Next to their apples their pears deserve notice; but, though better than ours, they are not superior to those produced in France. The quantity of fruit, however, is certainly great, for the peaches are standard and grown in orchards; but they are quite uncultivated, and the greater part that we met with were hardly fit to eat. They are, notwithstanding, very proud of their fruit, especially of these said peaches and of their grapes, which, to our minds, were just as objectionable productions. There is one kind called the Isabella, which we thought most disagreeable to eat, for the moment the skin is broken by the teeth and the grape squeezed the whole inner part pops out in a solid mass into the mouth. We are past the season of wild flowers; but these must make the country very beautiful in the early spring, to judge from the profusion of rhododendron and other shrubs, which were most luxuriant, especially where we crossed the Alleghanies and along the banks of the Connecticut. To return, however, to our drive. After visiting these villas we passed a great number of charitable institutions for the relief of the poor, who are remarkably well looked after in this country. One of these institutions was the Reformatory, a large building, where young boys are sent at whatever age they may prove delinquents, and are kept and well educated till they are twenty-one. But the grand mode in which the state provides against crime of all kinds is the system of education for all classes. I have said we went under Mr. King's guidance to see the common schools of Cincinnati. These are divided into three classes, called the district schools, the intermediate schools, and the high schools; we went through each grade, and were much pleased with the proficiency of the pupils. The examinations they went through in mental arithmetic were very remarkable, and the questions put to the boys of the intermediate class, who were generally from eleven to thirteen years old, were answered in a very creditable manner.