On the Cultivation of Pelargoniums. 367 



results of these experiments is rather against those views 

 which have been formed respecting the bhie and pink 

 flowers of the hydrangea, in which it is supposed that the 

 absorption of iron or Hme was essential to the change. 

 The circumstances, however, which influence the forma- 

 tion of coloring and odorous matters in flowers, are as yet 

 very little understood ; and equally enveloped in uncer- 

 tainty, the connection which exists between the assimila- 

 tion of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen, and the formation of 

 organized structures. Although the sources whence plants 

 derive their food are now well known, yet the precise mode 

 in which the assimilation of the elements of organized mat- 

 ter is carried on, is as yet very little understood, and the 

 chemical laws which govern many of the more simple 

 changes in the formation of the various proximate vegeta- 

 ble principles, have scarcely been investigated, and till this 

 is supplied, some parts of the chemistry of vegetation must 

 remain incomplete. The recent writings of Liebig, how- 

 ever, have done much towards explaining these processes; 

 writings which no one engaged in the cultivation of the 

 soil ought to be without. He argues on known facts, and 

 explains, in a clear and scientific manner, the chemical 

 processes of vegetation. The talent and energy now em- 

 ployed in the investigation of this subject, in Europe and 

 this country, prove the importance it demands, and cannot 

 fail ultimately to be of universal benefit. 



R. Carmichael. 



Nonantum Hill, Newton, Sept. 16, 1844. 



Art. II. 0?i the Cultivation of Pelargoniums, roithout the 

 aid of hotbeds or the greenhouse. By J. E. Teschemacher, 

 Boston. 



I WAS much pleased with Mr. Russell's communication 

 in your last number, on the cultivation of the Pelargo- 

 nium — a flower which, in its present improved state, can- 

 not fail to increase in favor with the horticulturist. Having 

 sent two plants of this flower to the Horticultural exhibi- 



