August 30, 1893.] 



Garden and Forest. 



365 



am tempted to say my say with regard to them. Yesterday 

 I received a letter from a correspondent at Beaver Falls, 

 Pa., in which the merits of different Nymphseas are dis- 

 cussed, and also revealing exceptional success in the 

 management of some and failure with others. My friend, 

 who is an amateur and a new hand at gardening, asks if 

 cow-manure is good for Nymphseas, some one having said 



showed us that the "microbes" in the manure-heap and the 

 diseased leaves were identical. We thought this conclusive, 

 and so last year we grew our Victoria in good maiden 

 loam without manure of any kind. The result was a plant 

 of average health, but below average size both in leaf and 

 flower. Meanwhile other growers used equal portions of 

 cow-manure and loam for their Victorias and had plants 



I. A fluwciiiis^ brancli, natural size. 



Fig. 56. — Carpinus Carpiiius. — See page 363. 



2. A I'luiliiig branch, natural size. 3. A slaniinate flower, enlarged. 4. A nutlet with its bract shewing the basal lobe, natural size. 

 5. A nutlet, slightlj' enlarged. 



that it was not. It is difficult to prescribe for sick plants, 

 especially at a distance, and even when furnished with full 

 details one is apt to ascribe sickness to the wrong cause. 

 Here is a case in point : Two years ago our Victoria regia 

 grew sick, and in time the leaves were all full of large 

 holes caused by a species of spot. Various doctors pre- 

 scribed for it or diagnosed the disease. The fungologist 

 declared that the cow-manure was the cause, and in proof 



with leaves "as large and solid as billiard-tables." And 

 so this year we returned to our microbe-infested cow- 

 manure, half and half as usual, and there is no spot, no 

 weakness, but a grand plant, as robust and healthy as I 

 have ever seen. I am certain that cow-manure is an 

 e-xcellent ingredient for aquatics of all kinds, stimulating 

 and promoting growth of both leaf and flower. To all 

 growers of these plants I say do not be afraid of cow- 



