Rockbridge Alum Springs, Aug., 1855.

Mr Dear Horticulturist : - A great wit said once, in a letter to a lady, " Correspondences are like small clothes before the invention of suspenders, it is impossible to keep them up." I do not find it so, for I have much that I should like to communicate in this way, but as I am to find on my return a large mass of interesting letters from others, it will be safest to confine my own to as short limits as possible.

"The Springs of Virginia" is an indefinite term; they are but little known by Northern health and pleasure-seekers, but when known, will be much patronised and admired by the best classes; and by the best I mean the most appreciative. The Southern character, for affability, kindness, and suavity, is here exhibited in its most attractive colours. From the extreme South, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi, come the wealthy planters with their families to pass a few months in this delicious mountain climate, in such contrast with their long and heated summer. A few years will see the present numbers greatly increased, for then the time necessary to 'reach the " White Sulphur," from New Orleans, will be but two days and a half, and from New Nork, the same; so that here will be a central meeting point.

" The Springs" are, by general consent, those called the White Sulphur; if you have not seen them you have seen nothing; thither all the fashion and the train of her followers wend their way, to see a most beautiful scene, it is true, but to be badly accommodated, and badly fed and lodged; to be told you pay twelve dollars a week for the water, and to be so hungry after dinner as to resort to the restaurant and expend more dollars to satisfy nature's demands.

Eschewing all such imposition, and still in the search of the fountain of youth, our little party looked about for a conveyance which would take us leisurely through the "circle of Springs," and set us down at the Rockbridge Alum, not far from the famous Natural Bridge. A conveyance was at last discovered, which had stood out in the open air, exposed to the sun and rains, apparently ever since the decadence of some first family, who had parted with it about the time of the presidency of Mr. Jefferson.

I wish, my dear H., I could give you a picture of this vehiculum and its appurtenances; it was the only one to be had, and we concluded to give it a trial, abandoning any idea of making a favorable sensation on our arrival at fashionable quarters. It had been originally strongly built to traverse these rough mountain roads, but bad been so often disabled, that I am very sure it would have been mobbed in Philadelphia or New York. Overturned, the doors had been mended outside with sheet iron, which was now terribly rusty; the glass in one door was entirely gone; the other was cracked, and would moreover, not pull up; the curtains had seen no oil or grease for many a long year, and scarcely reached half-way to the buttons ; unlike the wit's small clothes, the difficulty was to keep them down ; this was accomplished by white thongs ; the roof leaked sadly, but the civil white driver, who was son to a farmer, and had a fancy for driving and frequenting the nine-pin allies, " reckoned" it would not rain for the few days he engaged to keep us on the road ! In twenty-four hours he made a sudden descent from his perch, the bottom of which fell out, but he borrowed a saw of the eccentric Colonel Crow, repaired the seat with a plank, and " reckoned" it was as good as ever.

The rack behind was a " wrack" indeed, and let the baggage down into the mud and streams. The wheels had been bespdked so frequently as to have double the usual amount of timber in them. You would not willingly have made your entre into Broadway or Chestnut Street thus ; but it was better than full stages and the uncertainty of getting even these, and thus we journeyed to the Salt Sulphur and onwards.

At this beautiful spot, where the planting and laying out of the grounds have been neatly done, we found every accommodation and comfort ; at the " Red Sulphur" we had met mostly consumptive patients whose sad complaints, at least many of them, were improving ; here the scene was less depressing. Good company and gay seemed disposed for enjoyment and repose ; the table was attractive and even clean and elegant ; the water less esteemed, perhaps, for its curative properties than some others, but still possessing qualities in which many place great confidence. The number assembled here was about the same as at the Red, not more than one hundred and sixty, while the White, near by, with its numerous discomforts and its fashion, counted little less than one thousand; and loaded stages were arriving every hour, the inmates fully informed that there was no accommodation, but determined to say they had been to the " White Sulphur Springs;" such is the force of fashion!

Our vehicle, shabby as it was, was received with respect, and if I am rightly informed, presented about as respectable an aspect to the mountaineers as that of a former President, who travelled in one no better, and with four horses immensely inferior to ours. The bad roads, and certainly, in many places, none could be much worse, and " I reckon it will do" carries the day for every species of carelessness. *

The trees that have most attracted attention, are the Magnolia acuminata, the Kentucky Coffee tree, Sugar Maple, Ohio Buckeye, and White Oak; apples were very abundant ; peaches and melons as poor as they could be ; we should not consider the former good enough to make into pies, but here they were eagerly bought and eaten ; black and whortleberries were the only table fruits. At the Salt Sulphur you will taste your first good butter; that it is to be had there, proves that it can be made in the mountains, and you will be puzzled to know why it is not more general. The visitors here strike us as remarkably well after the hospital look at our first residence; the attendants are of a better class; the landlord most respectable, and altogether a stay at the Salt might be prolonged with satisfaction, for the summer months.