ED. Western Horticulturist: - Winter is here earlier than usual by fifteen days, having set in October 22, though it is possible this snow may leave before more comes, and let us have some good weather yet. But early as is the Fame use, fruit trees were better ripened than usual at the set-in of winter, and so of all trees; never saw the leaves dropped so clean. But notwithstanding the well ripened condition of trees, the most of varieties were more or less injured last winter and not entirely recovered in color of wood, so that should the coming winter be as hard as the past one, the partially tender trees would fare bad, as it would take less now to kill them than it did a year ago to damage them.

Up to last winter there were many kinds that bid fair to do well, but are on the rejected list to-day, I fear condemned too soon, as another such a winter may not occur in the next hundred years; certain it is, its equal heretofore was unknown; yet it may be repeated and that immediately, and even frequently in the future, as effect never comes without a cause, and that cause may yet exist and continue a space of time. We know not the end, so that in planting, the most hardy should be selected as the main reliance; the partially tender set more sparingly, but not rejected entirely.

Though the past winter was a hard one, yet the blight of the last of May and first of September did us more damage than the winter, and took hardest on those that the winter least affected. The blight took earlier and later than ever before, and scarce any at the usual time of previous attacks of the epidemic, for such I esteem it to be, as much so as the cholera, of which it is only a forerunner, now on its third trip around the world.

I have no fears that the blight will tarry long with us, nor do I fear for the ultimate success of fruit growing here, though the last winter may repeat itself as early and as often as it may; for we have some varieties so positively hardy that the last winter left them as sound as if no frost had touched them. Especially was this the case with our new stock of seedlings, grown from the seed of the Duchess, Wealthy, and a large crab of our growing, the most hardy and perfect in tree of any apple or crab I have yet seen, its seedlings excepted. Our famous crab tree is surrounded by large good varieties, mostly Blue Pearmains, of which cross many of the seedlings partake in tree and foliage, and no doubt will in fruit, but none yet fruited; but seedlings from the Duchess, Wealthy, and a few from the Cherry crab that have fruited correspond in fruit to the general appearance of tree-crabs and apples having come from the seeds of each. Of those seedlings we have some 500 set in orchard and some 1,500 yet to set, three-fourths of which prove perfectly hardy, so that our chance for something good as well as hardy is hopeful, to say the least.

For with only about thirty yet in bearing from our own growing of seed, the Transcendent and Hislop are left far in the rear in size, brilliancy and flavor, some of them rating as good apples, the crab brilliancy, in a superlative degree, added. The winter and the blight caused us great loss, but in time will come up again better than before ; will in a few years be able to exhibit a thousand varieties of our own origin, aside from hundreds of varieties now on trial, the best from all parts the Union. Our motto is onward; our practice at each reverse, to double the effort for the next trial; and as time develops our best seedlings, or others that are worthy, will mass the best and strike out on their seedlings, to grow yet still better, and so on, till our race is run.