WATER PLANTS. 1*7 



go, as they are difficult to keep over the Winter, except in a large green- 

 house tank. Small, dormant tubers of any of the above can be started 

 in the Spring, and by careful manipulation they will give several plants 

 each, which will afford as much, if not more, satisfaction than would 

 the older plants. Another matter which should be kept in mind con- 

 cerning the above kinds is that they do not form small tubers at the 

 sides of the large ones made during the growing season. The reverse is 

 the case with such species and forms as N. dentata, N. devoniensis, N. 

 rubra, N. Sturtevantii, N. O'Marana, N. Columbiana, N. Deaniaua, N. 

 delicatissima and N. Smithiana. These are all tender night-blooming 

 kinds and form tubers around the sides of the parent tuber or root- 

 stock; they are very irregular in shape, not at all resembling the pear- 

 shaped tuber of a young starved plant. After the display of flower is 

 over for the season, cut off the leaves close to the crown, and with a 

 spade cut oH the roots about 6 inches from the crown; lift the clump 

 and put beneath the stage of a warm house. The central part will decay 

 in a short time, and before this actually happens the tubers may be 

 gathered and stored for the Winter. N. gracilis and N. pulcherrima, 

 white and blue respectively, will keep easily, if the old root-stocks are 

 saved, as they do not decay so easily as the other tender day bloomers. 

 When it is necessary to keep old plants of the above-named day bloomers 

 other than N. gracilis and N. pulcherrima, lift the smallest of the plants, 

 save as many roots and leaves as possible, pot them and sink in a tank, 

 the water of which does not fall below 50 degrees F. There are several 

 methods of keeping the small tubers of the tender Nymphseas over Win- 

 ter. Those from the night bloomers should not be removed in a hurry, 

 as the wound made by separating is apt to be slow in healing, and the 

 riper the tubers when the work is done the greater the success. They 

 keep well in damp moss, on the floor of a warm house. If they are 

 starved tubers, that is, of the pear-shaped form, there is little fear of 

 decay setting in, for then there are no wounds to heal as in the case of 

 detached tubers. They may be then kept dry, but warm. Probably 

 the safest plan, and the one which I adopt, is to put each kind in a pot 

 of sand and sink in a warm tank. 



Raising Hardy Kinds from Seeds N. pygmsea seeds very freely, in 

 fact, every flower may be depended upon to ripen a capsule; but if there 

 is an overflow to the pond the seeds are very apt to get lost, as they 

 float on the surface after being liberated from the capsule. If gathered 

 before this takes place, and the pulpy material removed from around 

 them, they may be thrown in a part of the pond where they are likely 

 to germinate. N. caroliniensis, N. tuberosa, N. odorata and one or two 

 of its varieties set seeds freely, but as they increase so easily from rhi- 

 zomes there is little need of raising seedlings. Marliac's hybrids are 

 evidently sterile, although the pollen in those I have tested is good. 

 Some of these hybrids do not permit of division of the root-stocks, and 

 the probable reason why they cannot be propagated in this country is, 

 one of the parents of the hybrids being so difficult to grow here it is 

 unavailable for the purpose of pollination. N. lutea and N. mexicana 

 seed somewhat sparingly, but both kinds have two methods of resting 

 during Winter, so that raising plants from seed need not be resorted to. 



