Oar Chicago Correspondence.

Dear Horticulturist: - That remarkable individual Mr. Richard Swiveller, in his flippant manner, when he goes to ask after the health of an old gentleman, enquires after the "ancient bufialo!" So it is that we distort matters till truth is scarcely distinguished. Had Mr. Swiveller travelled to Chicago he would have probably described it as the prairie-hen city, or distorted it by some expletive. I shall do no such thing, but shall inform you that a discovery has been made to which I attach some importance. At the North or East, - which is it? - the people are all laboring for pelf enough to retire to the country; but "the country" they so long for, rises in price so rapidly, that before their accumulations reach the maximum of their wishes, country places near by have become too dear. What are they to do, unless they content themselves with only an acre or two? I answer, Move to the prairies! It has been found out, notwithstanding the anathemas of travellers who view surfaces only at railroad speed, that a prairie may become a paradise; land is cheap enough yet to allow many acres to be purchased for half the price of a lot 25 by 80 in New York, Boston, or Philadelphia.

West of. Chicago you come directly on to prairie land, possessing more, perhaps, than the ordinary disadvantages of such a country, and in March and April it is sad enough to see the small dwelling-houses surrounded by a mixture of black mud and water. The frost once out, however, there ensues a season of great beanty - the earth covered with flowers, roads solid, and food for man and beast in plenty; a deep soil, in fact, which will repay labor a thousand fold. Endure this mud for a few weeks, and what neighborhood is without it? you have in a western prairie a home that the European who works hard for all he eats, might be proud of. But a country seat on the prairies! with all the appurtenances of refined life! this is an unexpected discovery made by myself, though doubtless many have seen such while I was hugging home; as it was a surprise, indulge me with the telling of it.

Encouraged to the long journey - more than one-third as far off as Liverpool, I found myself in thirty-eight hours in the Garden City of Chicago. Taking the Galena cars, in an hour I was at Cottage Hill and in the carriage of Thomas B. Bryan, Esq., en route for his representative place. Though the station is named a Hill, it required more than one look to ascertain the wherefore; gradually it was revealed that there was a considerable elevation, but it all seemed at first alike to the eye; the house appeared to abut into the level, and it does join the prairie by imperceptible degrees. The cluck of the prairie chickens is distinctly heard morning and evening from the windows and piazzas, and good shooting may be enjoyed from the purlieus of the kitchen garden. We are much influenced by what we have read; the poets have been educating us with the love of the heather, and hare made the nightingale and whippoorwill household thoughts; who shall say that when the song about the prairie grass and the prairie birds has been as well and as long sung, we shall not admire and poetise them as much; there is plenty of heather land in Scotland not half so desirable as you will find on the level grounds of the West.

Mr. Bryan, after eminent success in business, and still young, has purchased the site of Cottage Hill, and built an eminently comfortable mansion, near enough to the station for convenience, and yet far enough from it to have none of its annoyances. Not a single tree, to begin with, but in place of that he has an unobscured view for thirty miles towards the setting sun. By removing large trees with frozen balls, and importing a few thousand evergreens, the scene is in course of transformation; shelter is provided, and our friend is rejoicing in the prospect of soon seeing his large domain blossoming like the rose, and its advantages appreciated.

If such things can be - if a man can in an hour or two divest himself of cities, and purchase rich land cheaply, and surround himself with beauty, and have a mail twice a day to communicate with the world - if in two or three hours he may reach ten or twenty dollar land, and purchase his lumber for a trifle - why - pray tell us why, we should toil to the, end of a long life, sighing all the while for the country? You ask for views; on the slightest eminence in Illinois your views are literally unobstructed, except by distance. Mr. B. has already in two years' labor planted and adorned a scene of great beauty; and we must confess our repugnance to the prairie is much obliterated, when we enter drawing-rooms worthy of any city, and find refinements such as only the educated can enjoy.

Neighborhood is also at hand. Air. Healy, the eminent painter, with his numerous and charming family, and others, are within a short walk; when I say our host is never at a loss for a partner for indoor exercise at billiards, I have depicted a home where more particulars would be an intrusion. Thus much, however, was necessary to introduce our representative gentleman; it may serve as a new idea of what the houses in the West are becoming; I rejoice to chronicle so good a beginning, and to learn that Cottage Hill is a promising place.

