158 



Culture of ' Nelumbiums. 



5 in. of the top of the tub, the remaining space to be occupied 

 with water. The part of the tub covered with water should 

 be painted, to prevent the growth of conferva?, which are very- 

 destructive to the young plants. As conferva? grow rapidly 

 in still water in any warm place, the top of the mud should be 

 covered with fine sand for about an inch ; and when the water 

 is changed, which it should be twice a week, this sand should 

 be slightly moved about, and the inside of the tub, as far as 

 the water goes, rubbed ; fresh water should be poured in from 

 a pot with a rose. This should be done early in the morning. 

 As the young leaves appear they should be bent down with 

 a stone to the surface of the sand- till the stalk has extended 

 itself long enough for the leaves to remain on the water ; for 

 if this were not done, as the plants grow naturally in water 

 several feet deep, the young leaves would soon rise through 

 the few inches of water at the top of the tub, and would get 

 withered by the sun. The nelumbium has two sorts of leaves ; 

 one weak, which rests always on the surface of the water, and 

 the other much stronger, which rises above it. The weak 

 leaves are those first produced ; after about a month, when the 

 tub is covered with these, the stronger leaves appear, and rise 

 out of the water 2 or 3 ft. high. {Jig. 38.) The plants then 



require much less care, as the 

 green slime (confervae) does 

 not grow readily when the 

 water is shaded by the leaves. 

 They should be kept as nearly 

 as possible in a temperature 

 of from 75° to 80° of Fahren- 

 heit; that is, by day: but at 

 night the house should, when 

 the weather is not very cold, 

 be left quite open, also some- 

 times in the day, during rains. 

 It would be as well to white- 

 wash the inside of the glass, 

 as any knots in it would burn 

 the tender leaves. Towards 

 the middle of September they 

 should be inured gradually to 

 the open air ; and by the end 

 of the month the tubs may be 

 placed in the open air, and left there without any covering till 

 the following spring. The frost has no effect on the roots. 

 The following spring they should be put into another tub 

 newly painted inside as before, with one half fresh earth. The 



