102 THE FLORIST AND 



Concerning the culture of the Petunia no one will ever be at loss. Most 

 any tolerably good soil will answer for it. Though I have found it to bloom 

 best in soils moderately stiff, one thing must always be observed, that to have 

 good plants and good flowers they must be cut in closely, to check their ram- 

 bling habit. The strong kinds may be trained to a wall and will attain the 

 height of six, eight, or ten feet. It is not desirable to keep a plant over two 

 years. In conclusion I will remark that there is a strong probability of arri- 

 ving at a double petunia. I have had one perfectly double ; that is, one in 

 which the five stamens were each converted into petals, which was witnessed 

 by Mr. Brackenridge and others in this city, but the plant which bore it was 

 weak and the stalk failed to take root. It is reasonable to expect that this 

 condition may be reproduced. 



Washington, D. C, March, 1854. 



REFLECTIONS ON THE STUDY OF BOTANY. 



And Details of the mode of Reproduction of Zoosporic Alpae. Discourse pronounced before the 

 public sitting of the Soc. Nat. His. of Cherbourg, Oct. 29, 1852. 



BY M. AUGUSTE LE JOLIS. 



Of all the sciences which have for their object the study of created beings, 

 Botany is perhaps the most attractive by the nature of the objects on which 

 its researches are carried. Thus, plants have always attracted the attention 

 of observers whether by their brilliant flowers, their graceful and varied 

 forms, or on account of the immense resources which they afford to man ; 

 and now especially, since the study of vegetables has become a true science 

 having its theories and its facts, its hypotheses and its laws, the number of 

 those who devote themselves to it has increased considerably. But although 

 the elementary ideas of Botany are generally extended throughout the world, 

 it must be acknowledged however, that these notions are often very vague, 

 and even of a nature to give false idea of this science. Thence it happens 

 that many persons who expect to find a relaxation in this study, soon re- 

 nounce it, from fatigue and weariness, repelled as they are by technical and 

 barbarous terms with which the pages of elementary works are bristling ; that 

 others for whom these difficulties have not been an obstacle, see nothing in 

 botany but a useless mnemotechny of names and words, and regard it as un- 

 worthy of fixing the attention of a serious mind. It seems to me easy to 

 show that these prejudices are ill-founded ; but wishing to keep these reflec- 

 tions within narrow limits, I will content myself with indicating in a few 

 words the real end which the botanist should propose to himself, and the 

 means which he should employ to attain it. 