In another direction, on the lake towards Milwaukie, and also within an hour of railroad travel from the city, is Evanston, on a wooded bluff of great beauty, where quite a town of importance has grown up, with endowed schools (a great feature of this region) and learned professors; among them Dr. T. V. Blaney, of Delaware, who stands very high as a lecturer and chemist. On the same road and but six miles from Chicago, they are now establishing a rural cemetary, (Rose Hill,) on high land, once no doubt the shore of the lake, and with a soil and timber admirably adapted to its purposed occupation. I predict that this cemetery will become one of the greatest boasts of Chicago.

At different points, too, are other improving rural towns; conspicuous among them is Hyde Park, with fine views, trees, and much proposed landscape gardening. Horticulture has made a brave start in Chicago; there are many clever greenhouses and graperies, and a gardeners' society, which meets and holds able discussions. Your readers have already made acquaintance with Jno. C. Ure, gardener to the Hon. Mr. Arnold, through his communications.

The whole city has been newly graded, leaving the blocks of houses below the level of the streets three to four feet. The manner in which these great brick structures, about as heavy as the Astor House, are being "screwed up" into the air is a marvel to foreigners. Nobody seems to notice what is going on; the inmates carry on business, and even a clock and watch store was apparently insensible to the motion. The result, is very dirty streets from the excavations necessary to blocking up.

If Chicago has grown rapidly, and has felt the pressure of the money panic and a bad crop somewhat sensibly, her merchants are in good heart, and disposed to believe the worst is over and prosperity near. To this I say, amen. J. J. S.

Chicago, April, 1859.

The Hop Tree, Ptelia Trifoliata, is the only American species that I have seen noticed by btanists. This species of the hop has long been known and cultivated as an ornamental shade tree, and has been for sale in most of the nurseries for many years; but its utility, and superiority over the common hops, have not until recently been known and acknowledged, and adds very much to its value.

The foliage is in long trifolia, pendant leaves of a beautiful pea-green. Starts late in the season but quite rapidly, and almost immediately follows the beautiful blossoms in clusters - which very much resemble the Privet blossom. They soon change into clusters of seeds or hops, which makes them highly ornamental. The only fault in its growth is a tendency to throw up a long slim body, which robs it of its beauty, unless cut back to make it throw out its limbs nearer the ground. It is not a very fast grower, but produces seed at two or three years growth. I have never known of their growing over twenty or twenty-five feet, and when grown will produce a bushel or more of hops.

How profitably they can be raised for a field crop, I am not able to say; but as they are very much stronger for yeast, brewing, etc, and 640 trees can be planted on an acre, at an average of half a bushel to a tree, 320 bushels, I think it will pay for making a trial.

Samples of the hop, with circular, will be forwarded through the mail by enclosing five letter stamps. F. Trowbridge.

New Haven, Conn.

Mr. Editor: - In the April number of the Horticulturist, page 187, you ask what grape Major Le Conte alludes to in the New Patent Office Report, where he speaks of a white-fruited grape as the best of all varieties, etc. The Major can undoubtedly answer the question. But it occurred to me in reading the passage, that he had reference to a grape which I have cultivated for many years. The description is almost perfect. This grape I found in the garden of the late Jacob Perkins, of this town, nearly tweuty years ago, and hence we have named it the "Perkins Grape." He obtained the vine for an Isabella, taking it from a garden where the Isabella and Catawba grew together; but when it fruited, he found it to be light-colored, though resembling the Isabella in shape and size, but full three weeks earlier. The vine is a rapid grower, very hardy and productive. I planted a few cuttings in my garden when I first became acquainted with the vine, and it has answered my highest expectations. As I never had the grape fever, I said but little about it. But when my neighbors saw the vine burdened with the fruit, and especially when they tasted it, they immediately applied for vines.

I have, therefore, the few years past, disseminated it freely and widely in this region, and where known, it is more anxiously sought for than any other native grape. " The racemes are large, long, and dense; the berries oval, white or green, with a slight coppery tinge on the side exposed to the son." It is sweet and luscious, with a musky flavor. It was supposed by some to be an accidental hybrid between the Isabella and Catawba; but I am convinced it is a Fox grape of the very best sort, and probably sprang from a seed dropped by some bird, that brought it from a distance, as no other wild grape has been found to resemble it in this vicinity.

E. Gay. Bridgewater, Mass.

[Not likely to be the grape suggested by Major Le Conte, in the Patent Office Report. The seed dropped would not produce the tame grape. The white Fox grape is rare. - Ed].