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LXIII. On the Cultivation of Nelumbiums. By Joseph 

 Clare, Esq. 



Read February 7, 1826. 



The Nelumbium Speciosum has been occasionally cultivated 

 in England, but the plants have been soon lost, having seldom 

 been brought to flower, and then but feebly. The yellow 

 flowering Nelumbium from America has, I believe, never 

 been successfully cultivated in England. In its native 

 country, the Nelumbium speciosum grows on the borders of 

 rivers and lakes, or in such ponds as are of a size sufficient 

 to allow the agitation of the winds on their surface, thus pre- 

 venting their stagnation. In England, Nelumbiums have 

 always been planted in stagnant water, for such our Aquariums 

 must be considered. These Aquariums are consequently 

 overrun with slime and conferva?, and the plants in them are 

 soon choked up and destroyed. Placed in this manner in 

 small tubs or cisterns,, these aquatics would not live even in 

 the open air of their native climates. 



A few years ago I made some experiments upon the method 

 of growing water plants in the north of Italy, which is nearly 

 the same climate as the north of China, where, Dr. Abel* 



* See Abel's Narrative of a Journey in China, page 122. At the place referred 

 to, Dr. Abel gives the following account of Chinese Nelumbiums. " The Ne- 

 lumbium is used by the Chinese to decorate lakes, and other ornamental water, 

 and to give a charm and productiveness to marshes, otherwise unsightly and 

 barren. Near Yuen-Ming-Yuen, and under the walls of Pekin, I saw it 

 covering with pink and yellow blossoms large tracts of land, and could sympathise 

 with the enthusiasm of the Chinese bards, who have sung of the delight of moon- 



