370 
RHODANTHE MANGLESII. 
under protection, from excess of frost and 
wet. When, as in this case, the plants are in 
the propagating-house until they are large 
enough and strong enough to bear the open 
air, there is a great saving of time. With 
regard to the plants sown in February bloom- 
ing in July, much must depend on the sort. 
The summer roses we have invariably found 
to go over the winter, that is, go over a whole 
year without blooming, and some even over 
the second season ; but the China rose does 
not leave off growing if kept in a proper 
temperature, and therefore they are very 
likely to bloom early. Besides, they bloom 
while small, and are altogether different in 
their nature to the ordinary summer-rose. 
With us, the seedlings of the summer-rose 
made their growth, and shed their leaves, and 
the only way in which we got them to bloom 
in the second year was by budding them on 
strong brier stocks. However, we do hope 
that there will be a more general practice of 
raising seedling roses. There is abundance 
of room to improve our sorts by the addition 
of the one grand feature of constant blooming ; 
for this purpose, we recommend seeding only 
from the Bourbon and China sorts, that con- 
stantly bloom and keep the garden perpetually 
brilliant. 
RHODANTHE MANGLESII. 
Of all the delicate plants that we can find 
in English gardens, perhaps there is nothing 
equal to this extremely delicate subject. 
When exceedingly well grown it is more like 
an artificial than a real flower, and the 
texture of the bloom, and its lasting horny 
nature, rather favours the notion. Those who 
are acquainted with the Xeranthemum and 
other "everlasting flowers," will understand 
the peculiarity which may be found in the 
Rhodanthe Manglesii, for the flower is the 
Xeranthemum in miniature in a plant as 
delicate and light as can well be imagined. 
It is its extreme lightness that renders it 
delicate, and we verily believe that if it were 
in a young state to be exposed a few hours 
either to the sun or a dry wind, it would be 
destroyed ; when sown in the open borders, 
and allowed to shift for itself, it will either be 
destroyed altogether, or be so insignificant as 
to be scarcely worth notice. In a border of 
ordinary flowers it would be lost. It is, in 
fact, a pot annual, good only in a pot, and 
may by management be the most interesting 
of all tender annuals. The balsam and the 
cockscomb, the egg plant, ice plant, sensitive 
plant, and globe amaranthus, are not more 
worthy of attention than the Rhodanthe Man- 
glesii, and not one of them requires more 
care and attention. 
SOWING. 
Prepare pans or large pots in March, with 
a compost of one-half peat earth, rubbed 
through a sieve of half-inch meshes or squares, 
and one-half loam from rotted turves ; but if 
you have not any loam from rotted turves, the 
best substitute you can make is to mix two 
thirds of plain loam and one-third leaf mould, 
for this well mixed would be as nearly the 
same as can be made ; the only disadvantage 
being this, that the loam from rotted turf 
contains a good deal of fibrous matter which 
is favourable to the roots of plants ; and the 
fibres of a delicate plant like that which is 
under notice, require an extremely porous 
soil. Fill the pans or pots with the compost, 
first securing a good drainage by placing a 
layer of crocks all over the bottom ; or if a 
pot instead of a pan, two or three inches 
thick ; bump the pot or pan on the bench to 
settle the soil a little down, but it must not 
be pressed. Level the top, and sow the seed 
thinly all over the surface, the thinner it is 
sown the better ; an inch apart all over would 
be the perfection of sowing, and save the 
trouble of pricking out ; but there are two 
objections to this. Some say plants are better 
for the change that pricking out gives to 
a seedling, and therefore, that sowing wide 
enough apart to avoid it, is no good to the 
plant ; and then it is quite clear that it takes a 
good deal more room ; and therefore, when 
frame accommodation is scarce, thicker sow- 
ing must be resorted to for the supply of a 
proper stock. When the seed is sown cover 
with silver sand. In sowing seed, not merely 
of this kind, but all other sorts which are very 
small, such as rhododendron, azalea, and many 
others which are extremely light, and seem 
almost like dust, the soil should be to a cer- 
tain extent damp ; and the instant the seed 
is sown and covered, it should be watered ; 
but the water must be given as fine as dew. 
For this purpose a syringe is best, because 
the distributing roses which are screwed in 
are of various sized holes, and some distribute 
the water in such small particles that it falls 
without disturbing the surface ; and this is 
absolutely necessary, because seeds of the 
Rhodanthe and many others are so very light 
that they would be washed out of the soil 
altogether with the least violence ; but if you 
have not a syringe, the best substitute is to be 
found in a common clothes brush ; dip this 
in water, turn it face upwards, and draw the 
flat of your hand along the brush and towards 
you, and the wet flies off in the opposite 
direction in the smallest particles, and does 
not disturb an atom of dust in its fall. The 
earth being a little damp when used, readily 
absorbs the water ; and from the time they 
are sown to the period at which they vegetate 
