January, the infant month of the new year, gave us rather a cold salute at his advent, when we hailed his approach at the first dawning morn of 1860; rough, angry winds wailed and howled around our dwelling, as if chanting the requiem of the departed hours of '59; and, with the mercury at 38 deg. below zero, all hands were kept busy piling the fuel into our stoves, and rubbing our aching fingers; but in a short time the wailing ceased, and the sun, which had risen fair and bright, seemed inclined to smile upon the new-born year. In forty-eight hours the mercury had risen to 10 dig. above zero, and Nature's pulse began to beat with a more healthy action.

This depression of temperature has, so far as I can learn, destroyed not only the peaches, but the peach-trees. Apples, I think, are not injured. Other fruit-trees are so scarce, that I have had no opportunity of observing the effect on them.

A fine young catalpa tree, a seedling of last year, planted for ornamental use, had, we supposed, of course gone; but at this time (May 12th) it is again in full leaf, and looks bright and healthy. A locust grove, sown on the 27th of May last, and which had attained an average height of something like 3 1/2 or 4 feet, proves to be but very slightly injured. There was a very light fall of snow in January, which remained on the ground for some time.

February was a mild month for this region, the lowest fall of the mercury being 2 degrees above zero. The whole winter and early spring have been, it is said, with the exception of a few days in December and January, the mildest and dryest ever known in Iowa.

March, boisterous March, seemed to forget his blustering character this season, and showed only once or twice a frowning face during the whole thirty-one days. Indeed, we had less wind in March than in almost any other month for a year past, and the sun shined, most of the time, clear and warm. The mean temperature of the month was 55 1/2 degrees Fahrenheitthe extremes 28 to 80.

On the 10th inst. grass began to show itself quite fresh and green on damp grounds, or wherever it had been burnt over late in autumn. Farmers were busily engaged in plowing, and sowing the cereal grains, and showed much hope and animation, notwithstanding their large cribs of corn remained unsold, and it was bringing in market only 12 to 15 cts. per. bushel, and at some places but a dime.

If we only had railroads to wheel it way into your Eastern markets, then, indeed, they might look up and work on with brave hearts. They still hope, however, "for the better time a-cumin:' yet hope, with fear that that 'better time is far in the future.

On the 30th, the leaf buds of the wild rose, walnut, cotton-woodr Ac, were much swollen, and began to show signs of expansion. Cowslips (Caltha palustris) had leaves more than an inch in circumference; and all vegetation was at least a month more advanced than at the same date last year.

The first flower which I saw this year was one of the Caltha, mentioned above, and appeared on the 4th of April. This was followed in succession by Viola delphinafolia and Pedicular is Canadensis, on the prairie; Anemone nemerosa, Olaytonia Virginica, Sanguinaria Canadensis, Ribes rotundifolium, Ribes rigens, and Lysimachia Herbemonti or heterophylla, in the wood land; Astragalus obcordata, Phlox divaricata, and Hypoxia graminea, on the prairie; the last two of which are quite pretty, very abundant, and worthy of cultivation. Of the H. graminea (Nat. order Amaryllidaceee), there are three colors, blue, white, and yellow. It mingles everywhere with the up-springing grass, and, together with the Viola delphinafolia, clothes the early prairie sod with a mass of tiny, delicate bloom, which, dotted here and there with the graceful Phlox, is quite charming to the beholder. In the forest, during this month, the elm, the willow, the cotton-wood, (Populus angulata,) the hickories, (Carya alba and C. sulcata,) etc., hung out their drooping tassels, and the soft maple (Acer rubrum) spread its crimson umbels.

But the "April showers," which, as the old saying goes, " bring forth May flowers," were wafted around us to the right and to the left, in their air-borne cars, and gave us scarce a drop to refresh the thirsty fields, or expand the drooping flower-cups. Strong, disagreeable winds blew almost constantly; the roads were dry and dusty, as in mid-summer, and the mean temperature of the atmosphere lower than in March; although we had a few very hot days in which the mercury stood at 83 degrees; but the month closed with a temperature below the freezing point, and ice half an inch thick in standing water.

The sudden changes and extremes of temperature, which often occur in a few hours, together with the almost constant high winds, which frequently swell to a gale, are the chief objections to living in Iowa. My table of temperature, from which I make extracts, reads thus: May 1st, sunrise, 30 degrees (viz., 2 deg. below the freezing point,) face of the sky fair, wind north.

May 2d, at 3 o'clock, 86 degrees; fair, wind south.

May 3d, at sunrise it was 60 degrees, and at 3 o'clock P. M., 89 degrees; fair, wind south-east. For the next two days it continued to range between 60 and 86 degrees. On the 5th, the evening observation at 8 o'clock 20 min. stands at 81 degrees; wind still south-east, but the face of the sky is clouded; the thunder rolls and mutters in the distance, and the hearty exclamation of every one is, " I hope we are going to get rain now!" We go to rest with bright visions of fresh green fields of grass and grain, and trees and flowers stretching upward, their bright leaves dancing with exhilaration, produced by quaffing largely from " the bottles of the sky." But we are soon aroused from our slumbers by a terrible storm of wind, which roars and surges like many mighty waters, and our house, trembling to its foundation, seems more like the hulk of a vessel at the mercy of an angry sea, than like a quiet landman's home. The clock is striking twelve. Hark I there is a terrific crash 1 Women shriek; children cry with fear; and men, springing from their beds, run about in the darkness.

I too, starting up, exclaim, "What's happened? what is the matter" But all is confusion, one calling oat, "Strike a light;" others," Get some boards !" "Bring nails I" "Where's the hammer?" and directly one man is seen by the lightning's flash, trying to make a turn around the north-east corner of the house, with some broad boards in his arms; but the wind disputes his right, twists him this way and whirls him that, and it is with much skill in "tacking" that he at length makes his point, and where a window has been blown in, dashing glass and sash to pieces, he applies and makes fast his boards, shutting out the intruding blusterer, and restoring something like a semblance of order to the frightened household. The following morning dawns fair and cool; wind north-west; we have had no rain. But on the 8th inst. the long-wished-for blessing comes. For eight or nine months our wells, springs, and streams have been half dried up for want of rain; and this is the first time since February 22d, that enough has fallen to saturate the soil sufficiently to promote healthy Vegetation.

[Not by any means a pleasant picture of prairie life, Minnie, and not even tolerable, except for the bounties so lavishly bestowed by Nature on the bosom of your beautiful prairies. Why will you not send us a collection of seed of your little pets? - Ed].