12G WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1898. 



on the surface of the water. Again, the Eichornia Crassipes 

 major, or Water Hyacinth, is a floating plant which forms 

 rosettes of curious leaves. The stems are swollen at the base 

 and contain numerous air cells, causing the plant to float on the 

 water. The flowers are rosy lilac and resemble a spike of the 

 Dutch Hyacinth. The hyacinth should be planted in pots or 

 tubs so that the roots will be confined, otherwise they will over- 

 run everything. This water hyacinth grows and flowers floating 

 on the water, but it will produce better flowers if the roots are 

 in the soil. 



As we see this plant growing in small numbers in our ponds 

 or aquatic basins, it is difficult for us to imagine that in the 

 skiggish streams of Florida it flourishes so luxuriantly as to 

 block navigation. So serious a trouble has this become that the 

 Department of Agriculture at Washington has sent an agent to 

 investigate the matter. It has been suggested that to introduce 

 a natural enemy might solve the problem, and the red spider 

 has been considered. If it succeeded, however, it might be 

 found that the remedy was worse than the disease, or perchance, 

 the spider might not take to the water. I do not relate this 

 about the Hyacinth to discourage anyone here, but to show of 

 how easy culture it is under favorable circumstances. It is 

 worthy a place in every collection. 



The Limnocharis Humboldtii, or Water Poppy, is so called 

 because of the resemblance of the flowers to the California 

 Poppy. Its flowers are yellow with black stamens. The leaves 

 are small and oval in shape, floating on the top of the water, 

 and the plant grows with great rapidity. It soon begins to 

 flower after planting, and continues until frost a mass of bloom. 



Myriophyllum proserpinacoides, or Parrot's Feather, is a 

 graceful, half-hardy aquatic with a feathery foliage, and if 

 placed where it can hang in a fountain basin, produces a pretty 

 sight. 



The Sagittaria Japonica Floraplena, or Double-flowered 

 Arrowhead, a hardy variety from Japan with arrowhead foliage 

 and pure white flowers grown on a stalk. It resembles a giant 

 ten weeks' stock, and prefers to be grown in shallow water. 



