seamen and travellers, form a dark row in their front, waiting their turns to enter or clear their cargoes, cases or trunks. At the same time, the intermediate space, ample as it is, is partly occupied, and sometimes thickly too, by persons and parties in more active motion; while a hum of many voices arises to the lofty dome above, mingling the language of Europe and sometimes those of Asia. This whole scene is freely lighted by the large windows on both sides, and by the skylight above, and presenting, it is true, a spectacle not much resembling those to which the Grecian edifices of antiquity were devoted, but one appropriate to the emporium of the western continent in our times.

The site occupied by the New York Custom House is that where stood the building so conspicuous in the last century under the name of Federal Hall, which was the place of many public meetings, and particularly of the sessions of

the Continental Congress held in this city, and was especially interesting on account of the ceremony of inaugurating Gen. Washington, as first President of the United States.

It was occupied by some of the principal booksellers, of the city, about a quarter of a century ago; and since then has served a variety of purposes, previously to its selection from that to which it is now appropriated. For a considerable time subsequently to the settlement of New York by the Dutch, Wall street was the northern limit of the inhabited ground occupied by the colony; and was guarded by a barrier, whose name is preserved to the present day.

The Mormons.

From sources having favorable opportunities of acquiring information, we have received late acccounts as to the present condition, prospects and probable actions of these people. The followers of this delusion are drawn from every portion of our widely extended country, and thousands of our citizens in every State of the Union, being connected with them by consanguinity, sympathise with them in their forlornness and destitution, who would willingly win them back from following the career of those who rule this sect. In this view, their movements become interesting; and, as journalists, we shall at all times give full details of whatever comes to our knowledge concerning them.

As the public are already aware, the head-quarters of this sect, for some time past, have been at the camp of the

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Twelve," near Council Bluffs, west of the Missouri river, in the Indian territory. In this locality about four thousand remained during the past winter; while the remainder of those who left Illinois, and who did not disperse over the country, amounting to some ten or twelve thousand, are scattered along in a due west line from Nauvoo to the Missouri river-principally in settlements upon the head waters of Grand river, the Little Platte, and the streams of the Isnabotany, in the territory lately ceded to the United States by the Pottawattomies. The main body of them are about forty miles east of the Bluffs, which, being well timbered, enable them to prepare for the rigors of the past winter. It is the intention of the whole of them to gather at

the Bluffs as fast as they can, with the bona fide design of removing to Califor nia-as many crossing the mountains each season as can possibly be prepared for the journey.

Last year they founded two principal stoppings in Iowa, immediately west of the bounty of Appanoosa, where large numbers of them congregated who had no means of proceeding farther. At each of these places (known as Garden Grove and Mount Pisgah) they put in crops. Those who occupied these points last season are to remove one stage farther west this spring, (perhaps to the Bluffs) and their improvements are to be taken possession of by the remnant who left Illinois late last fall, and have been scattered in the frontier settlements of Missouri and Iowa. They intend farming largely at the Bluffs this season, in order to fit out a large number to emigrate to California next spring.

In April last the leaders of the church, with a pioneer crop of three hundred men, well provided with seeds and utensils for farming, started for the Pacific. Their intention is to proceed as far as possible up to planting time, when they will stop and commence a crop. The leaders will make but a short delay at this point, and will proceed over into California and communicate with or join the disbanded forces of the "Mormon Battalion," whose period of service will expire on the first of July next. With these they will select a locality as a focus for immigration, and make such provision for the arrival of their friends as may seem to them best under the circumstances.

The pioneers which left the Bluffs were expected to cross the mountains and reach Bear River Valley in time to plant. In this, we think, they will be disappointed. The whole of that region is too sterile for cultivation, with the exception of a small valley, within about. twenty miles of the mouth of Bear river, where it empties into the Salt Lake, known by trappers as Cache valley, where they usually wintered when trapping was pursued in that vicinity. We think this point too remote to reach in time for planting this season.

About the first of next month, between, one and two hundred families, carrying with them eighteen months outfit of provisions, &c., with a train of over four hundred wagons, will start to cross the

mountains-some to overtake and remain with the pioneers, and others to proceed to the end of their journey as they may severally be able.

They will send, at least, one thousand souls west of the mountains, this season, destined to center in California. These, with some hundreds who have reached there by sea, together with near five hundred of their battalion,' will, within a few months, make them quite an integral portion of the limited population of California. Not more than three or four years can elapse, if they continue their emigrating system, (and they are sure to do that,) before these people will treble if not quadruple the entire population of that territory. At this time they are making strenuous exertions in England; and from that quarter they have reason to expect, this season, not only considerable pecuniary assistance, but a large number of families. And what will give them a greater preponderance there is, that from their former character, their social and political ascendancy will be dreaded, and the tide of every other class of emigration will be diverted to higher latitudes, where there will be no commingling or juxtaposition.

That their social and political characteristics will be stamped upon the future condition and history of California we believe to be certain; and, we fear, in such colors as will not cause the bosom of philanthropy to rejoice, or show a progress in the moral elevation of the present era. Industry they undoubtedly have, and they possess within themselves all the elements to make any community prosperous; but they are imbued with dogmas which deeply affect their social and domestic condition; we fear rumor does not slander them in this. Some philanthropists, have much faith in the conservative virtues of human nature; and we hope that in their case better and more correct influences may yet prevail in their midst. In whatever light we may view them, their intended position will give them an enlarged influence on the Pacific, visible to the world at large, and they are destined to become a people of more or less interest.-St. Louis Republican.

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