930 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



PART III. 



6727. Propagation and culture. 'Being-all herbaceous plants they are to be propagated as these generally 

 are : some are raised from seeds, which in general should be sown as soon as ripe, and the pots plunged in 

 shallow water ; when the plants come up, they may be transplanted into other pots, and shifted as they ad- 

 vance in growth, till in a pot of sufficient size to admit their flowering, which will generally take place the 

 same season. Instead of being kept in pots, the plants may be inserted in a bed of earth on the bottom of 

 the aquarium. The most beautiful of the exotic aquatics, are the nymnhajas and nelumbiums ; these, with 

 other genera, have been cultivated to a high degree of perfection by Kent, who, instead of a regular aqua- 

 rium employs pans and small cisterns, plunged in hot-beds. Where a regular aquarium is not formed to be 

 heated by flues (./*. 578, 579.) we should 



suggest the idea of a cistern (fig. 622.) to be 622 



placed on pillars in the open air. When the 

 season for forcing the nymphaeas com- 

 mences, it may be surmounted by a hot-bed 

 frame of the same diameter, and surrounded 



by linings of dung. By this means any re- 

 quired degree of heat might be produced 

 puring the flowering season, and if it were 



desired to continue any of the plants in a growing state durtng winter, the linings and frame could be 

 continued ; if not, the plants migntbe removed to a reserve-aquarium, in the stove or propagation-house. 

 6728. Menyanthes, nymphcea, and euryale ferox (an annual, with singularly constructed leaves, often of 

 thirty inches diameter), Kent has proved to thrive best in a close heat. Menyanthes requires only to be 

 fresh potted in spring, and placed in a pan in a hot-bed, where it will flower the whole summer. The 

 nymphajas having tuberous roots, he keeps, through the winter, in small pots (sixties), in a dormant state, 

 in a small trough of water in the stove. Early in April, he prepares them for their summer culture, by 

 placing these in small wooden cisterns, two feet long, fourteen inches wide, and six inches deep, and then 

 placing them in any cucumber or melon frames which may be then in use. " In about a fortnight or three 

 weeks a number of offsets or runners will be thrown from the bulbs. These are then separated and put 

 into small pots ; and in the course of ten or twelve days a strong plant of each species is selected, and 

 placed in the cisterns for flowering. The tender aquatics, especially the nymphaas, grow in a brick three- 

 light frame, thirteen feet long, and six feet broad ; inside depth at back, five feet, and above the ground, 

 four feet ; which is filled with tan. 1 have four wooden cisterns, lined with lead, four feet long, two feet 

 six inches wide, and fifteen inches deep : they are plunged in the tan, and filled with strong rich loam, 

 about six inches deep, the bottom part of which is rammed down ; and the plants placed in them, one or 

 two in each, according to their habit of growth. The cisterns are then filled with water by degrees. As 

 the plants advance in size, they must be replenished and cleared from conferva? as often as necessary ; and 



the heat in June produced the effect, although they were shaded from the sun's rays by matting, and the 

 lights considerably raised. Where dung is used, there is like danger, from its heating. After being 

 planted out, they will show flowers in the course of a month, and some of them will continue blooming 

 through the season. As soon as the plants have done flowering, and perfected their seeds, they disappear, 

 and form bulbs in the mud. These, in the month of October, I put into small pots (sixty to the cast), and 

 place them in a trough of water, in the stove, where they remain dormant until the ensuing spring. The 

 seeds are most likely to vegetate, if sown at the same time, and treated in the same manner. Nymphaea 

 casrulea will flower in the stove ; but not so freely as in the frame. Nymphzea stellata seeds freely, but the 

 root does not easily divide ; indeed it is best grown, when treated as an annual. Euryale ferox does well 

 under similar treatment to that of the nymphzeas ; its seed should be sown about Christmas, and kept in 

 the cistern of the stove." (Hort. Trans, iii. 34.) 



6729. Nelumbium speciosum " is easily raised from seed, which will retain its vegetative power for forty 

 years, and with every advantage, in a fair season, produce blossom the first summer. It is generally grown 



sown two months earlier. The leaves produced were about two feet in diameter ; but the plant went off 

 in the winter, notwithstanding it was treated in the manner hitherto found the most successful ; which has 

 been, to allow the tub to remain in the tan, and become nearly dry, giving it no more water than the other 

 plants around it. At Canton, it seems, they drain the ponds wherein it grows, and use the roots for food ; 

 but whether fibres of it are the parents of the ensuing crop, or the pots are replenished by seedlings, doe* 

 not appear. Both are probable, as the roots, which have been kept nearly dry in our hot-houses, if but a 

 very small piece has remained alive, have become vigorous blooming plants, as well as those from seed." 

 (Hort. Trans, ill 36.) 



6730. 



SECT. VII. Scitaminous, or Reedy Stove Plants. 

 MARSH, OR REEDY HOT-HOUSE PLANTS. 



6731. Propagation and culture. No plants are more easily propagated than those enumerated. In respect 

 to. culture, they may for the most part be considered as marsh or bog plants, for even the sugar-cane 

 (Saccharum officinarum) and ginger (Zingiber officinale) are found in a wild state by rivers and in moist 

 woods, and thrive best in the stove when their roots are liberally supplied with water. 



SECT. VIII. Selections of Bark-stove Plants for particular Purposes. 

 6732. Selections of bark-stove plants for particular purposes can be but few. A collec- 

 tion may be made of such as are or have been most used in the arts ; of curious or bota- 

 nists' species ; of such as are highly odoriferous, as asclepias, bignonia, clerodendron ; or 

 night-smelling, as cestrum nocturnum, cactus grandiflorus ; of palms, as of the sago-palm 

 (Cycas), of the cocoa-nut (Cocos), of the date-palm, (Phoenix) &c. ; or of any of the natural 



