In 1726, April 27, the venerable Smith remarks, " people generally planting; this month has been wet and Uncomfortable; 'tis generally thought in these parts to be a backward spring. May 20, the peach and apple trees but now begin to blossom." " 1751, May 8, our English cherries did but to-day begin to bloom. 17, they are now in all their gayety of bloom." "1756, May 11, our Heart cherry trees, pear and plums, are blossoming. 19, they are all in their bloom." "July 18, we have had the greatest abundance of cherries that ever we had, perhaps twenty or thirty bushels." " 1759, May 16, the cherry trees are blooming." " 1760, May 10, the Heart cherry trees begin to blossom, earlier than last year, and then earlier than usual." " 1764, May 25, the cherry trees are in full bloom." " 1765, May 14, the cherry blows." " 1766, May 16, our cherry trees begin to blossom." " 1767, May 22, the Heart cherries are in blow." " 1768, May 13, cold still, and the spring unusually backward. 21, thermometer up to 76°; but P. M. sunk 20 degrees; the cherry and damson trees begin to blow." It is a little remarkable, that in 1849, on the same day, 70 years afterwards, the mercury in the morning stood at 76°, and fell before seven in the evening, to 46°, showing a remarkable coincidence.

Such changes are constantly occurring here, the effect, in part, of our sea winds. Again referring to our venerable Annalist, he says; "1770, May 5, English cherries begin to blow." "1771, May 6, the spring is thought to be very forward: May 20, the Heart cherries are all in blossom." Now note how little our feelings and resolutions are to be relied on in these matters; in 1768, he says the spring was unusually backward, and yet the cherry and damson trees began to blow May 21; while in 1771, he says the spring is thought to be very forward, and yet the heart cherries blossomed but one day sooner; and so in 1773, he says, "May 1, the spring is thought to be a month forwarder than usual," and adds, May 12, the Heart cherry and pear trees in blow, and the common cherry and plum trees just upon it. June 15, strawberries plenty." This is at least half a month earlier than the ordinary time for strawberries here at the present day. "1776, May 8, the ground has frozen for three nights back;" and yet he says in June, "hot summer; and in September, "a great product of Indian corn." Another of the seasons that greivously disappoint croakers, occurred in 1777. Mr. Smith says, "May 15, it is agreed to be the coldest weather, and most backward spring that ever was.

June 30, cold, very cold, nothing ever like it through the whole spring, and yet everything is flourishing, perhaps never more so." And to crown all, he adds, Sept. 2, "the earth is burdened with its fruits." What an encouragement is this to a cheerful trust in Providence, who doeth all things well; and what a stern rebuke to the everlasting spirit of fault-finding, which goes on from year to year, in the face of the most cheering facts and results, grumbling and fretting, and vexing itself, until it falls into an untimely grave, never bearing the blossoms and fruit buds of a cheerful and confiding trust in a Being that has assured us that seed time and harvest shall not fail. " I pity the man who can travel from Dan to Beersheba, and cry all is barren".

A few more extracts, that we may follow down the series of years, and confirm the position assumed, of the remarkable uniformity of the seasons. " 1779, May 18, the cherries and plums begin to blow. June 23, at the best." "1785, May 19, the spring is backward, cold and wet; 30, a hot day, which causes the cherry and plum trees to begin to blossom." Now see the result of the backward spring. " July 31, everything is very flourishing, never a better prospect. August 20, happy season".

We have thus run through Mr. Smith's diary of the seasons, dipping here and there, to give a taste of its quality, " duties eat dissifere in loco." Dr. Deane's journal increases the evidence, from which we will add a few notices, although, as the lawyers say, the evidence is merely accumulative. " 1798, May 19, pear and plum trees full of blossoms; 22, apple in full blossom." " 1803, pear blossomed May 21, apple May 26." Another journal adds, "1810, May 14, pear and plum trees blossomed." 1816, May 21 pear trees, currants, and gooseberries are in blow".

Now, passing over the intermediate years, which flow on with a current little varying from the past, we come to the present time, for the purpose of exhibiting the comparison, and will put the facts in the form of a table, showing the period of blossoming of the trees and vines therein mentioned.

This year, the four days of May, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth, the weather was remarkably warm. The mercury rose on the 6th, to 77° - on the 7th, to 83° - 8th, to 80 and 9th, to 75°; it then fell off, and has ranged at a low temperature since, falling as low as 40 and not rising above 65.

These records, passing over a century and a quarter, show the regularity with which nature moves in her plans for the supply of the material wants of man, notwithstanding he is ever complaining of the manner in which she does her work for his benefit and delight. She goes on uniformly and calmly, in her beneficent labor, spreading her beautiful flowers where no mortal eye ever falls upon them, and then maturing the fruit which is to afford him nourishment and gratify his sense - not essentially impeded by what man chooses to call a backward spring, nor overflattered by a sunbeam or an occasional zephyr, so as to lose the great balance which keeps all things moving well. How few days separate the earliest from the latest period on which she puts on her gay and delightsome apparel of flowers, the preceding record clearly reveals; still fewer is the difference between those in which she pours into our lap the ripened harvest. When the whether in spring continues cool, the secret roots and vessels of plants are gathering strength and resources to supply the exhausting processes by which the flowers, and fruits and seeds, are matured; while on the contrary, an early and unseasonable warmth calls upon them for an exhausting effort, before they are prepared to encounter it.

Wm. Willis.

Portland, Mr., May, 22,1852.