Editor of Horticulturist: - The peach buds are all right here as yet. (March 8,) and I think we may safely count on a good crop this • season. Peach growing in southern Illinois bids fair to become a lucrative and extensive business. Apples and pears also promise to pay well here.

About $6,000 worth of fruit trees have been planted in this county during the past five years, mostly from Northern and Eastern nurseries. We have now four small nurseries in Egypt, established at different points on the Illinois Central Railroad.

There is a good chance here for money making in the fruit business, although the greatest results will be attained only by the industrious, practical, intelligent pomologist, with business tact, and considerable capital. Cotton and sorghum will receive much attention here the coming season.

Union County, III., March 8, 1862. A. Babcock.

[We are glad to hear such a good report from "Egypt" It would seem to be a good place to emigrate to. Let the people go down into Egypt, and multiply and replenish the land, and make it fruitful in all maimer of good things. So may it be. What kind of peaches are chiefly planted in Egypt? There can be no doubt you have a fine climate for fruit. - Ed].

Mr. Mead, - Please tell mo which is right. S. says if a grape vine stands in a damp place, or low ground, and does not do well, that pasture sods tipped or dumped about the trunk and buried two feet, allowing the foot roots to remain in the damp earth or wet ground, will be as well every way for the vine, as to take my plan, which would be to lift the foot roots out, or raise them to the top of the ground, and then put the two feet of pasture sods about them. Please tell me what you think, and oblige, very truly yours, C.

[We think your plan decidedly better than that of S. But a better way is not to plant at all in a damp place. Grapes grown in wet ground will inevitably be thick skinned, hard fleshed, and ill-flavored. - Ed].

I have been paying some attention to the strawberry, and would like to know whether they could be sent to your city in a marketable condition, and what the following varieties usually sell at, viz., extra selected berries of Triomphe de Gand, Hooker, and Wilson. These, according to my judgment, are superior to any others out of a considerable number of kinds that I have been testing. What would be the best plan of packing and shipping? Can you give me the names of some commission houses that deal in fruits? Can you inform me where I can procure colored plates of fruits, and at what price?

By answering the above inquiries you will very much oblige.

Masontown, Pa., March 13, 1862. Yours truly, G. W. N.

I am making the peach a specialty, and would be pleased to see something practical on the cultivation of the peach in the Horticulturist. G. W. N.

[Strawberries can be sent to New York from your place in good marketable condition. The kinds you name, selected, sell for from 25 to 75 cents per pint, much depending on their earliness and the season. Put them in square open boxes, and they will carry safely and in good condition. Water is to be preferred to land carriage as a means of transportation. There are a number of reliable commission merchants here, either of whom you could safely employ. Their charge is usually 10 per cent. We can furnish you with a number of colored plates at reasonable prices, according to the subject, and Mr. Dewey of Rochester can also furnish them. Mr. Hovey might probably furnish some. We do not at the moment remember any others. We shall give you ere long the desired information on the Peach. We have a number of trees trained on a modification of the cordon system, which thus far we are decidedly pleased with. - Ed].

Mr. Mead : - Dear Sir, - Will the cool nights and frosty nights, or the degrees of cold that we generally get after the 15th of March, do any injury to out-door grape vines, if uncovered as soon as the above date? Bright says "uncover when the peach tree is in blossom." Judd says, "remove the covering when the frosty nights have gone." A friend of mine says, " he does not believe a vine can be injured, if the cover is removed after like extreme cold is over." If it is better to leave them under the earth of straw till late, say till the middle of May, please tell us why. R. C, Jr.

[No harm will happen to your vines if they are uncovered as soon as the frost is out of the ground; that is, no harm that would not equally happen if they were left covered. The only danger to which they will be liable after this time will be a late frost when in flower, and winter protection is no safeguard against this. We prefer to uncover as soon as the frost is out of the ground. We should be loath to defer it till the middle of May. - Ed].

Messrs. Editors : - Are you aware that we have a Horticultural Society in our town, or rather the towns bordering on our famous Newburgh Bay? Such is the fact, and we congratulate ourselves that said society holds no mean position, in comparison with similar ones on the Hudson River.

This society has been in existence for about one and a half years. We have had no exhibition as yet, with the exception of the trial one in October, 1860, where, to use the expression of a visitor from abroad, we "eclipsed every thing on the Hudson".

But to the subject. We had no fair, as 1 observed, last year, partly on account of the unsettled condition of our country, and partly other causes unnecessary to mention here. But this year we report ourselves around, and anticipate that we shall be heard from at our fall exhibition, on the 24th, 25th, and 26th of September. We have already a goodly number of members, and our list is constantly increasing of the substantial and enterprising men of our vicinity. We have chosen for our society the name or title of "The Newburgh Bay Horticultural Society," and, as its name indicates, its operations will be confined to the towns bordering on Newburgh Bay. We hope to be favored with your presence and encouragement, at the time of our general fall exhibition. I say general, to distinguish it from the weekly free exhibitions, which we hold each Saturday from June to November. These exhibitions, of course, will be but small affairs, hardly deserving the name, for showing any thing we may have at the time that we think rare, beautiful, or interesting, in the way of fruit, flowers, etc.; for you know it is a characteristic of the horticulturist, if he has a rare or interesting pro. duction of hie growth, he is anxious that others should participate in his enjoy-ment of it.