13 6 Transactions of the Horticultural Society. 



be sufficiently watered. In Denmark, the roots are generally 

 taken out of the ground at the end of October, and preserved 

 in sand, out of the reach of frost, in a dry house for winter use. 

 Celeriac may be considered as a bulbous or knob-rooted 

 variety of celery, having a continual tendency to return to its 

 natural form : hence, as a bulb, like all other bulbs, it will not 

 attain a large size if much earthed up. As a celery, to be 

 eatable, it requires to be blanched, and therefore must be 

 earthed up to a certain extent, but the less the better ; and, as 

 in a highly artificial state, and not a very likely plant to 

 produce a fleshy mass or bulb, it requires to be aided in its 

 unnatural efforts to concentrate its sap in a bulb, by removing 

 part of the outer roots and side leaves, and supplying abun- 

 dance of moisture and nutriment. 



44. On the Culture of the Nelumbium speciosum. By Mr. A. 



Stewart, F.H.S. Read March 7. 1826. 



The accidental leaking of a tub, in which a plant of this 

 beautiful aquatic was placed, suggested the improvement in 

 its culture, which this paper describes. The plant is kept in 

 a pine stove, with little water, during winter; but the tub is 

 filled nearly to the brim, and kept so, while the plant is grow- 

 ing ; afterwards, when its leaves begin to raise themselves above 

 the surface of the water, the water is made to rise as high as 

 the leaves, and fall as low as the roots and soil, once every 

 twenty-four hours, in imitation of tides, or the rise and fall 

 of rivers. The mode in which Mr. Stewart effects this is, by 

 slacking the upper hoop of the tub, by which means the 

 water escapes slowly through the staves, so that being filled 

 up every evening, the tub was generally emptied down to the 

 earth in which the plant grew in the morning. This process 

 is continued till the flowers and leaves die away, and the 

 plant, as before noticed, is kept during winter almost dry. 

 This treatment appears perfectly natural, or such as we may 

 suppose takes place in the margins of rivers and lakes in a 

 country subject to periodical rains, such as Egypt, and many 

 parts of the East. The alternate action of the air and water 

 seems to produce a greater excitement than the water alone, 

 and thus throw the plant into flower. 



45. Description of a Fit for Winter and earhj Spring Forcing* 



' By Mr. A. Stewart, F.H.S. 



A sunk-walled excavation (j%. 119.) three feet and a half 

 wide, three feet deep at the back, and one foot nine inches in 



