TRANSLATION 



Stuttgart, Aug. 28, 1&79 



Dear Sir: 



Your esteemed letter of July 29 has given me great pleasure and I am greatly 

 indebted to you for the Stimulus and encourageraent which you gave me. 

 With the ease of sample shipments I sent you one specimen of my 0£. frutescens 

 resp, leotocaulis, furthermore Ü£. serpentina brachyarthra (the latter I received 

 about 5 years ago from H. Ortgies in Zürich under this name; the 0. frafiilis, 

 which I received only this Spring as a segment, formed a 2nd and is notwith- 

 standing very similar to my brachyarthra from Zürich, with few thorns and is 

 otherwise smaller and more scanty. Your so friendly suggestions regarding the 

 culture of cacti, agree remarkably with my experiences; I found for instance 

 that Op. Raffinesq breaks down in the winter even on the north-east side, becomes 

 mossy in moist clay soil, whereas it thrives splendidly on southern wall terraces, 

 and loves strong fertilization; in most parts the yellow-rayed flowers shine 

 far down into the Valley; the wall heated by the sun's rays is not only compar- 

 ätively dry but the roots seem to thrive well with the heat from the hot stones; 

 nevertheless I believe that 0£. serpentina and leptocaulis would not have done 

 so well for me, if I had not grafted it on 0£. Raffinesq . Of 10 stems serp. 

 and leptocl . I brought only 2-3 through the Winter on my own, whereas of 

 approximately 16 stems grafted not a Single one suffered; the Cercus tuberosus 

 was even worse; of these all died on their own roots with a Single exception and 

 for this Observation I am indebted to vou, because in the text of known works 

 you specially remarked that they almost always occur under Cedars; so I brought 

 my tuberosus under the wing£> t of a mighty Yucca recurva , which Summer and Winter 

 keeps the ground underneath/incredibly /du? also Stands so high on rock ledges, that 

 the cactus does have füll sun and again has limestone (tuff) for drainage and 

 warmth under it; after C. Tuber. has endured so well on its own roots, this 

 year I prepared a whole number of grafted ones, in order to carry them through 

 under the dry Yucca roof . However in our moist climate, for Mammillaria 

 and the 0g. clavarioides I have a high southern lime-tuff wall (mortared with 

 earth) ; in whose cracks it is so dry, that with 3 weeks of daily rainy weather, 

 I had to sprinkle Ü£. serpentina and others which I had planted in them, until 

 they started to grow. There I want to try it to a greater extent with Mam. 

 vivipara and pusilla Texana (which came through in this location) ; namely last 

 Fall I had only very young, weak, small plants at my disposal for experimenta- 

 tion and only this year I will receive more specimens, and more vigorous. That 



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