Culture of Nelumbium specibsum. 515 



being taken in removing it, that the germ of the principal root 

 be not injured; and as much of the ball of earth round the root 

 should be preserved as possible. It should be placed in the same 

 situation in summer as in winter. When, by this treatment, I 

 had kept the plants for tw^o years most successfully through the 

 winter, and the pot was full of roots, 1 found it necessai'y, in the 

 third year, to put it in a larger vessel before flowering ; a round 

 tub of oak, fir, or larch is the best, an earthenware one will 

 not do. The tub, 2 ft. high, and 1 ft. 6 in. wide, was pre- 

 pared in the following manner. If it is quite new, it ought first 

 to be seasoned by having something burned in it: the bottom 

 should then be covered about 4 or 5 inches deep with a layer of 

 gravel and loam, and over this should be placed a layer of 7 

 or 8 inches deep of the mud in which the nympheeas grow, as 

 above described; but when that is not to be had, the rich mud 

 from ponds and rivers in which several water-plants are found, 

 such as Ceratophyllum demersum and the different kinds of 

 potamogetons, is the most desirable. The plant should now be 

 put in the tub thus prepared, taking the greatest care to preserve 

 the ball of earth, and it should be placed in a very light situation, 

 as near the window as possible, the empty space of the tub being 

 filled up with water by degrees, and a fresh supply of it kept up 

 throughout the summer. Although the larjre leaves were now 

 more than 1 ft. in diameter, and the stem more than 5 ft. 

 above the surface of the water, no flower-buds made their ap- 

 pearance. As the plant seemed to require deeper water, and 

 as further transplanting might be attended with danger, I 

 formed the resolution of placing the tub in a larger one in 

 spring, which was about 3 in. wider and 6 in. deeper ; and to 

 prevent any injury being sustained by the flower buds in re- 

 moving the water from the tub, I had a cock put in about half 

 the height of the outer one ; the water was thus carefully drawn 

 off into a watering-pot, and used for watering other plants, a fresh 

 supply being daily put in its place. This method proved so suc- 

 cessful, that a flower-bud made its appearance about the middle 

 of July, deep under the water; and by the 16th of August the 

 flower-stalk had attained the height of 6 ft. above the surface 

 of the water, and far above the leaves. The following morning 

 the first flower was expanded, but not completely so ; it closed 

 again at noon, and it was only in the mornings of the second and 

 third day that this splendid flower was displayed for the first time 

 (as far as I know) on the Continent in all its splendour. It has 

 flowered every year since, and has produced perfectly ripe seed. 

 I cannot forbear to mention here, that, whenever this splendid 

 plant is grown in a large hothouse of moderate heat, it should be 

 in a large basin, and the form ought undoubtedly to be round ; 

 as the strong principal root, from which the leaf and flower buds 



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