_The Peach_--This delicate and excellent fruit is a striking instance of what judicious cultivation may produce. The common almond has always been considered the original stock of this monument of skill and assiduity. The estimation in which it is held, and the care and expense incurred in its cultivation both in forcing-houses and in the open air, is proof of its superiority: and no fruit repays the labour of the attendant, or the expense of the owner, more bountifully than this. Seedlings of this fruit are, if we can credit what is written and said of it, less inclined to depart from the properties or qualities of the parent, than most others of our improved fruits. In America, they are in common and general cultivation. No trouble is bestowed in either layering (which is practicable), or budding them. Sowing a quantity of the stones, they are sure to pick out from among the seedlings as many good sorts as they may wish to cultivate: few of these may be exactly like the parent; some may be superior, but all are passable, especially if the young trees have been selected by a skilful hand; and this he is enabled to do, merely from the appearance of the wood and leaves. Many new sorts have lately been obtained and brought into notice in this country; and this facility of the peach to multiply its varieties will no doubt be taken advantage of by propagators. _The Nectarine_.--This, it is allowed by all writers, is certainly a child of cultivation: there being no wild plant from which it could be derived, except the almond. It is therefore a collateral branch with, or rather of, the peach: of this no better proof can be given, than the circumstance that nectarines are sometimes produced by a peach tree. _The Orange_.--This endless family of fruits it is probable had the small but useful wild lime for its progenitor. The monstrous shaddock, citrons of all shapes and sizes, oranges and lemons, are all varieties, obtained in the course of long cultivation. (_To be concluded in our next_.) * * * * * THE GATHERER. "I am but a Gatherer and disposer of other men's stuff."--_Wotton_. * * * * * TO CHLOE, AT SIXTY. Those teeth, as white as orient pearls Stolen from th' Indian deep, Those locks, whose light and auburn curls Soft on thy shoulders sleep, Expose a woman to the sight None but old friends can know; Thy locks were grey, thy teeth not white, Some twenty years ago. * * * * * Wilkes used to say, that a gentleman did not always require a footman to carry a parcel, for there were three things which he might always carry openly in his hand,--a book, a paper of snuff, and a string of fish. * * * * * HEREDITARY TALENT IN ACTORS. "Families are chequered as in brains, so in bulk."--FULLER.