THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY 
a very long time to make a flowering plant of it, and 
that all attempts at forcing it, as it were, to come up to 
the necessary conditions of a flowering state from a 
spring sowing must end in disappointment more or less. 
It ought to be sown about the end of August, along 
with herbaceous Calceolarias, Sehizanthus Hookerii, and 
receive the same care and treatment as the latter all 
through the winter. Perhaps it may do with tho more 
hardy treatment which suits the herbaceous Calceolarias; 
but that we have to prove. The safest mode is to sup¬ 
pose it to be a Mignonette or a Sehizanthus seedling, 
and to treat it accordingly, that is, to give it air without 
draughts, and water without wetting, if you understand 
what that means, namely, that the surface of the soil in 
the pot should always appear to be dry and in want of 
water, while the roots are in moist, stiffish loam all the 
time, but no more heat or warmth than you would 
allow for seedling Calceolarias, which, on the other 
hand, do best if the surface-soil is always wet. Migno¬ 
nette stands more wet in winter than Scliimnthus 
Hookerii ; both of them do best with strangers in loam 
that is not of a binding nature; but fast men, who fear 
no danger, will grow them quicker in a mixture of leaf- 
mould and loam. I am thoroughly convinced that that 
is tho best way of treating Linum grandiflorum. I can¬ 
not, from my present experience, say more of it with 
absolute certainty; but I should think it probable that 
in March, or as soon as the seedlings commenced a 
spring growth, the top bud should be cut out for forcing 
the plant to make two, or three, or more shoots from as 
near the bottom as possible; and again in May I would 
stop one-half of my seedlings, for two reasons; the first, 
to get more bushy plants, and the second, to prolong 
the season of flowering. I think the plants so reared 
would make nice little patches on a choice, narrow 
border in front of a greenhouse; but “ bedding-out” is 
all out of the question with such delicate subjects. They 
are drawing-room plants, and lots of them along the 
edge of a front shelf in a nursery show-house would 
bring out all the ladies round about there to buy them 
for their work-tables, and the sooner they killed them 
the more would be sent for, and the more questions 
about them for The Cottage Gardener; but before that 
time comes round, I shall learn all about them from my 
own seedlings, and be able to tell what is best to do with 
them, and how to preserve them to the last, and even 
how to ripen seeds from them. I shall keep nipping off 
their heads all through the summer, if I kill every one 
of them. Experiment is an experiment only when done 
with knack and nerve. A doctor is never a physician 
till he sends a good number of patients out of the world; 
and if I doctor my seedlings to death, depend upon it 
that will save ten thousands of them from a natural death. 
I shall not state just now how many seedlings I have 
got up from the five-and-twenty seeds, for I assume it 
as a fact, that the packets were made up in Paris, or 
somewhere on the Continent, and that the London 
seedsman had no knowledge of how many per cent, of 
genuine seeds the foreigner allowed to each packet. I 
am positive that every seed which did not vegetate in 
my two pots were rotted before the lOtli of June. I 
took special precautions to ascertain the fact at the 
time I sowed the seeds. 
There is little difference in the seeds of Linum gran¬ 
diflorum from Elax seed, and if the plant of grandi- 
Jlorum was as strong as the Flax plant, the same treat¬ 
ment would suit both; and Ireland ought to be more 
successful in the cultivation of the grandiflorum than 
England, from longer experience with the Flax. 
There is one more question connected with the plant 
which I will state honestly, like tho rest. Here is a 
plant which every one, by common consent, found diffi¬ 
cult to rear, and most people could not get up their 
seeds of it at all. The whole English trade have had 
GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— June 17,1850. 203 
it, as far as we know, from the Continent: how, then, is 
it that one of our correspondents says he bought a 
packet of it from Mr. Rendle, of Plymouth, and every 
one of the seeds came up? If Mr. Rendle saved those 
seeds himself, we all know there is not a more honest 
man in the trade; if not, and that he had them from 
the Continent, I do not believe one word of the state¬ 
ment of our correspondent. And this is what I want to 
impress—such statements from writers who do not give 
their names and addresses, do a vast deal of injury to 
those very men they seem to honour. The whole public 
believe now, very wrongfully, that Mr. Rendle employed 
that correspondent to puff his Linum seeds, whereas, if 
that correspondent had given his full name and address, 
every one would see the importance of sending to Mr 
Rendlo for his Linum seeds, if for none other reason; 
therefore, I entreat that writer to send his address to 
our office at once, for as the matter stands, I firmly and 
with a clear conscience disbelieve what ho said. 
Proving Seedlings. —One of the first breeders of 
Geraniums in England, a perfect stranger to me, has 
sent a deputation, desiring me to change my resolve 
about “ proving for the trade,” and to take charge ol 
and prove his best seedlings. The deputation was 
headed by Mr. Dick, head-gardener to the Marquis of 
Breadalbane, near Hampton Court, a valued friend, 
whose views I have consented to; but there are special 
objections to any one undertaking such a thankless 
responsibility. The experimental garden is filling fast. 
D. Beaton. 
ManchesterHorticui.tcral Show. —A correspondent 
informs us that the result of this exhibition on June 
4th was most satisfactory. The society is emerging, as 
it were, from difficulties, and with increased means, 
there can be no doubt of the exhibitions being made 
still more attractive. It is a fact that no previous exhi¬ 
bition deserved any commendation, while, on this occa¬ 
sion, good plants of all sorts were most abundant, and 
there was a remarkable absence of bad specimens, and 
not a single complaint was made. The glazed structure 
recently erected as an exhibition house, and having an 
area of about 1,300 square yards, was shaded inside with 
thin grey calico in a tasteful manner. In it the prin¬ 
cipal plants were exhibited, and the colour so contrasted 
that the best possible effect was obtained. To name 
any plant in particular, when all were so very good, 
might lead to expressions of different opinions ; but the 
Ixora Javanica, in the lot that took the first prize in 
Class 1, was magnificent, and exhibited in the best pos¬ 
sible condition. The contest, however, for the first 
prize was a very close one, and not a few thought Mr. 
Epps ought to have had it. The plants which could 
not be exhibited in the new building, and the vegetables 
and fruit, were shown iu two large adjoining tents. The 
company attending could not be less than 4,000 in 
number, the majority being ladies, and the unanimous 
approval and expression that the exhibition was the 
best that had ever taken place in the north of England 
augurs well for the future prospects of the society. 
BUNCHES OF GRAPES CONVERTED TO 
TENDRILS. 
“ In my Vinery last year, which is eighteen feet in length, 
I had a nice crop of fruit, but of a had colour, Black Ilamhro’s, 
more like Gi'izzley Frontignans than anything else. This 
year, when grown six eyes in length, I thought I was going 
to have an abundant crop, but now I fear I shall have none. 
The bunches appeared strong once, and the foliage healthy, 
which continues up to the present time, but the fruit is a 
complete failure; the bunches turned yellow, the fruit fell 
off, and the stalk curled up like a tendril. On examining the 
