590 



NYMPH^EA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



NYMPH-fliA. 



These lovely water flowers are not 

 difficult to manage. A simple way of 

 planting is to put the plants with soil 

 in some shallow baskets and sink these 

 to the bottom, and before the basket 

 has rotted the plant will have fixed 

 itself to the bottom. Or in ponds 

 where there is a rich muddy bottom 

 I plant by tying a drain-pipe or a 

 piece of waste iron to a root and 

 throw it in where the water is between 

 1 8 inches and 2 feet deep. The best 

 season for planting is the spring, and 

 plants put in in April or May make 



conditions of the cemented tank. But 

 if neither ponds nor tanks are available, 

 these Water-Lilies can still be easily 

 grown, for, as M. Latour-Marliac says, 

 like Diogenes, they can content them- 

 selves in a tub. 



" The enemies of Water-Lilies are 

 water-rats and swans and other water 

 birds, especially moorhens, which often 

 pull them to pieces. Moorhens are 

 very destructive to the flowers, and 

 should be closely watched. There is, 

 however, another enemy. We noticed 

 it first from seeing leaves detached and 



Bud of hybrid Water-Lily, N. Marliacea. carnea (natural size), gathered from open water at Gravetye, 



Sussex, at the end of October. 



sufficient progress to flower before 

 summer is gone. They are often 

 grown in brick and cement tanks, sunk 

 in the ground to a depth of from 

 2\ to 3 feet. These, with a foot of 

 soil and the rest water, would grow 

 excellent Water-Lilies, and the plants 

 do not want a great depth of water 

 over their crowns. It would be well 

 to arrange that at least a foot might 

 cover them in winter, and then they 

 are virtually safe from frost. They 

 grow better in the mud of ponds and 

 lakes than under the more artificial 



floating. On the water becoming 

 clearer one could see what appeared 

 to be small bits of stick an inch or so 

 long attached in numbers to the leaf- 

 stalk. It was the grub of the caddis- 

 fly, with its house upon its back. In 

 the hollow stick it was safe from the 

 fish, and, fastening upon the young 

 and tender leaf-stalk, the grubs fed 

 away until the leaf was eaten asunder. 

 Strongly - established plants are not 

 likely to suffer, but a watch should be 

 kept on young plants if rare varieties." 

 The common water-rat or vole is an 



