260 



MY GARDEN. 



summer. Like all the bog plants, it is a difficult plant to grow, and 

 mine frequently die. On the occasion of the next importation I 

 propose to attempt to acclimatize them, by growing them in an out- 

 door bog. 



There is a greenhouse water plant which should always be grown, 

 the Apoiiogeton dystachyon (fig. 532). It grows freely in a pan of 

 water with soil at the bottom, and it flowers abundantly in spring. 

 After flowering it deposits its seeds at the bottom of the pan, and 

 numerous young plants arise. I have known it to grow out of doors ; 

 it is killed by severe frosts : nevertheless, I shall attempt to accli- 

 matize it again, as, at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh, it grows 

 in an open pond in the highest luxuriance, and is there a beautiful 

 aquatic plant. 



Fit;. 532. Aponogeton dystacliyon. 



FIG. 533. Vallisneria spiralis. 



Another aquatic plant, the Vallisneria spiralis (fig. 533), which is 

 bi-sexual, and of which the female plant is almost exclusively grown 

 in this country, is always cultivated in every greenhouse belonging to 

 the microscopist. Under a high power of the microscope it shows a 

 circulation in each cell ; and, particularly, Messrs. Powell and Lealand's 

 fg-th object-glass exhibits this feature in perfection. The plant is 

 easily grown in common soil in a pan of water, and the little tiny 

 flower upon a stem of two or three feet in length is very curious. 



I have grown the splendid Nymph&a ccerulea with perfect success 

 in my vinery, as well as Limnocharis Humboldtii, and many other 

 aquatics ; but water plants require full sunlight, or to be grown close 

 to the glass, or they will not succeed. The vines, however, give so much 



