308 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY 
white sporting shoots one way or another? and every 
one of them that will “ catch your eye” make sure of it, 
on the principle of the Experimental Garden; and we 
shall soon have enough of these variegated kinds to 
select from for beds, just as we now do with the plain¬ 
leaved kinds. 
Linum giiandifloeu.m. —My seedlings from the seeds 
sown in pots in the open air on the 13th of May came 
into bloom on the 20th of July, just five weeks later 
than plants from seeds which were sown three months 
earlier. Now, if you look at page 233 of Vol. XIV., you 
will see the exact colour of the flowers in my report of 
the June Show at Chiswick ; but, to save trouble, I shall 
extract what relates to colour. “ The flower of this 
Linum is exceedingly rich aud gay. It is not just a 
crimson (as the French said in 1848), but next thing to 
it, with a darker eye. The word atro-sanguinea gives the 
best expression of the colour;” therefore, whoever sold 
seeds of it as a red, or rubrum, or scarlet, ought to have 
been taken before the Lord Mayor for dishonesty. 
D. Beaton. 
RECOLLECTIONS OF RAITH. 
The gardens of this beautiful residence of Colonel 
j Ferguson are close to the west end of Kirkaldy. The 
i house stands on elevated ground, a mile or so to the 
! north, commanding a fine sweep of its own rich woods, 
1 its extended lakes, the expanse of the Frith of Forth, 
and the scenery of the opposite shore, mellowed by dis¬ 
tance and the intervening water. This aud Weems 
| Castle were laid out by Nicol. The range of houses . 
j were the same as engraved in his Gardener, and, no 
\ doubt, under his able management,everything answered. 
Until lately Weems Castle had the range of houses 
: exactly as Nicol left them. There, however, I heard that 
, innovation and improvement were unfolding themselves 
, in new houses, much, I should imagine, to the joy of 
Mr. Simpson, who managed the old ones so well twenty- 
j five years ago. It is not to be wondered at that the 
worthy veteran, when in London in the Exhibition year, 
could have no recollection of the raw youths—one now no 
, more—who called upon him one morning before break¬ 
fast, having walked twenty miles the preceding night 
to Kirkaldy after six o’clock, obtained lodgings, paid 
their score over-night, and got to Dysnrt early in the 
morning, after exploring almost every hole and corner ■ 
in the “ lang town” in searching for and finding the l 
identical house in which Dr. Adam Smith wrote his 
“ Wealth of Nations,” a work which we were then read¬ 
ing on the sly, and from which we managed to pick out 
some principles of political science, having previously 
“ drifted ” to all points of theory and belief, being any- 
thingarians aud nothingarians in turn. You may smile 
at the idea of reading such a book on the sly; but it 
was no less a fact, for, as respects progress and freedom 
of opinion, the “former times were not better than these;” 
as a simple proof of which I may mention, that though 
the young men in the garden clubbed to pay for a weekly 
I paper, aud some wished the paper changed, they were 
i given to understand that such a one as they wished 
could not come to the place. Such journeyings at that 
time were anything but uncommon, and as the greatest 
i advantages have some countervailing lesser evils, so the 
lesser evil at the present time is, that the cheap and 
expeditious rail will as effectually take away the powers 
of walking from young gardeners as the ’busses have al¬ 
ready done in the case of the Londoners. 
At that period, llaith, at which we called during the 
forenoon, was, aud had long been, under the manage¬ 
ment of the late Mr. Norval, whose pupils are to be 
found in every quarter, but none belter known and 
espected tban Mr. Thompson, of the Horticultural Gar- 
GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— July 20 , I8f>0. 
dens. If an unfortunate crisis should happen with 
I these Gardens, there are ways in which the benefited 
may show that they are not wholly ungrateful, llaith 
has now been managed many years by Mr. Crockett, one 
of the most persevering and enthusiastic gardeners I 
ever had the fortune to meet with; and a few points that 
came under my notice in the first week of if ay, I will 
take the liberty of mentioning for the benefit of our j 
readers. 
The long range of houses built by Nicol has totally j 
disappeared, and a shorter but very wide and lofty ’ 
range of lean-to’s has taken their place, consisting of I 
five houses or divisions, two Vineries on one side, a 1 
Vinery and Peacliery on the other, and a greenhouse in 
the centre, there being pits aud frames in a ground be¬ 
hind. All these houses were in excellent order, and 
showing full crops. In the greenhouse I noticed large i 
plants of Erica Linnccoides superha, Melanthera, &c., and j 
a broad stone shelf in front, stored with nice compact j 
plants of the same genus, among which was also a 
perfect gem of that real beauty Trenandra ( Tetraiheca ) 
ericifolia, which I recommend to every amateur hav¬ 
ing a greenhouse, and which seems as easily cultivated 
as the hardiest house Heaths or Epacrises. On the 
stage, besides a nice little plant of Rhododendron Dal- 
housianum, I think on its own roots, in bloom, and the 
blooms more clear than they generally come, perhaps 
the two most striking were a large plant of Gantna 
dependens in bloom, and a huge bush of Calceolaria 
violacea, smothered with its little violet-coloured flowers. 
Few can equal, and far less surpass, the Messrs. Veitch, 
the introducers of this Cantua, in blooming it satisfac¬ 
torily. Mr. Crockett had grown it freely the previous 
summer, exposed it liberally to sun and air in autumn, 
curtailed watering as the days shortened, kept it dryish and 
cool in the greenhouse in winter, and, as the sun gained 
powerin March and April, gave more of the water-pot: and 
the increased temperature of the season seemed all that 
was required to bring out a mass of bloom. 
The Calceolaria violacea, if it is a Calceolaria, I have 
never grown, though I saw it some years ago, and rather 
think it was not much thought of about London, though 
really it is a pretty shrubby plant, with leaves not much 
larger than those of Maliernia, producing myriads of its 
little flowers on the young shoots of the previous summer, 
and altogether a striking object when grown as in the 
present case. I met with this Violacea in several places 
about Edinburgh ; so it seems to be rather a favourite 
with our northern friends. Would it not be worth while 
for Mr. Lane or Mr. Crockett to try and get the large- 
flowered Calceolarias allied to this small-leaved, tho¬ 
roughly shrubby kind? for what we call shrubby Calceo¬ 
larias have much of the herbaceous in them after all. 
Strelitzia regime. —In answer to a correspondent some 
time ago, I doubted the managing of this successfully 
in a house from which the frost was merely excluded in 
winter, because, in several cases, I had lost and injured 
plants in making such experiments. In most if not all 
of these trials the plants were in pots, and, consequently, 
more liable to casualties than if planted out. Mr. 
Crockett has been more successful. A large mass of it 
had been planted out in the end of a late Vinery. It 
was coming into bloom, showing plentifully and strongly. 
Of course, it would have plenty of heat in sumn'ier; hut 
in winter there was just enough heat given to exclude , 
frost, aud just enough moisture to keep the plants from 
shrivelling, aud that was very little. 
Lime-water for driving worms out of pots. —There is, 
no doubt, a difference in the strength of lime in different 
districts. I have advised being careful of its use with 
Fleaths and fine-haired plants when annoyed with 
worms. Mr. Crockett has no such scruples. His 
heath-soil, though seemingly very good, he found 
prolific in worms; at least, they made a home of his 
