No man, either in Europe or America, who has any knowledge of the fruit-growing capacities of the United States, entertains the slightest doubt but that we are to be the greatest fruit-growing and fruit-consuming people in the world. Even now, in the very rooming of our national existence, with the stumps of the primeval forests yet standing thick around us in the oldest States, fruit-culture has acquired such an importance as it never has attained on the other side of the Atlantic There, the few grow and consume fruits; here, the million. This is no empty boast, although something to boast of, but a simple truth. In this country there are few tenants; all, or nearly all, are proprietors, and have all the encouragement which belongs to the indisputable ownership of the soil. Added to this, is a vast territory, fertile soil, and a climate varied in such a manner that here we can succeed with one class of fruits, and there with another. Within the present boundaries of these United States, all or nearly all, the fruits cultivated for the use of man can be grown successfully in the open air.

All our experience, up to the present time, teaches us that our success in a great measure depends upon having varieties perfectly adapted to sectional or local circumstances, such as soil, climate, etc. Some varieties admit of a much wider diffusion than others, but none are everywhere successful. This fact is settled pretty well. The great work of the day, is that of ascertaining what varieties are best adapted to certain localities. This is very well, but not enough; knowing what peculiarities our soil and climate require, we must aim at originating varieties possessing those peculiarities. This is a department of labor to which we earnestly commend every cultivator. By sowing the seeds of those varieties which come the nearest to what we want, we stand a great chance to make improvement Our best native fruits are chance seedlings from the best old sorts. In many cases their parentage is obvious. Even in Europe a large number of the new varieties have been obtained from seed of the best old sorts: the family connection is plainly traceable by observing cultivators.

Without following this subject further at present, we will give the views of an eminent cultivator and poroologist, the IIon. Marshall P. Wilder, in his address before the Pomological Society at Boston, on the 13th of September last:

"My next suggestion relates to the production from seed of new varieties of fruits adapted to particular localities, or to general cultivation, "The immense loss to American cultivators, from the importation of foreign varieties, in many instances not well adapted to the countries from which they come, and often still less adapted to our soil and climate, suggests the importance of raising from seed, native sorts which, in most instances, possess peculiar advantages. It is now generally conceded that the trees and plants of a given country, like its aboriginal inhabitants, will flourish better at home than in most foreign localities.

"We rejoice that public attention has been turned to this subject by some of our horticultural journalists, and that many cultivators and amateurs are engaged in this interesting and promising department. The success which has crowned their exertions affords great encouragement to perseverance. Witness, for instance, thirty or more varieties of tie Cherry, by Dr. Kirtland, of Ohio, which appear adapted to our eastern climate, and some of them of superior excellence. Witness the numerous varieties of the Raspberry, by Dr. BriNckle, Ex-President of this Society, of which, some have endured, without covering, the severities of the last winter in the New England States, and which also promise to be valuable contributions to American pomology. In addition to these, how many new varieties of the Apple, the Pear, the Plum, and the Grape have recently been added to the list of American fruits. How many new and excellent varieties of the Strawberry have appeared since the introduction of Mr. Hovey's seedlings.

"These are sure indications of the success which will reward future efforts to obtain valuable and native varieties of fruit; and they point to the fulfilment of the prediction of the celebrated Van Mons, "that the time will come when our beat fruits will be derived from seedlings." He gives the following sage counsel to his correspondents, to whom he had sent trees: "Sow your seed and persevere without interruption, and you will obtain even better fruit than mine"

"Among pioneers in this department, I am happy to notice a gentleman, (now residing among us) the pupil and friend of Van Mons, one who has adopted our country as his future home, and who has already transplanted to our soil many thousand choice seedlings of the Pear which have come into his possession from the collections of that gentleman and the celebrated Ebperen.

"As to the best method of producing fine varieties from seed, the opinions of distinguished pomologists are not uniform.

"Duhamel, among the French, from causes which seem to us irreconcilable with nature and experience, entertained serious doubts of the practicability of any method for obtaining new and valuable varieties from seed, especially of the Fear, because he had tried various experiments without success, for fifty years.

"Dr. Van Mows, of Belgium, instead of saving the seed of the finest varieties, selected those of inferior sorts, upon the principle that a kind having arrived at the highest state of perfection must deteriorate, while an inferior one would improve by successive reproductions. He also held that hybridization tended to degeneracy and imperfection. Thus he assumes the doctrine that a perfect variety necessarily deteriorates, and also overlooks the fact observed by other distinguished men, that the improvement or deterioration of which he speaks, may result from natural impregnation by the pollen of other varieties conveyed by the air or insects, and therefore that the seed of a good variety may produce either a better or a worse, and that of a bad either a worse or a better.