Mr. Editor: In early colonial times Long Island was called the " Garden of America/' and was far-famed for its fertility and productiveness. The settlements on it were made at an early period, on both shores, on the east end and west end of the island, as the beautiful bays and harbors presented desirable places for settlement, and it was these shore settlements that gave to the island its great reputation; and it is a most extraordinary fact, that no great change has been made in the towns, villages, and hamlets since 1683 - or possibly some changes may have been made from that period to 1750. Most men suppose, or it has long been the impression upon the public mind, that the whole island is settled, or that all the land on it that could be cultivated, or can be cultivated, has long been cultivated or occupied. This is the general inference from the fact that it is the oldest settled part of the State of New York, off from the island of New York, and its proximity to the city, and the great facilities which Long Island affords for market But this is a mistake; and it may surprise your readers to know that nearly one-half of the geographical surface of this most beautiful and highly favored island is yet a wilderness, and also to know how vast a " wood-lot" belongs to this old " Garden of America." The great central regions of the island are yet a wilderness - nearly as much so as in the days of the Indians, two hundred years ago; the wild deer yet roam "o'er these valleys and plains." Here, in the middle or central portion of the island, is a vast forest of more than forty miles in length from east to west, and from six to eight miles wide from north to south; and until within a few years there was not a single acre nor rod of cleared land, nor house, nor sign of a human habitation.

A vast, lonely, and desolate wilderness, with no roads through it, or none that would be called roads in any other country, though traversed in every direction by paths or single tracks, just wide enough for a wagon to be drawn through the trees and bushes - they might be called mono-tracks; yet these passages or paths have been used as highways from village to village, from one shore to the other, for one hundred and fifty to two hundred years; and, as a general rule, during this long period of use, no labor or cost of consequence has been required to keep these paths passable. The roads in no other part of the State of New York could be kept passable for the same length of time, and by the same means, for it is, in fact, the finest road-bed that can be found any where. The question is at once asked, Why is it that this great tract of land - for it is land, real " terra firma" - thus remains neglected and unoccupied? Common fame answers, and says, "It is barren, worthless, and can not be cultivated." But this is not true. This great part of the island is geologically and naturally equal to any other portion of it of like extent.

No facts have ever been shown to sustain the old notion of the barrenness and sterility of these neglected island lands; no examination of the land or soil has ever been made; no attempts to cultivate it, nor any part of it, have ever been made; in truth, no test whatever has ever been applied to it to show wherein it differed from all the rest or any other part of the island; and nobody knows of any of these things having ever been done. If so, let the facts be furnished; name the place, the time, and the men who have, by actual trial and test, ever shown the land to be barren. If there be any such men in existence on the island, or ever have been, let their names be given, and let the process be given, and the facts carefully set forth, as performed to test the productive quality of the land; then the public can judge whether the tests and trials have been sufficient to abandon, to throw out of use, and doom to perpetual sterility, more than a quarter of a million of acres of land in the ancient "Garden of America;" land, too, spread out at the very doors of these great cities, New York and Brooklyn, and with a climate for health and pleasure unsurpassed in this latitude.

The late Benjamin F. Thompson, author of the History of Long Island, when asked for the facts upon which that portion of his history was founded, where he described that great central part of the island as "a vast barren plain," said he had none; that he knew of no attempts ever having been made to cultivate any of the land The truth is, it is one vast garden by nature, though now a neglected bramble-field; " briare and thorns cover the face thereof," from long neglect, repeated cuttings of its wood, and by burnings. It was every where covered with a heavy growth of wood or woody products, and is now so densely covered with bushes, grasses, brambles, and young trees, that it is almost impossible for a man to get through it; indeed, he can not walk over large tracks of it out of the old cord-wood roads, or the mono-tracks heretofore described. There are none of the externa attributes or appearances of barrenness or sterility on this great island wilderness. Not as acre of land - scarcely a square rod of land, can be found between Brooklyn and Carman's River, the famous trout stream, a distance of sixty miles, that is not covered with heavy, rank vegetable matter, each acre requiring the removal of from twenty to forty tons of roots to clear it.

