Mr. Editor - Dear Sir: As you have incidentally touched, in the last volume, upon a most important topic - the railroad as a transporter - permit a horticultural correspondent to say a few words respecting its influence in a social point of view.

A good domestic joke used to be in vogue in my neighborhood. A home-body in Newport, R. I., once made a trip as far as Salem, Mass., and ever after descanted on the benefits of travel as a means of enlarging the mind! He did not venture as far as we do in these days, but felt an influence ever after. Everybody now expands, if not their minds, at least their travel, some cause or other moving thereto, till the number of people in motion every day in this Union would make a very respectable army to subdue the Russians at Sebastopol.

What motives call so many people from home I shall not endeavor to inquire; nor shall I condemn any, for I confess I travel hundreds of miles myself for no other object than to see a good garden, nursery, or state or county fair. A few observations, which, if you publish, I shall consider you indorse, may safely be intrusted to your discretion.

Attention is so much directed to the profits of railroads, that it is to be feared the Americans are losing sight of some of the most important points in their conduct. Daring the month of October I travelled over nearly three thousand miles of railroad, principally in the West. I came to the conclusion that, for a beginning, the system was wonderful; but I also am confident that, if a few leading and simple errors in their management were corrected, the public, no less than the stockholders, would benefit greatly, for with the present want of accommodations, I cannot but believe pleasure travellers are comparatively few; if the system were more perfect, this class would so add to the throng of those who travel for business objects, as greatly to enlarge the sources of profit.* Let us see how it is at present.

* It must be confessed that the experiment of railroads as a stock investment has proved a failure. England has lost five hundred millions of dollars in this species of property, and the last semi-annual exhibit reveals a less satisfactory state of things than any before. New England has lost over a hundred millions in the same class of investments; each succeeding year's, and even month's, returns showing a change only for the worse. Scarcely a dozen of her hundred roads now pay regular dividends, and but a solitary one commands a premium in market for its shares. Of the roads in the Middle States, the account is but a trifle more favorable. In the three rich and populous States of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, at least one hundred millions more have been sunk, and the tendency is still downward. At the South, the state of things is no better; and the West, except in some favored localities, shows roads quite as unprofitable and unsalable as in any other part of the country. Gradually, slowly, but surely, is the mighty network of iron, inaugurated but a few years ago with such magnificent prospects, with steam-horse and flashing equipage, and confident hopes of boundless and endless profits, wearing and fading away, and losing its hold upon the public regard. - Exchange paper, [All this state of things might be greatly improved by giving a little more inducement to travel. - Ed].

Beyond the mountains I found no car with high-backed Beats to support the head, though all of them nearly are employed for night travel. One scene will suffice to describe the state of discomfort which exists with more or less force every night from the seaboard to the Mississippi; and I will give it exactly, and without the least exaggeration, as I experienced its inconveniences, to use a mild term. A fatiguing day's ride was succeeded by a chilly night, and our party was compelled, to make certain connections, to take a night train. It consisted of three cars,of sixty passengers each; every seat was filled, and to prevent danger, as was alleged by the conductor, each back door was locked. A wood fire was made at starting, two poor lamps were lighted, and we all settled down to enjoy a night's "rest" as best we could. Most of us fell asleep, but wakefulness on my part induced watchfulness; very soon the car became insufferably warm and close, inducing sounder sleep on the part of most. The back door could not be opened. and the windows swelled so much with the moist breath of the sleepers, or were deranged by age, that they too became immovable; the front door admitted such a rush of cold air that the sitters near declared they should die if it were opened.

The conductor admitted that the circular ventilators in the top were out of order, and that there was no remedy!

I bore this as patiently as the others, only slightly remonstrating, when I was informed the scene was nothing more than usual. At twelve o'clock the two miserable lamps simultaneously went out, just after a fire had been made up. The smoke from the lard pervaded everything; the stove got red hot and the conductor disappeared into another car. When the stench from the smoking lamps, the heat from the stove, and the influence of so many breathers were concentrated, you may imagine the condition of those so unfortunate as to be awake! At the next stop the conductor entered, and attempted in vain, by the burning of a great number of the most offensive kind of sulphur matches, to enlighten us; he opened no window or door! Need I say that when daylight exhibited us to each other, we were a sorry sight; the women were yellow and pale, and looked like hospital cases; the children were cross and unhappy; I was - what shall I say? - distressed for my companions no less than for myself, mortified at this phase of our civilization, and determined to address the controllers of our comfort in this public manner.

If managers consult their pockets, this system will not do; as you say, all who can will stay at home, while, if everything were made comfortable, all who could would travel. Calculate the difference of receipts!

One other crying evil, that cannot long remain unremedied. The roads rent their eating saloons at a high rate to parties who supply meals (mostly at truly inconvenient hours.) This high rent obliges them to study the utmost economy of supply; the result is, in thousands of instances, improper, insufficient, and unwholesome food. The butter, throughout the fertile West, at these eating stations, is often such as is used in the West Indies; the sugar, the tea, the coffee, is of the worst description, while the time allowed to partake is often too short, rendering the profit to the vender beyond calculation.

Now, Mr. Editor, this is all wrong. In a social point of view, it is highly important that our people should travel, and mix, and see each other. No one does so without an expansion of mind; I am sorry to say, few do so without imminent risk of health, to say nothing of those accidents which are constantly recorded, but of which the majority are never publicly known.

If it were not the interest of the companies to remedy these things, we might well despair. It can be demonstrated, that it will be cheaper to make some arrangement for sleepers than to place passengers in uncomfortable attitudes for a long night; because more will travel, and more will pay. A car without ventilators should be indicted; a director, above the conductor in authority, should travel the roads, and see how things are managed. The press must be brought to bear upon this subject, or we shall have to give up travelling for pleasure.

[We indorse our correspondent's general statements with regret, and have, in publishing his communication, no other object than mutual benefit to the public and the railroads. We witnessed a night scene in every respect the counterpart of the one he describes. Further, we saw a conductor between Cincinnati and Columbus, on the slightest inspection of the ticket of a foreign gentleman of fortune and position, order him in a brutal manner to get into the emigrant train; a remonstrance produced an examination, when the ticket was found to be for the first class. At the Columbus station, we saw in the night an invalid beg to be allowed to purchase a glass of milk, the only thing he could take; though a pitcherful was on the counter, this was denied; and on the remark of a bystander that it was remarkable in so fine a milk country no milk could be purchased, he insolently observed, "That is my way of doing business." So easy would it be to make the slight required reforms, that we feel it to be a public duty to record our experience and opinion. There must, too, at length be some accommodation for invalids; a small car, furnished with comfortable sittings, etc., could be rented daily so as to pay for itself in a very short time.

We have so much confidence in the good sense of our people as to feel assured the reforms will ultimately come; would that our humble efforts might hasten them. - Ed].

Railroads In A Social Point Of View #1

A mighty good thing for the country, bad as some of them are, even if the stockholders do cry over their depleted pockets. Railroads have added twenty-five to fifty per cent, to the agricultural wealth of the country at large, and given you, and me, friend Horticola, and many thousands of others, a chance to enjoy life in the pure air of the country, while our daily toil is mixed up with the stench of the cities. These things will all find out their true interest by and by.