CHAPTER XIII 



Enemies and Friends 



Water-lilies growing in natural ponds 

 are greatly subject to the attacks of various 

 enemies, especially of those belonging to the 

 animal kingdom. The one most to be 

 dreaded is the muskrat, who, if unrestrained, 

 will feed on the rhizomes during the winter. 

 He has a preference for those species with 

 the least fibrous roots, such as the odorata 

 group. The nelumbiums also fall a prey 

 to his voracity. And what they use for food 

 is but a small part of what they destroy, for 

 a muskrat, after gnawing off a large piece 

 of the rhizome, will drag it to the bank, there 

 to eat it at his leisure, and leaving it thus 

 exposed it is surely killed. 



So great a plague is the muskrat that one 

 has to choose between harbouring this 

 criminal or growing nymphaeas. The best 



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