196 FLORAL BEAUTIES OF OUR BOGS AND PONDS. 



When closed, it is impossible to distinguish with any car- Although the flowers ordinarily close about noon, the 

 tainty a young or old flower ; therefore, if choice fresh fact that they remain open longer in a dark, cool day is 

 flowers are desired, the importance of picking them in nature's hint to us to keep them open artificially. If 

 the forenoon is apparent. we place freshly opened flowers in a dark, cool place on 



Dealers sometimes pick the buds for market, instead of the ice in a refrigerator, and let them stay there until 

 the flowers, but when this is done they are picked clean wanted for use, they will not close until they have been 

 every day, so that there are no old flowers among them. exposed to the open air long enough to receive their nat- 



E. D. Sturtevant says of gathering ; " Handle them ural amount of heat. In this way we may use them for 

 tenderly, as if you loved them. Do not grasp at the open ^ few hours at an unnatural time. Although they gener- 

 flower as if it were a peony or a hollyhock, for then it ally open only four days when in the pond, if kept in the 

 will come off stalkless in your hand ; but coil your thumb house the periods of opening may be prolonged so that 

 and second finger affectionately around it, press the ex- the flowers last a week. 



tended forefinger firmly to the stem below, and with one In most varieties the stems of the leaf and flower are 

 steady pul) you will secure a long and delicate stalk." round, in others they are oval; some are smooth and 



clean, others are thickly covered with 

 a bristly growth that is unclean ; some 

 are green, others are pink and red. 

 The petals in some are long and nar- 

 row, in others broad. Petals 3 inches 

 long in some varieties are only of 

 an inch wide, while others of the same 

 length are i finches broad. In some 

 the outer petals are sepal-like, being 

 tinged with green on the outside. 



Notwithstanding the name odorata, 

 some are odorless. This is generally 

 the case with those growing in Flor- 

 ida. The leaves are generally green 

 above v;ith a tinge of red beneath. In 

 others the leaves are nearly solid green 

 on both sides ; and some are reddish 

 purple throughout, while still others 

 are green above and a bright wine 

 color underneath. In some the sepals 

 and outer petals are both tinged on 

 the outside with pink. In some they 

 are striped with pink on one or both 

 sides, and so on in various shades 

 until they pass into the variety rosea, 

 the pink water-lily of Cape Cod. 

 There are many unnamed varieties of 

 N. odorata whose character is just as 

 marked and distinct as those which 

 have been named. The variety rosea, 

 with solid pink petals, was originated 

 from a wild seedling, but is by no 

 To keep the flowers long after picking, let them float means the first or only one. Our first pink water-lily 

 on the water, and do not crowd them thickly. If placed came to us from its native waters in New Hampshire ; 

 in a shallow dish the stems should be so short as not to but, unfortunately, after two years it was destroyed by 

 hit the bottom and make the flower tip over, for, well muskrats. The pink water-lily sent out from Hyannis is 

 as they like to float, they do not like to be swamped. If very different from the Sandwich lily. Although colored 

 the petals remain long immersed, they become water- throughout, it is somewhat shaded in stripes of light and 

 soaked and spoiled ; and even the leaves are sensitive to dark pink. Benjamin Grey advertises a variety called 

 water on their upper surfaces, and always repel it. We "exquisita," which has rosy carmine flowers of a deeper 

 must take hints from nature if we would meet with sue- color than rosea; and another called "carnea," with 

 cess in keeping flowers, and let floating flowers float. flowers of a tender rose color, also "superba," with 

 Three or four lilies floating on the water in a roomy plat- large flowers, the leaves and stems of a deeper green, 

 ter are far more pleasing than a much larger number tinged with crimson. 



crowded into a pitcher or vase, far from the water. The latest novelty, and most unlike the others, is variety 



