30 NYMPH/EACE^. 



attended with some success, to cultivate the Victoria in the 

 open air in tanks of water artificially heated, we must not claim 

 the wonderful plant as a hardy subject in this country; and it 

 is scarcely possible, even though, for the purposes of sensation, 

 it may appear desirable, to cram the representatives of the 

 genera of every clime into the cramped limits of our little but 

 glorious isle. Our efforts in making such a universal omiimm 

 gathcnim of plants would be only less ridiculous and dangerous 

 than the like on the part of the zoologists with animals. It 

 would undoubtedly be sensational to have the lion or the tiger 

 pricking up one's senses by a growl or a spring from the hedge 

 by the wayside ; but the beauty or the comfort of the thing 

 would be questionable, at least to mortals of ordinary nerve. 

 We have no need, however, to attempt naturalising the lions of 

 the vegetation of the tropics, even though by artifice we could 

 assure ourselves of success ; there are plenty of the tamer but 

 not less beautiful plants of temperate and northern climes, 

 which, without either much trouble or expense, may be had 

 for the various purposes that may be entertained in outdoor 

 gardening in this country. Nuphar, scarcely less beautiful 

 than Nymphsea, furnishes four or five hardy species of aquatics; 

 and Nymphaea gives us about the same number, which may 

 fairly vie with the most admired of the tropical species and 

 varieties as seen in our stoves. These hardy Water-Lilies are 

 very ornamental objects in lakes, ponds, and gently-running 

 streams, and their culture is most simple. They are easily 

 propagated by division in spring as growth commences, the 

 only care necessary being to secure the plants to the position 

 they are to occupy by some kind of anchor till they take root 

 and fix themselves, which they quickly do. Seeds also may 

 be used as soon as they are ripe ; or, if the seeds have to be 

 transported a distance, they should be put in small bottles of 

 water, and kept cool. They are usually sown by being cast 

 into the water where they are to grow; but a more certain way 

 is to sow them in shallow pans or pots, and gently drop them 

 into the water after they have been well wetted to prevent dis- 

 placement of the seeds. The only care afterwards necessary 

 is the prevention of injury by water-fowls or floods till the plants 

 have made some growth, when they will care for themselves. 

 No pricking off nor transplanting from the seed-pan is necessary 

 in the method described ; they quickly spread away from it, 

 and root and extend freely in all directions. 



Nuphar ( Ydlow Watcr-Lily), — In foliage and mode of growth 

 this group does not differ essentially from the Nymphasas, but in 

 the structure of the flowers there is an easily-recognised dis- 



