RUDIMENTS OF THE NATURAL SYSTEM OF BOTANY. 
Ill 
recommended ; they next place their plants in larger pots ; and lastly, continue 
changing them as long as they manifest a disposition to grow. We have some- 
times seen the specimens in potsfuU which were sixteen inches across. 
In their general management, they keep their plants on an elevated stage ; 
admit air with great jealousy in the months of April, May, and June ; arrange the 
specimens at about two feet and a half from each other ; and prune them very 
rigidly, in order to obtain an immense number of branches, all of which are 
fastened to stakes, and disposed with the greatest regularity and precision. 
To this method and its consequences we have several objections to urge. By 
forcing Pelargonia to such an exuberant state, the quantity of flowers is essentially 
lessened, and some detraction must inevitably take place in the brilliance of their 
colours. We pretend not to dispute that the plants grown in a few suburban col- 
lections present a splendid spectacle when in blossom. This is undeniable. We 
merely affirm that the same specimens would, if less highly excited, produce a 
greater number of more dazzling flowers. We further deprecate their very artifi- 
cial appearance. Thoroughly admitting that congruity and symmetry of outline 
are most desirable, we still think that the general easy aspect of nature should 
be maintained ; and when a Pelargonium exhibits almost geometrical stiffness of 
proportion, it suffers greatly in our eyes. The enormous size to wliich the plants 
are mostly grown is the sole remaining drawback we shall now name. It is not 
alone the extra room they occupy, — though this is by no means a trifling considera- 
tion, — but the reflection that less plants would, individually and aggregately, be 
more showy, which impels us to caution all culturists, except those whose time, 
materials, and means fear no exhaustion, against acting upon the scheme which 
many persons have deemed so pre-eminently congenial. 
RUDIMENTS OF THE NATURAL SYSTEM OF BOTANY. 
NO. III. 
We have already seen that vascular or flowering plants are separated into two 
large groups, called Exogenous and Endogenous^ which are characterized by a 
peculiar arrangement or structure of the elementary organs. Before we proceed 
to trace and define the numerous subdivisions which botanists recognise in these 
larger classes, we must establish a familiar understanding with the reader con- 
cerning the precise application of terms to the most conspicuous of these organs, 
and trust that the space we shall now appropriate to that explanation will not be 
considered an unnecessary preliminary. 
It is customary to speak of a multitude of matters connected with botany 
without the least precision in the use of language. Tliis is a failing we warmly 
deplore ; and that ourselves may not be guilty of similar negligence, a trifling 
definition is to be attempted. It must not be disguised, however, that we have no 
