Arr. October 15th, 1865 



Kingdom ofthe Netherlands 

 Province of Holîand 

 Von Viapelîe at Middelbourg 

 September 20, 1 865 



Mr George Engelmann M.D. at St. Louis. 

 Sir, 



Aîîow a stranger, being a grower, admirer and amateur ofthe family of the Cacti, to 

 address you. He would even îike to appeaî to your kindness and ask you for earnest 

 requests. 



For the past ten years I have busied my self in the cuîtivation ofthe Cacti, as a simple 

 amateur. My thoughts in the summer are, that in the winter there are greenhouses in the 

 country that are especially organized for the growth of that bizarre, difficult but most 

 interesting family. I received a shipment of more than two thousand sampîes of more or 

 less eight or nine hundred species. ï am waiting to he enlightened by Prince Salm-Dyck. 

 Of twenty species that he has established, î have ail the spécimens except a single one, 

 the Discocactus colteoîens [?]. I tried to obtain it in London through Mr Veilch; in 

 Vienna through Mr ?Erfunt. Tt is possible that it no longer exists in Europe. 



This winter ï wilî be occupied in organizing a catalogue of my collection, at the 

 insistence of my friends and other amateurs. It will give me great pleasure to supply you 

 at the opportune time with one of the copies. T will frequently expose my work to an 

 intelligent public. They will hear that the Plisceeia, the Pelecypteora, the Leuchtenbergia 

 and the Astralonicum are the forebearers or the same family as the Mammillaria, 

 Echinocactus, Cereus, Petroscilis, etc. There will be the time when T will be honored to 

 have the good fortune of providing you a book with my expériences and my catalogue 

 or small portions of my public conférences, so that you know what ï am cultivating and 

 the results T am getting. 



Last year T was lucky to obtain your book about the Cactaceae: "Cactaceae ofthe 

 Boundary", etc. T would îike to benefit, by being in contact with a scholar who has made 

 contributions in other books on the subject. T would Iike to ask you, hoping that I will not 

 be too frank, being that T am an amateur and not a connoisseur, the way to obtain some 

 seeds or cuttings of some new cacti, whichever you choose from your "Description ofthe 

 Cactaceae" with John Bigelow and your "Cacti ofthe Boundary". My .friend the 

 professor Miquel let me have your third small work for 8.00. 



If I really could obtain thèse seeds, there is no doubt that I couîd make them grow, after 

 having been very successful with other seeds. 



