St. Louis, Mo. Aug. 21, 18?? 



My dear Dr. Weber 



I o^ly wrote to you a f ew days a#o and there comes a^ain a 

 valuable letter fron you with enclosures. I wait with answering un- 

 til the package arrives; for now only, that Pf arrdorf f er 1 s 11 flat 11 

 Opuntia fron St. Francisco i s my old friend Oü. basilaris . It seems 

 difficult to raise and has per ished several times for ne, and now I 

 have again qu.it e young sprouts of which the nid die meraber has rot- 

 ted -it comes fron a very dry area.- Did. these and the next ones 

 not geminate ? The other •* t hin- stein " (better named cylindrical) 

 is, as you assume correctly, O. protlf era. . 



Obse^ve exactly, which Agavae die off after flowering~,and which 

 keep on. growing and bud fron subterranean parts, like Yucca, f ilanen - 

 tosa. A. vlrginica ar.d maculata certairly do so • and keep growing. 

 Shawii has died after blooning , bu.t oarries a number of buds. And the 

 seed-f orminpr ones will probably keep errowin.ßc fron slde-buds as with 

 Yucca ,loif olia . 



I received since then the package with flowers of Agave . bu.t, 

 because 1 an deeply stuck in the oaks.and must use all my free time 

 on then, I have not yet begun any examinations. - Of course, dry, shed 

 flowers are better than none, but even after they have been care - 

 fully na.de soft a/?ain, and then are com rare d with fresh ones, you 

 will find, that they will never take on the forner shape; Of course, 

 the Insertion of the f Hanerts renal ns the sane,but the proportions 

 have been changed, the parts remain shrivelled ; theref or it can only 

 be of value to l) to sketch the fresh f lower , rerrardless how sinnle 

 2) take measurements of it 3)to dry fresh flowers, that have been 

 split and to dry then und er rather strong pressure, so that the parts 

 cannot shrivel too much. 



Designate always the materials and drawings, which I an supposed 

 to send back;I do not know, what I nay keep of what you sent just 



