Mr. Editor: - Hero in the Great West - on the banks of the Upper Mississippi - I am happy to say, the subject of Fruit-Culture is yearly meeting with more attention. The fact is beginning to be made manifest, that the growing of fine fruits for market is about as paying a business as one can be engaged in. And the further great fact is daily becoming better understood by the masses, that the fruit orchard or the fruit garden can be made to contribute very largely to the " good living " of a family. Few people heretofore seem to have been aware of that important truth. They have regarded pears and fine berries, and even apples and peaches, as mere luxuries, to be partaken of but seldom, and only to gratify the appetite, and not as articles of food to be had daily, with a little effort, in the greatest profusion, from January to December. There is a work of regeneration going on in the land in this matter. Every fruit-grower who loves his calling - every member of a Horticultural Society - should consider himself a missionary in the cause, and labor to bring about the great end. And we ought all to desire the success of the Horticulturist, as one of the most efficient agents in the work. But I am wandering from my proposed subject.

I come back to the question standing as the caption of this article.

A few days since, at a meeting of a Horticultural Society, the question was asked me, " If you were planting one thousand peach-trees, what proportion of them should be seedlings?" I answered somewhat hastily, "I should want eight or nine hundred of them to be such, and the remainder of the hardiest improved sorts." The object of this communication is to repeat the question to you and your readers, and to inquire how nearly was I right.

I believe it is a conceded fact that seedlings, as a general thing, are not only more hardy, but are surer bearers. This is the prevailing opinion in this region; and I state it in order to obtain the views of cultivators in other sections of the country. So far as my observation extended, during the recent winters that were so disastrous to fruit-trees, the finer varieties of the peach were the first to suffer. How far this is true, as a general fact, I am unable to say. So, in regard to their bearing qualities: seedlings are more certain bearers, and are less liable to have their fruit-buds killed by extreme changes in winter or nipping frosts in the spring.

If these be facts, then, ought we not to plant largely of seedlings, rather than of the budded varieties? I would not plant seedlings indiscriminately. Some of them - more particularly of the yellow sorts - are noted for coming true to the parent kind; and should we not do all in our power to test that quality in the peach, and, if possible, develop and improve it? Some are said to possess it in an eminent degree. We have in this region a very fine yellow sort, known as Fell's Rareripe, - * seedling of twenty years ago from Massachusetts, which is uniformly propagated from the seed. We have also some others, but which have not been sufficiently proven to enable me to speak confidently of their merits. Some of them are nearly, if not quite, equal to the best of the cultivated varieties.

The subject seems to be one of great importance, and worthy of more attention than it is receiving at the hands of nurserymen and others. T. G.

Hamilton, Ill.

[We are glad of this additional testimony that fruit-culture is growing more and more in favor at the West It is an entirely mistaken notion to regard fruit as a luxury for the rich; it is, in truth, an article of food, and so ought to be common to all. If every fruit-grower, and every member of our Horticultural Societies, would regard himself, and act, as a "missionary," this happy condition would soon be brought about In regard to Seedling Peaches, we should hardly venture to plant the large proportion our correspondent names, even though we knew the pits had been carefully selected from the best kinds. It is true that the Peach more nearly reproduces itself from the pit than other fruits; bat it is also true that the peculiar diseases to which the peach is subject are perpetuated by the pit as well as by the bud. On the whole, we should prefer to plant the largest proportion of well-known and reliable old kinds, and trust only to such seedlings as we knew to be from vigorous and healthy trees of approved varieties. Taking all things into consideration, we believe the chances of getting peach-trees free from disease are pretty equally divided between seedlings and budded stock. The utmost care is needed in both cases, to secure healthy stocks and healthy buds.

We hope some of our old peach-growers will give us their views on this point. - Ed].