HARDY FLOWERS. 



Sodeg. When of sufficient size, pot off the seedlings into 

 3m. to 4m. or 5in. pots before planting them out. 



The following are extracts, reproduced with permission, 

 from M. Latour-Marliac's lecture delivered before the 

 Royal Horticultural Society last year, and published in 

 their official Journal. A list of the finest kinds is first 

 given, but these have been described. He then mentions 

 that the Nymphseas are nearly all of equal hardiness, but 

 "frequently differ among themselves in their early or late 

 blooming, in their standing up above the water or floating 

 on it, in their flowers being many or few, or in their 

 general structure and growth being compact or wide 

 spreading. Some of them form strong clumps which 

 constantly increase in strength, but do not spread about, 

 whilst others are of a roaming nature, their stolons and 

 interlacing rhizomes wandering over a large space, and 

 quickly spreading across the roots of other varieties. In 

 natural lakes and ponds it is impossible to prevent this 

 confusion ; but this irregular growth should not be 

 permitted in artificial basins and aquaria, where rai l, 

 plant in the collection should remain distinct ami thrive 

 independently; besides, it would nol only produce 

 inextricable confusion amongst the plants, but the weaker 

 ones would be smothered by the stronger. In order to 

 obviate this difficulty, it is indispensable that the Water- 

 lilies should be planted separately and at proper 

 distances, or else in pots or in stonework basins, of which 

 the sides and bottom have been carefully cemented. It 

 is very important that the basins should be divided into 

 several compartments by partitions, which should not be 

 higher than three-fourths of the depth of the water, in such 

 a way that they only prevent the roots and rhizomes from 

 meeting, w ithout preventing the leaves from intermingling 

 on the surface. A depth of 2ft. is enough for the tanks. 

 A bed of earth 6in. deep on the bottom of the basins w ill 

 be sufficient lor the culture of Water-lilies. It ought to 

 be as free as possible from gravel and stones. The best 



the water the same as that of the air, for it is essential to 

 remember that Nymphteas thrive best in stagnant water, 

 or al hast iii a very gentle current. 



" In stocking a tank with Water-lilies the object should 

 be to obtain by a harmonious combination and sequence 

 of shades and colours a generally good effect, and for 

 that purpose plants with high stalks should be avoided, 

 as that would destroy the general view. It is necessary 

 also to suppress confervce and certain under-water plants 

 which are clogging and clinging, such as Chara, Vallis- 

 neria, Elodea, and Potamogeton, which live at the 

 expense of the Water-lilies w ithout adding anything to 

 the picture. 



"THE PROPAGATION of hybrid Water-lilies is effected 

 in the case of the greater number o( varieties by the 

 pulling to pieces of their creeping stems and by the 

 detachment of their tubers. Some individual plants, 

 such as N. Laydekeri rosea, do not give any offshoots, but 

 this is a rare exception. Others bear seed, but the 

 resulting plants have always a tendency to degenerate. 

 The planting can he carried on all through the spring and 

 summer, and presents no difficulty, as it only consists in 

 fixing them in the earth in April or May. II you wish to 

 obtain new varieties you must have recourse to seed and 

 to hybridisation. The method of sowing is quite simple. 

 It is only necessary to place the seeds in shallow vessels 

 in the spring and carefully keep them lull ol water. The 

 work of hybridisation is more complicated, as it is 

 necessary to entirely cut away, at the very first moment 

 of expansion, all the stamens of those flowers which you 

 wish to artificially fertilise, and on the second day to dust 

 their stigmas with a brush covered with pollen from those 

 kindschosenfor the crossing of them. It is worthy of remark 

 that success in hybridisation depends principally on the 

 care of the operator in only employing subjects of a 

 vigorous growth, well chosen, and titled to produce types 

 that w ill be very free blooming and of perfect forms and 



HYBRID WATER-LILIES. 



kind of earth is heavyish loam from the garden or 

 meadow, but earth composed of leaf-mould and alluvial 

 soil is also very suitable. One can also make a mixture 

 of them, but it is better not to put with them any fresh 

 manure which is still undergoing fermentation. As regards 

 the choice of water, that which comes from a stream or 

 river is to be preferred, though that from wells will do. 

 When the water is taken from running springs it ought in 

 summer to be turned off, so as to keep the temperature of 



shades. The flow ers generally sink after the third day of 

 blooming, and the pods which they produce come to 

 maturity at the bottom ol the water. They come half 

 open when they are ripe, and allow a multitude of seeds 

 about the size of small pearls to drop out, and these 



i ediately rise to the surface surrounded by a gelatinous 



substance. They must then be collected at once, with 

 the aid of a small strainer, as they only float for hardly a 

 single day, and then sink straight to the bottom, from 



