53S 



On the Cultivation of the Nelumbium. 



desserts as the Spanish chestnuts on our stalls.* Italy, which 

 has thousands of useless acres on the borders of the many 

 lakes in the north ; the large tracts of Mammora in Tuscany, 

 and the still more extensive Pontine marshes; all these, 

 which now produces nothing (I mean the parts actually water 

 or swamp) may be covered by Nelumbiums. There will be 

 this great advantage attending their culture in Italy, that the 

 produce may be gathered late in the autumn, when the season 

 of the Malaria is over.-f 



I ought to have mentioned above, that the Nymphaea cseru- 

 lea flourished exceedingly under the same treatment with the 

 Nelumbiums, and bore flowers of double the size of those it 

 bears in England, and of exquisite fragrance. This plant, 

 like the Nelumbiums, requires a warm summer, but is per- 

 fectly hardy in regard to frosts. A plant flowered vigorously 

 in the following summer, which had been left in a frame 

 during the winter, and frozen into a cake like iron. 



* One of the greatest gifts to the south of Europe will be perhaps the Camellia 

 Oleifera (lately imported into Europe by the Horticultural Society), as its oil is 

 said to be equal to the Olive, and it will grow in the same climate, requires a less 

 fertile soil, is of much greater growth, and more abundant produce. 



f Pallas in his travels mentions having seen a Nelumbium growing in 

 great abundance near Astracan and at the mouth of the Volga. This is probably 

 either a new species or a distinct variety, as he says that a very fragrant water is 

 obtained from its flowers. The Chinese and American Nelumbiums have a faint 

 but very pleasant scent, resembling new hay, or the Tonquin bean. See 

 ± allas s Travels m the Southern Provinces of the Russian Empire. 4to. London, 

 1802, VoU. page 260. (The particular plant here alluded to is theNelumbium 

 Ca^.icuiii. See.) 