No land that contains and sustains such a growth of vegetation and vegetable matter from year to year can be barren, nor possess any attribute of barrenness. The same elements in the soil that will produce such an annual crop of vegetation, in the form of trees, shrubs, grasses, wild fruits, and wild vines, will, when subdued and submitted to the agriculturist and horticulturist, produce wheat and corn, and garden plants of every variety. There are thousands and tens of thousands of acres of the very finest of garden lands in these great tracts now totally wild; around the head waters, and along the borders of those beautiful island streams that rise in these central woodlands, there are hundreds of acres of the finest celery land. The entire surface of the tract between Brooklyn and Yaphank, or Carman's River, is covered with a fine, warm, genial soil, what in any other country would be called a yellow loam, and in its mechanical texture and friability is in the very best possible condition for culture, and to receive plants, seeds, and fertilizers.

None of the land is any more sandy or gravelly than the lands of Flatbush, Flatlands, and Jamaica, Hortus.

Dear Sir:- Being a careful reader of the Horticulturist, and observing that you devote much of your valuable space to the very important subject of Grape culture, I take the liberty of addressing you with the hope of obtaining information on some points connected with that subject.

1 live in Toronto, C. W., and have been for some time endeavoring to produce ripe grapes in the open air, but so far with very little success.

In May, 1869,1 removed the earth from my vines, and nailed them up to a close board fence, ten feet high, facing the south. They were pruned on the " Long Rod" system, had been two years planted, and this (1859) the third season 1 concluded to let them bear a small crop. They broke beautifully, and by the fourth of June had made eight inches of growth, showing a profusion of young bunches. But on the morning of the fifth I found the vines quite destroyed by the frost of the past night. 1 at once cut them back to six inches of the ground, and at first I feared they would bleed to death; but by the first of July they had all thrown out good shoots, and in October I had strong, well-ripened canes ten feet long.

The spring of 1860 was very favorable, and the vines set their fruit well; but on the last day of September none of the bunches of the Isabella or Catawba were ripe, and the frost of that night rendered them quite worthless. I had previously gathered the fruit of some Clintons, which were quite ripe, and made them into wine. These vines were all on the same line of fence, and had every advantage: the border was twelve feet wide; a fine, deep, light loam, well manured, well drained, and hoed four times during the summer, no other crop being planted on it; a constant system of stopping the fruiting shoots was observed.

Now am I to conclude from this result that the Clinton is the only vine suitable to this latitude? It is a very large bearer, but the fruit is small and not fit for any thing but making wine. I should like to try some of the new grapes if I thought I had any prospect of success.

As a rule, Indian corn of all kinds will ripen in our gardens here, but last summer some early Sweet corn which I planted did not ripen a single ear. The season was the coolest I remember, and we had not one sultry night.

Hoping that I have stated my case in an intelligible manner, I remain, yours truly, Toronto, C. W., Feb. 20, 1861. • Alpha.

[We regret that the above, as well as others, should have remained so long unanswered; but for some time past we have been laboring in the midst of a Babel. Your case is very clearly stated. It would seem that every thing in the way of cultivation has been well done; but, with the varieties of grapes you have, the result would have been unsatisfactory if you had lived in a much more genial climate than Canada West. We think we can safely encourage you to go on. The Clinton is nowhere fit for the table. Abandon that, as well as the Isabella and Catawba; the latter is unsuited to your latitude. In their place put the Delaware, Diana, Concord, and Hartford Prolific. We have no doubt they will all ripen their fruit with you; at least with the slight protection we shall soon illustrate in one of our grape articles, which we hope you will read. Do not nail your vines to the fence, but have a space of six inches or a foot between the fence and the vines. We shall be very glad to help you. - Ed,]