Ree Feb. 22 

 ans, Feb. 23 



Berlin January 5#lß6o 



Most honored P'riend ! 



r much enjoyed your kintft little letter of April 15 of last 

 yeary which V recelved on June 16, and thank you for it, also my 

 best thanks for the seeds-mailed kindly in it. Of the latter, onlyv 

 a few plantlets of C. tmnetatus be si ed^H . barbata have gerrainated; 

 all are unf ortunately not larger than' millet grains as they could 

 not be sown until the end of June, however I Hope to sustain them. . 

 The plantlets of M. barbata are really excellent, and, when obser- 

 ved throusrh a strong ma^nifying glass', show a stränge f eathering» 

 of the spines. If this is specific for the young seedlings, or, if 

 it will be maintained as gr owth continues^ ? Unf ortunately, I do not 

 yet po.se ss a desoription of it. - What caused ne the most sadress, . 

 is, that the seeds of C. Wislizeni ar^ C. glganteus proved to be 

 totally unable to srerminate. T^e fi^st is however fairly distribu- 

 ted in Europe, and I too have it in several speeimens, of which one 

 has already a diameter" of 34 These plants carae all, as I believe, 

 from seeds, which you sent, and there a^rear many very intesresting 

 forms within them. > One of them was named Cih . Wislinesi by Senckel \ 



The Cer . gi.ganteus is however still rather rare, and I posess 

 onlv two pretty speeimens of about 1| " hight. 



I an most eager for your n-^eat opus about the cacti of the Uni- 

 ted States, which you t>romised nie, A few days ago I reeeived from 

 the librariy of the Royal Herbarii that part of the report of the 

 railroad expedition by Lieutenant Whipple., which contains the cacti 

 described by #cou and. Dr. Bigelow, and am occupied in. studying this 

 thoroughly; it contains many, most interesting species. 



My d^er Fr i end I ask you not to forget nie, as I assume, that 

 you have again a number of seeds and, may-be, living plants» which 



