C. F. Behnisch is contacting Linnaeus not to praise or to flatter him, since he thinks Linnaeus must have been well-enough praised by greater scholars than he, but to learn from him. Behnisch has tried many sources to get information on something that he is sure Linnaeus knows very well.
Behnisch had left Berlin five months earlier to become a secretary to the Prussian legation in Stockholm. Before he left, he had gone to see Baron de Massow, who had told him of his contacts with Linnaeus and especially of a plant species, Linum Sybericum or Perenne, seeds of which Massow had been fortunate to receive from Linnaeus. The species had grown and been harvested for three years, and would have continued to have done so, if the field where it grew had not been devastated by cavalry who had destroyed the turf. Massow had been very sorry about that.
Behnisch is puzzled: since Linum is normally an annual plant, harvested by pulling the entire plant with root and all from the ground, this variant is very interesting since it can be harvested by cutting and leaves perennial roots.
Behnisch is eager to know more from Linnaeus on this species: where it comes from, where it is cultivated at present, and such things. He will be eternally grateful to Linnaeus for this information