102 GLASS-HOUSES 



in this condition it is placed in water, a large quantity of 

 that liquid is absorbed, the fronds are unfolded, and the 

 original form of the plant is restored. 



The Club Mosses, Lycopodiaceae, are not always to be 

 seen in the Garden, which is a pity, because they represent 

 an ancient race in which the spores were all of one kind. 

 The spore-bearing leaves are often clustered in cones : the 

 minute spores form the familiar lycopodtum powder. 



No. 6. THE WATER-LILY HOUSE 



The Water-lily House, in the middle of the block, measures 

 about 12 yds. by 10 yds. ; the centre is occupied by the tank 

 measuring 9 yds. by 7 yds., and is 4 ft. in depth. 



During the months of June and July the exuberance of 

 healthy vegetation in this house is calculated to give the 

 visitor some idea of the rank luxuriance in the steamy vapours 

 of a tropical swamp : but here, the leaf-forms, grown in 

 complete shelter from wind, are more perfect.* Nor is the 

 resemblance merely a superficial one, for if the gardeners who 

 tend the water-plants were to omit to take a periodical dose 

 of quinine, fever in a malignant form would be the penalty. 



On entering, we are confronted by a plot of Papyrus growing 

 in the well-ordered swamp, which has been arranged along 

 the near border of the tank. 



Papyrus antiquorum, now found in Europe only on the 

 banks of the Anapo in Sicily, and in Africa high up the Nile 

 above the cataracts, supplied the ancient Egyptians with 

 material for their paper, which may easily be prepared by 

 selecting some of the largest of the stems, and, after removing 

 the epidermis, cutting the pith longitudinally in thin slices, 

 and uniting the edges by gum-water, or any other adhesive 

 liquid. Among the Egyptians, water from the Nile was said 



* Illustrations of the interior have appeared in the Gardeners Chronicle 

 for 1885, p. 84, and in the " Book of Gardening," 1900. _ 



