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LETTERS FROM THE EDITOR, No. 2, 



Rockbridge Alum Springs, Aug., 1855. 



My Dear Horticulturist : — A great wit said once, in a letter to a lady, " Correspon- 

 dences are like small ckthes 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 North- 

 ern health and pleasure-seekers, but when known, will be much patronized and admired 

 by the best classes ; and by the best I mean the most appreciative. The Southern 

 character, for afifability, 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 fol- 

 lowers wend their way, to see a most beautiful scene, it is true, but to be badly accom- 

 modated, 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 IL, I could give you a picture of this vehiculura 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 had 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. 



