WATERING POTS. 



338 



WATER PLANTAIN. 



In the placing of water, whether 

 in imitation of nature or in the 

 creation of artificial character, re- 

 gard should always be had to the 

 surrounding scenery. Water in 

 landscape attracts the eye more 

 powerfully than any other material, 

 and therefore it should never he 

 placed near a boundary, or near 

 any object to which it is not desir- 

 able to attract attention. Water in 

 imitation of na^ture should also be 

 placed in what is in reality or in 

 appearance the lowest part of the 

 grounds ; but this rule does not 

 apply to water in highly artificial 

 forms. 



Water Caltrops. — See Tra'pa. 



Water Flannel. — A very curi- 

 ous substance, resembling a kind of 

 grey cloth, about a quarter of an 

 inch thick, which is occasionally 

 thrown by rivers upon the meadows 

 they overflow. When examined 

 by a microscope, this cloth will be 

 found to consist of a great num- 

 ber of plants of Conferva crispa 

 or capillaris (which has the pro- 

 perty of entwining its curling stems 

 together, so as to form large beds), 

 coated over with carbonate of lime. 

 The stems of the Conferva are so 

 closely woven together, and the 

 insterstices are so completely filled 

 up by the starchy seeds of the plant, 

 and the chalky covering that is 

 spread over them, as to form a 

 sufficiently compact mass to make 

 into articles of clothiag ; and it is 

 said that waistcoats have actually 

 been made of it. 



Watering Pots are generally 

 formed of tinned-iron, painted ; but 

 a cheaper kind, nearly as durable 

 is formed of zinc, which requires no 

 paint. Watering pots are of differ- 

 ent sizes, and in every garden 

 having plants in pots there ought 

 to be three sizes : large, for the 

 open garden ; smaller, for plants 



in pots under the hand ; and yet 

 smaller, and with a long tube or 

 spout, for pots on a shelf, or at a 

 distance from the operator. 



Watering. — See Water. 



W^ater-leaf. — See Hydro - 

 phy'llum. 



Water Lily. — See Nymph^e^a 

 and Nelu'mbium. 



Water Plants are those which 

 must have their roots and a portion 

 of the stalk submerged in water, in 

 contradistinction to marsh plants, 

 which only need to have their roots 

 constantly kept moist. Most water- 

 plants require to be planted, or to 

 have their seeds sown, in a layer 

 of soil at the bottom of the cistern 

 or aquarium in which they are 

 grown, if they are tender plants ; 

 or in the soil at the bottom of a 

 pond or other piece of water, in the 

 open ground, if they are hardy. 

 Most water-plants have their leaves 

 and flowers always above the sur- 

 face of the water ; and others raise 

 themselves above the water in the 

 day, when their flowers are ex- 

 panded, and sink below it at night, 

 when their flowers are closed up, 

 so as not to be injured by the 

 water. To enable them to do this, if 

 the water should be deep, the stems 

 are sometimes unnaturally elon- 

 gated, and consequently they become 

 weak, and unable to flower, or per- 

 fect their seeds properly. To avoid 

 the inconvenience of this, a frame- 

 work is sometimes fixed in the 

 margin of the pond to hold the pot 

 in which the plant grows, and to 

 keep it at a proper depth in the 

 water. When plants are placed 

 in the beds of rivers, a stone should 

 be laid on the roots to keep them 

 in their proper place, and to prevent 

 them from being washed away by 

 the stream. 



Water Plantain. — Alisma. — 

 British marsh plants. 



