On the Cultivation of the Nelumbium Speciosum. 423 



also that I should have succeeded in procuring ripe seeds, and 

 I have some reason to think this would have been the case, had 

 the idea of assisting the fructification struck me sooner, for I 

 endeavoured to do so with the last flower which opened, and 

 the capsule of that swelled much larger than either of the 

 others, and the seeds attained nearly their full size, though 

 they were not perfect ; I hope, however, to be more successful 

 in the present year. 



It is necessary, in addition, to observe, that the tub in which 

 the plant grew was plunged in a corner of a pit in which pines 

 are fruited, and which is kept during the greater part of the 

 spring and summer at a temperature as high as from 65° to 90° 

 and even to 100° of Fahrenheit ; in winter the temperature is 

 kept lower, being seldom above 60°. During that time the 

 plant received but little water ; and indeed the supply was 

 diminished gradually from the time the plant flowered until it 

 became almost dry, and it remained in that state during the 

 winter. In the spring I gave rather more water, and as soon 

 as the leaves began to grow a few inches above the surface I 

 took out as carefully as possible all the old earth from about 

 the roots and replaced it with strong rich loam ; the tub was 

 then kept nearly full of water, so as to allow the leaves to float, 

 and was continued in this state until they were sufficiently 

 strong to rise of themselves above the surface of the water, to 

 the height of about eighteen or twenty inches ; I then began 

 to reduce the water by slacking the upper hoop of the tub so 

 as to let the water escape gradually through the staves to 

 about the level of the earth which the plant grew in ; this it 

 generally did in the course of the night. This process was 

 pursued during the last summer, the tub being filled up with 



